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Global Gaming Factory X AB, a Swedish software company, has agreed to acquire The Pirate Bay video-sharing Web site -- whose owners are under fire for brokering copyrighted content -- for nearly $7.8 million.

Pirate Bay is one of the largest video-sharing sites on the Internet. The site has more than 20 million visitors and more than one billion searches per month. The four Swedish men who launched the infamous Web site are behind bars. In April, the men were ordered to pay $3.6 million in damages to copyright holders for infringing on their intellectual property. The men have appealed the verdict.

Global Gaming Factory said it plans to launch new business models that allow compensation to the content providers and copyright owners when it takes control of the site in August. Global Gaming Factory has the largest network of Internet caf?s and game centers and claims access to the largest group of game players on the Internet.

"The Pirate Bay is a site that is among the top 100 most-visited Internet sites in the world. However, in order to live on, The Pirate Bay requires a new business model, which satisfies the requirements and needs of all parties, content providers, broadband operators, end users, and the judiciary," said Hans Pandeya, CEO of Global Gaming Factory. "Content creators and providers need to control their content and get paid for it. File sharers need faster downloads and better quality."

The File-Sharing Backbone

Global Gaming Factory has also entered into an agreement to acquire the shares of Peerialism AB. Peerialism AB is rooted in the KTH Royal Institute of Technology and SICS, the Swedish Institute of Computer Science. The company is currently owned by its employees. Peerialism develops solutions for data distribution and distributed storage based on new peer-to-peer technology.

"Peerialism has developed a new data-distribution technology...

Mozilla on Tuesday released a Web browser that it said is 10 times faster than its original browser. One year after releasing Firefox 3.0, the Mountain View, Calif.-based nonprofit released Firefox 3.5, which it said is two times faster than Firefox 3.0 and 10 times faster than Firefox 2.

The free open-source browser has better JavaScript performance; more privacy features, including a new private-browsing mode; and support for open video, audio and location browsing.

Mozilla said it created the browser for its more than 300 million active Firefox users. Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X operating systems can use Firefox 3.5, which is available in more than 70 languages.

The new version was supposed to be called Firefox 3.1 but Mozilla decided 3.5 would better represent the enhanced performance and features. "Firefox has been in development for approximately 12 months," said Nichole Loux, a Mozilla spokesperson.

Browsing In Private

Similar to Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 browser, Firefox 3.5 allows users to browse the Internet in private mode. The feature was developed to let users protect their privacy while browsing online, and to give them greater control over their personal data.

While using the Private Browsing feature, nothing viewed on the Web will be stored on the user's computer. Another feature called Forget this Site allows users to remove every trace of a site from the Firefox 3.5 browser.

Mozilla recently asked visitors to Mountain View's Computer History Museum why they were excited about Firefox 3.5.

"Private browsing, the ability to browse without people tracking your stuff -- that sounds pretty shady, I know, but I think it is a really important security feature and really lets people take back the Web," said Suneel Gupta, a museum visitor.

Another feature called Clear Recent History was created for users who would like to remove all private data or activity...

Paris Hilton we understand -- but Garfield? China's mandated Green Dam software rates some images of the scantily clad heiress and the cartoon cat as morally bad.

While the software that must be installed on all new PCs sold in China is meant to block pornography and violent images, it also blocks other things. Besides Garfield, actor Johnny Depp and roast port are also no-nos.

While the Internet filtering software has drawn international criticism, China has backed down from its demand that the software be installed on PCs by July 1. On Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology would "delay the mandatory installation of the controversial 'Green Dam-Youth Escort' filtering software on new computers."

The ministry did not indicate when, if ever, its mandate might be restored. An official said, "The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will further solicit opinions from all sides, improve the plan, upgrade methods, and carry out related tasks." Or it could just drop the issue to avoid further criticism.

A test of the Green Dam software reported by Reuters found it was largely ineffective. With an image scanner activated, the news service reported the software blocked Garfield and flesh-colored pork along with images of Hilton and Depp. With the image filter off, the software provided links to soft- and hard-core pornography sites.

Reuters reported that when the software's settings are tightened, detecting too much of what the software considers skin causes all browsers to close. Green Dam can also be set to take snapshots of a user's screen and store them, leaving a potential trail for the government to follow, or for malicious software looking for confidential information.