The U.S. government has joined forces with the entertainment industry to stop the freewheeling global bazaar in pirated movies and music, pressuring foreign governments to crack down or risk incurring trade barriers.

Last month, Swedish authorities briefly shut down an illegal file-sharing Web site after receiving a briefing on the site's activities from U.S. officials in April in Washington. The raid incited political and popular backlash in the Scandinavian nation.

In Russia, the government's inability, or reluctance, to shut down another unauthorized file-sharing site may prevent that nation's entrance into the World Trade Organization, as effective action against intellectual property theft tops the U.S. government's list of requirements for Russian WTO membership.

Claes Hammar, Swedish minister for trade and economic affairs, said U.S. authorities noted that copyrighted Swedish material, as well as U.S. movies and music, was being stolen on the Pirate Bay.

A Web site called Allofmp3.com is selling millions of songs without authorization from copyright holders. The site looks as professional and legal as Apple Computer Inc.'s popular iTunes online music store. It claims to be licensed by a Russian agency to sell music, but U.S. trade groups aren't satisfied.

Ten companies which had their servers confiscated during the police's raids against file-sharing outfit The Pirate Bay are suing the Swedish government.

The outfits, which had nothing to do with Pirate Bay but had the misfortune of having the same ISP, are suing for between 10,000 and 200,000 kronor each.

The Swedish coppers took down all the servers belonging to the ISP PRQ, which hosted the Pirate Bay, without checking who else was using the company.

A spokesman for Inspector Knacker of the Swedish Yard has refused to telllocal media why it had confiscated the other servers.

It is quite likely that the concept of Pirate Bay using an ISP had not occurred to them.

The common use of "flash intros" to corporate websites has never made much sense. Generally, they're a pain, and even for the few folks who want to watch them, after seeing it once, why should they ever want to go back again? Yet, for some reason, web designers love them, and somehow keep convincing corporations to use them. However, a usability expert studying these things now says that " the skip intro button is the most used button on the Internet." While you can quibble over the hyperbole, it does make sense to question why so many firms keep using these types of entryways, when it clearly keeps people from the content they actually want -- such as how to buy your product.

Nearly a year after the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling against online music file-sharing services, the CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America says unauthorized song swapping has been "contained."

Even with Grokster and WinMX shut down, their software programs still exist. Eric Garland, CEO of Internet measurement firm BigChampagne, says that more people than ever are using file-sharing networks. "Nearly 10 million people are online, swapping media, at any given time," he says. That May figure is up from 8.7 million people in 2005, he says.

Meanwhile, the RIAA is suing XM Satellite Radio, which introduced a portable $399 player (from Pioneer and Samsung) that lets subscribers record songs.

The MPAA is fuming that aging rockers Grateful Dead have made a fortune by encouraging fans to record their concerts.

Barlow managed to get up Glickman's nose with the claim that the band did well out of letting people record their concerts for free.

Gickman said that it was "ridiculous to believe that you can give product away for free and be more successful. I mean it defies the laws of nature."

Barlow fired back that the music and movie business were aging industries run by aging men, and they're up against 17-year-olds who have turned themselves into electronic Hezbollah because they resent the content industry for its proprietary practices.

He said that despite the fact the music industry had bought out the more powerful institutions in the land, it will be the 17 and 18 year olds who would eventually win. It was in his generation and it will be in the future.

A man shouting that God would keep him safe was mauled to death by a lioness in the Kiev Zoo after he crept into an enclosure, a zoo official said Monday.

"The man shouted 'God will save me, if he exists,' lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions," the official said.

"A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery."

Former RIAA head Hilary Rosen now believes that the RIAA is wrong by pursuing their lawsuits of individuals for using P2P programs. In a blog post, she writes that she believes the lawsuits have 'outlived their usefulness' and states that the content providers really need to come up with their own download systems. She also is down on DRM, calling Apple's DRM 'a pain.'

Here's a cautionary tale for all those eBayers among you: if a Nigerian contacts you claiming to have stumped up for a successful auction bid and demands that you ship goods forthwith to Lagos, you'd better jump to it.

Otherwise, you might end up on the Metropolitan Police's "most wanted fugitives of the week" list, with your name shamefully plastered across the UK press.

Absolutely classic. God alone knows how long the Met have had an office in Australia, but it's reassuring to know the long arm of UK law extends across the globe in the international fight against eBay scammers.

The shipment address seems real enough, but Mr Ibajesomo doesn't appear in the University of Lagos's staff listing and a couple of calls to said institution turned up a blank.

Software giant Microsoft has admitted that it talks to the computers of punters signed up for its Genuine Advantage programme every day.

Windows XP apparently calls Vole central on a daily basis for no reason which is remotely useful to the user.

A spokesVole told the Associated Press that the reason it does this is in case the software malfunctions and started delivering false results.

Windows Genuine Advantage program boss David Lazar said that the software calling home was just a safety switch and no one needed to worry about it.

He said that the company would tweak the program soon so that it only phones up Microsoft every two weeks.

AllofMp3.com has managed a extraordinary level of popularity because many feel it represents what an online music service should be. The music service contains no DRM (Digital Rights Management), allowing the consumer to copy and transfer the purchased track to whatever device he or she wishes while compensating artists.

The entertainment industry however claims the service is flat out illegal. According to the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), AllofMp3.com fails to pay artist royalties - contrary to AllofMp3.com's assertions.

The site AllOfMP3.com belongs to a Russian company and for 6 years it has operated within the country, in full compliance with all Russian laws. Throughout this period the various government offices have scrutinized site's legality and have not found any breach of the law. So far there has been no decision by any Russian court contesting the site's legality.

The site AllOfMP3.com does regularly transfer substantial amounts of royalties to the Russian organizations for collective management of rights such as ROMS and FAIR, which have granted the site licenses to legally deliver music through the Internet.