As if the threats of police raids and lawsuits weren't enough, recording industry trade group the IFPI has started a campaign to remind you that P2P is hazardous to your computing health. Citing an academic paper from June of last year the IFPI claims:

# " Unrecognized to many of [P2P] users is the serious security threat these networks pose to both corporate and individual security."

# "Confidential and potentially damaging documents have made their way onto these networks. The research also shows that criminals actively search P2P networks hoping to find information that they can exploit."

Japanese companies plan to cut off the Internet connection of anyone who illegally downloads files in one of the world's toughest measures against online piracy, a report said Saturday.

Faced with mounting complaints from the music, movie and video-game industries, four associations representing Japan's Internet service providers have agreed to take drastic action, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

The newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, said service providers would send e-mails to people who repeatedly made illegal copies and terminate their connections if they did not stop.

The Internet companies will set up a panel next month involving groups representing copyright holders to draft the new guidelines, the report said.

Digital rights activists pages have lit up over the week this week over just about anything to do with civil liberties online. The issues at hand deal with privacy, throttling, network neutrality and even censorship. It's no surprise that when even one of these items of concern surfaces, the issue becomes a major topic for debate - just imagine all of them occurring all at once.

Some BitTorrent users may still be reeling from Comcasts "delaying" tactics last month. It's an issue that is currently being fought in the FCC. While it is fair to say that this is a big issue, it may be advisable to take a step back and look at the other issues at hand to understand that this is just one of the issues currently being dealt by users today. Should the worst happen, then Comcast delaying BitTorrent packets, a topic that hits at one of the core network neutrality debate points, may be one of the least of everyone's worries from a digital rights activist standpoint.

Having failed to stop piracy by suing internet users, the music industry is for the first time seriously considering a file sharing surcharge that internet service providers would collect from users.

In recent months, some of the major labels have warmed to a pitch by Jim Griffin, one of the idea's chief proponents, to seek an extra fee on broadband connections and to use the money to compensate rights holders for music that's shared online. Griffin, who consults on digital strategy for three of the four majors, will argue his case at what promises to be a heated discussion Friday at South by Southwest.

The ‘Big Four’ record labels - EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner have started legal proceedings to force an ISP to end piracy on its network. The action, brought against Irish ISP, Eircom, is the first of its kind.

Eircom is the largest Irish ISP. Today, the Big Four record labels have started legal proceedings which they hope will force Eircom to effectively end music piracy on its network. According to the Ireland.com report, this action is the first against an ISP, rather than individual file-sharers.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly today admitted the proceedings at the court under the Copyright and Related Rights Acts 2000. It appears the labels are trying to get an order to effectively force Eircom to take responsibility for their customer’s actions by saying that it’s the ISP that is doing the ‘making available’ to the public, by facilitating the infringement.