As you all will know by now, most public file sharing services is down after Megaupload was busted for all kinds of wrongdoing. These include, fileserve, filesonic and many other. But now some believe MegaUpload was targeted because they are a threat to the music industy.

Source: Digital Music News There's another gigantic wrinkle in the MegaUpload drama. Not only is MegaUpload fighting tooth-and-nail against Universal Music Group, but they're now planning the launch of a cloud-based music locker, download store, and do-it-yourself artist service. It's called MegaBox, and it's already up in beta with listed partners 7digital, Gracenote, Rovi, and Amazon MP3.

Actually, this is technically a relaunch of an earlier concept, and a perfect re-stab at major label opponents. "UMG knows that we are going to compete with them via our own music venture called Megabox.com,... [Read More]

Source: IOL, "No bank account, no problem, you wont drive SA roads anymore." The SA National Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral) not only wants your money – it also wants access to all your bank details and financial accounts.

The Department of Transport postponed e-tolling on Gauteng’s freeways on Friday, weeks before the system was due to go live next month. This is the second time the department has suspended the multibillion-rand project.

Despite this, Sanral has continued its advertising campaign, encouraging motorists to register for e-tags. But the registration of the e-tags may be illegal in terms of the Consumer Protection Act.

This is according to various organisations who have analysed the terms and conditions of e-tag accounts.

At the centre of their concerns is clause 33 of Sanral’s terms and conditions, which states... [Read More]

According to research conducted by a Mexican security institute, Cape Town is South Africa's most violent city - and one of the deadliest cities in the world…

The report, issued by research group Seguridad, Justicia y Paz (Security, Justice and Peace), ranks Cape Town 34th in the world, with a murder rate of 46.15, making it the city with the highest murder rate in South Africa over the past year.

Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth) was ranked 41st in the world in 2011 and second in South Africa with a rate of 36.25.

Durban also features in the list of the world's 50 deadliest cities at number 49, with a murder rate of 30.54, while the City of Johannesburg - considered by most to be South Africa's crime capital - closes off the list in 50th position with a murder rate of 30.50.

According to the Epoch Times, the researchers only considered cities with populations of over 300,000 that have Internet-accessible statistics about... [Read More]

Wikipedia plans to take its English-language site offline on Wednesday as part of protests against proposed anti-piracy laws in the US.

The user-generated news site Reddit and the blog Boing Boing have also said they will take part in the "blackout".

The sites' webmasters are opposed to the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa) being debated by Congress.

However, Twitter has declined to take part in the shutdown.

Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, told the BBC: "Proponents of Sopa have characterised the opposition as being people who want to enable piracy or defend piracy.

"But that's not really the point. The point is the bill is so over broad and so badly written that it's going to impact all kinds of things that, you know, don't have anything to do with stopping piracy."

Veto hint
Sopa's supporters in the House of Representatives say the... [Read More]

US Congressman and poor-toupee-color-chooser Lamar Smith is the guy who authored the Stop Online Piracy Act. SOPA, as I'm sure you know, is the shady bill that will introduce way harsher penalties for companies and individuals caught violating copyright laws online (including making the unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime which you could actually go to jail for). If the bill passes, it will destroy the internet and, ultimately, turn the world into Mad Max (for more info, go here).

I decided to check that everything on Lamar's official campaign website was copyright-cleared and on the level. Lamar is using several stock images on his site, two of which I tracked back to the same photographic agency. I contacted the agency to make sure he was paying to use them, but was told that it's very difficult for them to actually check to see if someone has permission to use their images. (Great news, copyright violators!) However, seeing as they're both from the... [Read More]