Let them eat cake!

This week has been all about France (well okay a few other things happened too):

To begin with (more) legal precedent supporting personal use:
A. Ridouan, French judge authorizes downloading and uploading of copyrighted content on the Internet, Blog des Audionautes, 7 February 2006
The decision (in French) is available here: http://www.audionautes.net/pages/PDF/audionautestgiparis.pdf

To back things up France reignites the potential for a collective licensing scheme:
Editor, Collective P2P Licensing Bill Gains Steam in France, Digital Music News, 8 February 2006
Editor, Inquiry set for French file-sharing plan, CNet News.com/Reuters, 3 February 2006

Performing rights association ASCAP joins a new ad supported p2p network:
Editor, ASCAP Joins Upcoming, Ad-Supported P2P Platform, Digital Music News, 8 February 2006

iTunes nears the 1 billionth download:
Editor, iTunes Music Store Nears One Billion Music Downlaods, Digital Music News, 8 February 2006

The RIAA attempt to sue a woman who can't use a computer and doesn't even own one:
R. Menta, RIAA Faces New Pushback on Individual Lawsuit, Digital Music News, 8 February 2006

ISPs throttling p2p downloads to preserve bandwith is about to become a whole lot harder with the advent of new encruption technology designed for BitTorrent:
R. Menta, New BitTorrent Clients Adopt Encryption, Evade ISP Detection, Digital Music News, 8 February 2006

Reports suggest (but am not absolutely certain) that Kazaa has managed to avoid being shut down in contempt of court proceedings:
Editor, Oz Kazaa komedy kontinues, p2pnet.net, 6 February 2006

File sharing increases in January:
Editor, File-Sharing Levels Remain Strong in January, Digital Music News, 8 February 2006

Scary digital watermarking technology developed to detect the exchange of copyrighted files:
Editor, New DRM file scare apps, p2pnet.net, 8 February 2006