Slashdot Mirror

I think I'll head over to their page now and start clicking the refresh button over and over. I encourage everyone else to do the same.

while true
do
curl 'http://www.grokster.com/' >& /dev/null
done

http://www.grokster.com/?thanks_for_your_free_ip_ information_service_could_you_add_some_helpful_fea tures_like_trace_ping_and_dns_info_please

http://www.grokster.com/?Shop@www.AllOfMP3.com

-

http://www.grokster.com/?because_of_your_silly_bus iness_practices_i_no_longer_buy_new_cds_from_major _american_record_labels_instead_i_buy_secondhand_c ds_and_imports..._you_have_my_ip_address_would_you _like_my_street_address_too?_you_could_come_visit_ and_i_could_put_my_foot_up_your_ass

It's funny that the article claims the site uses JavaScript to display the IP. Viewing source indicates that it's something server-side, not JavaScript.

. . .PHP, in this case.

I wonder if anyone is checking the logs on this? If so, perhaps they'll have spotted my request for http://www.grokster.com/?riaa=a+bunch+of+twits Part of me things it would by amusing to write a script to store song lyrics in their logs which I assume would be a violation of someone's copyright - The Smiths' "Paint a vulgar picture" springs to mind for some reason. Another part of me thinks I should get on with something more productive...

http://www.grokster.com/?I_buy_my_cds_used_from_pa wn_shops_and_save_money_instead_of_giving_it_to_th e_rich_music_artists_my_ip_address_is_24_83_69_104

Crazy. What the hell is that all about? There's actually a few of them: https://grokster.com/images/

Who knew they were into European Teens?

(not work safe) Porn ads? Good to see from such a quality company

Or you just put `while wget -qO /dev/null --no-cache --no-cookies http://grokster.com/ ; do true; done;` into the console, run it, and wait a while.

Well, they aren't using register_globals as far as I can tell. :(

From the article:
The effort is incredibly weak, much like Sharman's attempt to dissuade Australian users, as it's little more than some JavaScript code that can be implemented into any web site. Dozens of scripts, even those usable by forum users, can easily display an individual's IP address.

The actual URI of the web page is http://www.grokster.com/index.php
It is not JavaScript, but is in fact php (i suspect they use the $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"] php variable, but I can't be sure.)

for ((;;)); do
wget -O - http://www.grokster.com/ > /dev/null 2>&1
done

I wonder if they look at their error logs?

http://www.grokster.com/idownloadmusicillegally.ht ml

I actually hope about half the planet does. ;o)

--
Tomas

http://grokster.com/

SlashDOT 'em
  Log this bucko

http://www.grokster.com/

Give'm hell boys!

Obviously we have to slashdot it. Why is there no link in the story?

Here: for those too lazy to type it out

Grokster.com

The United States Supreme Court unanimously confirmed
that using this service to trade copyrighted material is illegal.
Copying copyrighted motion picture and music files
using unauthorized peer-to-peer services is illegal and is
prosecuted by copyright owners.

There are legal services for downloading music and movies.
This service is not one of them.

Grokster hopes to have a safe and legal service available soon.

If you are interested in that service, go to www.grokster3g.com, or send an email to:

info@grokster3g.com

to be included in the beta for the next generation.

Can someone show me an example of where Grokster was promoting their software as a piracy tool? Looking at Grokster's web site they don't seem to be doing that. Did they change their face in light of the court case?

how does someone get modded to +5 by talking out of their ass? grokster is not open source. show me where you can download the source? heres their website to help you, do some research or something, jeez. http://grokster.com/

Funny, Grokster seems to think they won.... hrm this could get interesting

It is a mistake to rest all your hopes on how a single word was used in a particular case. The Supreme Court tends to pull back sharply from too careless or sweeping a generalization.

Betamax was still nothing more than a video recorder. It presented the same legal problems as a photocopier, fax machine, etc., and that is how the issue would have been framed before the Court in the eighties.

A P2P network is usually both a program and a service. There may be a centralized file library or clearing house, something of the sort. From Grokster's home page:

"Grokster's SuperNode technology provides for the fastest searches. Grokster tracks detailed file info and allows detailed searches on it. Grokster will also track and remember up to 24 simultaneous searches." Grokster

The Court may be ready to decide that there is a level of invovement in the massive unlicensed distribution of copyrighted media through P2P networks that it is no longer willing to tolerate.

Remember that a grant of cert is rare. No more than two hundred cases a year get this far.

MICROster, Sigster, and Grokster just to name a few.

Resoundingly, people across the country told us there was a special need for software to enable neighbor-to-neighbor activity--and that, ideally, it should be freely distributed, easy to use, and free.

Ok. Click here to be sued.

so, what does this mean for the other remaining fast-track fileshare copmany Grokster will they be forced to close too, it's very rare for you bump into another grokster user among all those kazaa results anyway.

ah well, theres always Gnutella

I see everyone recommending Kazza Lite but I use Grokster. It uses the FastTrak network and doesn't use Brillant Spyware. Grokster does have a lot of bundled junk but you can uncheck it in the setup program.

I see everyone recommending Kazza Lite but I use Grokster. It uses the FastTrak network and doesn't use Brillant Spyware. Grokster does have a lot of bundled junk but you can uncheck it in the setup program.

If this page is at all correct, MusicCity are lying through their teeth.

Apparently the FastTrack protocol was upgraded a little more than two weeks ago. A grace period of two weeks was given, to allow users to upgrade their clients. Remember what the Morpheus requester said? "Your program is to old to connect the network."

Grokster, the third (and smallest) FastTrack licensee upgraded their client, Morpheus for some unimaginable reason did not.

Apparently this is a question of politics... Kazaa/FastTrack and Morpheus have had some sort of falling out. Morpheus have long been working on their 2.0 version. Gnucleus say that they have felt for some time that Morpheus is moving toward gnutella.

<speculation>
For some reason, Morpheus became pissed of with Kazaa, and to decided to devote a few man-years to constructing a new client + protocol upgrades which would let them move to the gnutella network without the users even noticing. Kazaa pulled a fast one and changed the protocol, without notifying (perhaps even keeping the docs from) Morpheus, and here we are...
</speculation>

For those of you who are interested in where those juicy 3.500.000 users are going, I have followed the IRC at MusicCity. At first, everyone was in a state of complete panic. Seriously, some of the reactions were quite unbelievable... My life is over! My life is over!!! or how about this one The FBI are at my door!!! Delete your files!!! Delete you files ***NOW***!!!!! :-) Then, about half defected to Kazaa/Grokster, while the other half waited for the new version.

The new version arived, 1.500.000 persons installed it. Unfortunately, 95%+ thinked it utterly sucked and most of them are currently seeking desperately for a new system.

Note: numbers are based on dl stats at download.com. Currently 1,998,910 downloads of Kazaa this week, and 1,394,331 for the new Morpheus.

Grokster

I find it odd that, even though KaZaA has suspended downloads, their download counter (at the top of the page at http://www.kazaa.com/en/defend.htm, for example) is still going up. This might be automatic (it's going up very smoothly and uniformly), but even so it's amusing. In addition to Morpheus, there's also Grokster, which likewise licenses the FastTrack technology. Is file sharing really dead? I don't think so. I mean, the way courts generally work, organizations like the RIAA and MPAA would have to sue every file sharing program making company separately. In addition to the legal fees, the industries are lagging behind by a year or at least several months... Programs are around for a while before any suit gets filed, and then the suits take time. True, it's hardly optimal that file sharing programs rise and fall every so often, but a bit of a shakeup is good now and then. Besides, they're growing faster than people can try to get them shut down. Direct Connect is quite good for some things. Gnutella, although it sucks, cannot be eradicated. And if something like Freenet ever gets somewhat usable and efficient, they won't really have anyone left to sue. Maybe then they'll concentrate on making movies and music and software good enough that we want to buy it, instead of producing crap on a stick, trying to limit what we can do with it, and suing everyone in sight. Marketing can only do so much to sell a bad product (although M$ has done an entirely too good job of it...).

However. There are alternatives and one of the less known ones is Grokster. This is also an official client to the fasttrack network and it does also include spyware but you can disable it. Actually it's disabled by default! I've been using it and when I've checked with AdAware it's green. So go get it!

Meanwhile. What happened to giFT/OpenFT?? I'm still waiting.. :)

Grokster is a much better client for the KaZaA/Morpheus/Whatever-the-big-title-for-the-netw ork-these-clients-use-is network.

It has less ads (that is easily blocked with hosts) and unlikes KaZaA, no spyware.

viking099 writes "File swapping programs such as Morpheus, Grokster, and Kazaa (all based on the same software from FastTrak) have grown over 480% in the past 4 months, and are set to break the 1.57 million concurrent connection record that Napster set." So who exactly is surprised by this?

The RIAA is going after the FastTrack network (KaZaA, Morpheus, and Grokster) next. This is going to be the next big battle, as this network isn't centralized (at least, not as centralized as Napster was), so the RIAA will have a harder time proving that FT is responsible. Another intesting thing about the FT network is that the latest version locks out the open source client that the giFT project is developing (it worked again briefly over the weekend, but now it's broken again). While they try to get it up and running with the new FT network, they say that they're also developing and their own open source network (OpenFT).

In parallel with the FT assault, the RIAA, as of Monday, decided to go after AudioGalaxy (read about it in the NY Post over here). AudioGalaxy has filters in place, but the RIAA says they aren't good enough.

also, visit #gift on irc.openprojects.net for even more info

also, visit #gift on irc.openprojects.net for even more info

also, visit #gift on irc.openprojects.net for even more info

also, visit #gift on irc.openprojects.net for even more info

also, visit #gift on irc.openprojects.net for even more info

Sensing the ongoing increase of popularity of giFT, KaZaA has blocked all open-sourced attempts to connect to the FastTrack network used by KaZaA, Morpheus, and Grokster. More information here. For more about giFT, refer back to this slashdot article.
also, visit #gift on irc.openprojects.net

Further searching on Google show's that yep they're the same. Here's an article about the history of Music City and Morpheus. Also, a very informative OpenP2P article which details the server structure used by Kazaa and morpheus. Also interesting to note that both use FastTrack software to build their networks. According to the FastTrack website, their software is also used in another client, Grokster (annoying pop-up warning).
--