Today’s top tech news

May 3, 2012

Virgin Media has become the first British internet service provider (ISP) to block customer access to The Pirate Bay file-sharing website, reports the Telegraph. The move comes just days after a High Court order ruled UK ISPs, including Sky and Everything Everywhere, must block the website. A call for the block was made in an application by the British music industry trade body, the BPI. The Pirate Bay offers links for users to download copyrighted material such as songs, films and TV shows.

BBC News Online has reported on a ruling in Germany banning the sale of a number of Microsoft products, including the company’s Windows 7 operating system and Xbox 360 videogames console. The injunction follows claims by Motorola Mobility that Microsoft had infringed two patents necessary to offer H.264 video coding and playback. However, the ruling cannot be enforced until a judge in Seattle lifts a restraining order on Motorola, which was put in place after Microsoft claimed the Swedish company was abusing its ‘Frand’ commitments to licence innovative widely-used technologies under “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” terms.

A study conducted by a Swedish university has reported a 40% increase in the number of young adults between 15-25 years old using virtual private networks (VPNs) to aid anonymous file sharing of music and films, reports BBC News Online. An independent music analyst, Mark Mulligan, said VPNs could become “the next front in the battle against piracy”. The study’s publication comes in the week UK internet service providers have been told in a High Court order to block access to file-sharing website, The Pirate Bay.

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