Is The Net At Fault For Illegal Filesharing?

hbean writes: "Laywers for the file sharing programs Morpheus and Grokster are saying that if their client's programs are illegal for sharing copyrighted content, then so are the networks of ISPs that allow users to connect to each other -- check it out here. I wonder if these legal types are ever going to actually blame this on the actual people who are sharing ..."

Comments

morpheus is down...

[Syre]

This is slightly off the topic of whether ISPs are to blame, but on the topic of Morpheus and their legal defenses:

Morpheus is down at the moment. When you try to connect, an error box pops up saying. "Your version of Morpheus is too old to connect to the network. Please download a new version at www.musiccity.com."

This is apparently a programming glitch caused overnight by developers -- there's no new version. It is interesting, however, because one of MusicCity's main defenses against being shut down was that they can't turn off the clients because they're fully distributed and aren't under central control.

This proves otherwise. I predict a court order will follow shortly and Morpheus will be gone.

Re:Yes...

[nexex]

Well, a family successfully sued K-Mart for $1.5 million blaming them for someone who commited suicide with gun bought from their store (link) just shows that you can sue for anything. There is a family suing rescue workers after they lost their baby in a forest since they found it after it was too late to save him...

But they'd like it to be illegal

[A nonymous Coward]

In a confrontation with Orrin Hatch, one of the authors of the DMCA, Hillary Rosen of the RIAA said it was illegal to copy your own CD for the car, or your wife, or backup. Mr. Hatch corrected her. She was not amused. These clowns want pay per view on EVERYTHING; they have even attacked libraries.

Re:That's an interesting point

[elmegil]

the drug war industry is massive

Yep. Dig this ad run by the Libertarian Party parodying the ridiculous recent ads equating drug use with terrorism. It ran full page in the Washington Post & USA Today (!) today. Right to the point.