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Kazaa: Happy In the Global Legal Briarpatch
Steve0987 writes "The Washington Post has an article on the entertainment industry's atempts to close down the file-sharing system Kazaa. I agree that copyrighted material shouldn't be freely distributed from an ethical standpoint. However, the entertainment industry has been acting in an arbitrary manner trying to impede anything remotely impinging on their industry. Go Kazaa."
Freenet link:e w/Main/ WebHome
http://freenetproject.org/cgi-bin/twiki/vi
Project goal is to be secure so that 3rd parties can't see what you're exchanging.
If the article gets slashdotted, you can find it on Kazaa with the search query, Fuck Holywood.
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
Just one of the powers of the DMCA, whose vagueness prohibits owning a crowbar.
Yes, regular kazaa has spyware in it. But you can download a spyware-free hack of kazaa here. Most people in-the-know use this. It also removes the popup ads, etc.
That the article makes casual mention that the programmers who wrote the original Kazaa are now working on a new program with built-in DRM, for a company called Altnet? Sound familiar? It seems this Washington Post correspondant didn't bother to investigate how Altnet is linked to Sharman Networks... Altnet is virtually Sharman Networks...
Is a way to protest against laws that you don't agree, usually associated with passive resistence.
This means keep doing whatever you have always done ignoring the law, and of course paying the consequences. It works as a colective form o protest.
Let's suppose that the speed limit becomes 20 mph at highways. If everybody ignore this limit then the police won't be able to fine everybody.
The same happens here, if a considerable number of citizens ignore the way copyright works today it will be impossible to sue everyone, and of course they won't sue none of us!
That's how it should work, passive resistence.
-=-=-=-=
I know life isn't fair, but why can't it ever be un-fair in MY favor!?
The music companies did win their case against Napster, and we all know that Napster is dead and buried because of this, but would we all have known about Kazaa if the Napster wrangle had never been made so public? I can remember using Napster in it's very early forms, and very few people back then had even heard of an MP3 file, let alone peer-to-peer or Napster. Now even my aunt and uncle who have only just recently bought their first ever PC have Kazaa nicely installed on their computer. Surely something like as high profile as this will surely turn out to be will just be another shot in the foot for the music and movie industries. Especially if they don't end up closing it down, just think how many more people will know about it.
What is happening is that the industry is bludgeoning the public with their short-sightedness, forcing everyone to realize that far too much money gets page to music publishers, far too little rights actually belong to the artists themselves, and the big sell-outs like Metallica (s/big/has-been/) who jump on the "STOP THIEF!" bandwagon even damage and (prematurely?) end their own careers due to the PR fiasco.
Its time the recording industry focused on making music and less on making headlines.
perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
Free.
So they shut down Kazaa. The Consumer available models of file trading are all gone? No, more effort put into efforts like freenet, or Edonkey, or much more sophisticated methods that are decentralized, encrypted, and much more difficult to shut down?
No, witness DC++, which is 99% warez, and no efforts to shut that down.
What they don't realize is people want this, they can get it, and their efforts truly are being wasted. At least the Motion Picture industry is attempting to head them off at the pass with their own service ramp-up.
For music? It's too late, they have lost the battle for distribution. And to think, if they had their own distribution model in 1998, we would likely all be paying for it, and be happy!
fslg503-985-8686503-985-8686503-985-8686503-985-8
Theres two options.
Option A, people who make something always own what they make forever.
Option B, people who make things share what they make with all of humanity.
The same arguement which claims we should have software be open source because it benifits the whole instead of one part of the whole is the same arguement we use with file sharing.
More people benifit from file sharing than those who dont, the purpose of technology is to benifit the people.
When deciding what is more ethical, I look at patents as something mythical in my world, I do not know anyone who owns a patent in anything. I know musicians like my mother or my father who both make music but never made any money.
I make music but I never make any money. I know artists who when they make art because they have to begin to not like drawing anymore. Some things are meant to be an art, and some things are meant to be a business.
Its not very logical to try to turn bits of information into a product, it doenst benifit the majority of the people in this world. People in africa cannot buy medicinee because of this. People in afganastan cannot get educated because of patents on books. People in the USA cannot learn programming or be productive in todays society because of patents.
Why do we need patents? So a few hundred people can make billions of dollars? How does this help me? IT doesnt, I benifit more from Open Source than I do from closed source because I have no money.
I benifit more from file sharing because if there were no napsters and gnutellas of the world I simply wouldnt have the money to listen to music AT ALL, PERIOD.
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
... to make an example out of people? It's not unheard of for law makers to change the penalties for infractions of things that the populace as a majority or large minority want to be legal, and still get away with remaining in office, in power. Worse yet, those that get caught doing whatever "bad thing"(tm) that has been legislated against suffer massive penalties. I don't personally want to be the one caught if something that I enjoy doing, listening to, using, etc, gets made highly illegal in an attempt to make an example out of me to the others if I should happen to be one who gets caught.
Regarding your speed limit argument, something to keep in mind in many states is that there is a 'resonable and prudent' clause, where certain speeds above the posted speed limit are acceptable. In Arizona, one can go up to fifteen miles per hour over the posted speed limit and not have broken the law, assuming that one can demonstrate how that was reasonable and prudent (ie, everyone was going that fast, or there was no one on the road for a mile in each direction). Those that do exceed the reasonable and prudent grey area, however, are now subject to criminal traffic citation, rather than the civil citation that normal speeding, red light running, failure to stop, etc, would qualify for.
The only way that I could see such civil disobedience working is if it's in conjunction with pressure on lawmakers to change laws, so that when massive penalties are dealt upon parties involved, there can be a public outcry that lawmakers might feel they have to follow, else their continuing jobs will be threatened. Even then, though, I don't know if the modern system of campaign contributions, favours, kickbacks, and the like will allow for such.
IBM had PL/1, with syntax worse than JOSS,
And everywhere the language went, it was a total loss...
My memory is a bit sketchy in places, but I am sure y'all will fill in the blanks with /.'s usual enthusiasm.
So we begin.
A few internet cowboys, seeing the demise of Napster, cobble together Kazaa -- a decentralized filesharing network.
Originally, the software was licensed for distribution under three names, Kazaa, Morpheus, and Grokster, each of which was essentially the same program, with a different skin.
Kazaa was known for making an attempt at placating the record industry by only allowing lower bit-rate songs to be downloaded, whereas Morpheus had no such restrictions.
Forgive my lack of knowledge about Grokster -- the programs were all so close to identical that I never tried it.
Now, Kazaa came under legal fire in the Netherlands, but didn't get an official shut down.
Fearing their investments (and possibly their freedom), the original owners of Kazaa sold Kazaa to Sharmin Networks, who are perhaps the dodgiest software company I've ever seen.
Sharmin is also infamous for their spyware, and Bonzi Buddy. I can't remember who the founder was -- and Sharman Network's web page has mysteriously disappeared, but they were involved in some great scandal in Australia, and even a cursory Slashdot search (of the kind I'm unwilling to do on a saturday morning) will turn up the details, undoubtedly.
Sharmin was the one who loaded up Kazaa with enough spyware to make Back Orifice look like a legitimate client application, and has a EULA including a clause giving Sharmin permission to use your clock cycles, bandwidth, and hard drive space however they want.
This was part of what is known now as AltNet, Sharmin's answer to the Seti@Home project, or ud.com's Cancer curing project. Turn Kazaa users into a giant super computer... And then sell the time to the highest bidder.
Only one problem -- Kazaa's reputation was so bad, everyone was using Morpheus, who's tagline was something along the lines of "File-sharing without spyware".
Kazaa responded by ejecting Morpheus from their network by poisoning all the Kazaa hosts that upgraded to the new version. Any Morpheus client that touched an infected node was killed -- Kazaa overwrote a part of your registry to ensure you would never be able to use Morpheus again.
Around that time, they put up a button on the front of their site offering amnesty for refugees in this file-sharing client war, and Morpheus released Lime-Wire as Morpheus 2.0b.
Basically, the new morpheus was an old fork of the limewire code with an M for a logo, and was just a klunky gnutella client. There was some hullaballoo about open source this, and no source code that, and then Morpheus released the code again. Checking their web page now, they claim to have a final 2.0 out, but I haven't used it and cannot vouch for its quality.
Since then, Sharman Networks has been keeping a fairly low profile, and a hacker named Yuri has started releasing KazaaLite. KazaaLite is not a stripped down version of the software, so much as a stripped down version of the installer.
One without Bonzi Buddies, or yellow link underliners (remember that little ad-fad?) or any of the other myriad hacks and stupidities which Kazaa inflicts on your system.
KazaaLite does actually include a few patches to the executable, mostly to ensure Kazaa can't monitor your usage or install spyware on your system, and new versions are released with some regularity.
Well. Now we're up to the current date, with somewhat foggy bits along the way, and probably a few confused details by myself. I would appreciate any clarifications or corrections, as this all came from memory.
Cheers, and remember: KazaaLite is the answer.
"The wise man proportions his belief to the evidence." -- David Hume
The Courts have shown favourable response to the petition.. after all they dont want our poor homeless singers and bands to suffer. Probably earplugs will become mandatory at concerts.. insider sources said.
"Due to this stealing, our artists are so poor. Look at the music videos, they dont even have clothes to wear and have to appear in undergarments" said a RI** executive.My Aurora : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91ZsGwJYyg
FB : https://www.facebook.com/TanveersPhotography
While we're at it, let's ban Colt semi-automatic pistols, Saab cars, and Hitachi VCR's, because they're all specific examples of technology that can be used for bad things. That'll set an example, and everyone will stop making and using that technology and we can put the genie back in the bottle, right?
Alternatively, we could live in the real world. Remember Napster? When that was destroyed, people moved to Kazaa. Destroy Kazaa, and people will move to Morpheus. Destroy Morpheus, and they will move to (e.g.) Gnutella. Destroy Gnutella (how?) and they'll move to Freenet. Destroy Freenet and, well at that point we've destroyed the internet in its current form. Let's give ourselves Ashcroftian superpowers and pretend we can do it. Do that, and people will go to BBS's or to Neighbourhood Area Networks. Do what you like, people will keep sharing.
Are you getting it yet? We can't put the genie back in the bottle. So go ahead and destroy Kazaa if it makes you feel good. The War on Sharing is about as winnable as the War on Drugs or War on Terror. They all have the same purpose anyway: making the hard-of-thinking feel safe and happy and protected. So you enjoy your cozy little fantasy world. Send us a postcard!
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
The problem with Kazaa-Lite is that when you are installing it, it says: "This software is illegal". No joke. If you install the software and use it, then you are breaking the law.
Sex - Find It
If they shut it, something else will come along. It's not as if Kazaa is the only p2p program.
PS: Anyone interested in a Star Wars Themed Mullet Hunting video(complete with rotoscoped duel) search KaZaA for Mullet Wars: Episode One the Phantom Mullet or star wars mullet or something of the likes, also feel free to e-mail me about it.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
If that's the way we're talking, then the RIAA have already won. There are plenty of legitimate circumstances to distribute a lot copyrighted material -- and that's not even getting into fair use yet. Consider examples in software, or other types of media.
It's not an issue of copyright per se, it's an issue of what's permitted by the license.
DNA just wants to be free...
Of course I wholeheartedly beleive that artists deserve something for their work, and certainly deserve a decent living (don't we all?) The fact that they either have to use their art to make money or get an unrelated job that impinges on their artistic efforts is simply a symptom of our ever-present scarcity economics. Wouldn't it be nice if artists (and programmers, and others) could live without economic insecurity, simply giving to the community as is their basic impulse to do so? This would make the need to make an income from their work irrelevant, because most of these people do not do it for the money (at least not as the primary motivation). I'm sure many of the people here, more than most places, understand this. This would solve issues like Napster and Kazaa, since the free flow of information (and sharing of files, whether they be art, music, or software) could proceed without any harm to anyone. If an author doen't want his work shared, he simply need only keep it, or give it to people he trusts. Perhaps there could even be a copywrite law that gives the artist/whoever the power to decide how "free" his/her work is, but there would still be no need to do so to earn a living, i.e. artificial scarcity.
So how could this be done? Scarcity, we are told, is forever with us, an unsolvable problem. But is it really? People like Jeremy Rifkin (The End of Work) have shown us that work as we know it is obsolete. Machines and automation can do most if not all of the tedious tasks that make life dull, freeing up human society for more creative persuits. So scarcity no longer exists, except that we continue to impose it on ourselves because we know of no other way of doing things. And this creates its own set of problems, believe me!
The only thing missing now is a workable system of economic distribution that does not employ scarcity, and its tools like money and debt. If this could be done, all crime due to poverty would vanish. There would be no point to stealing something you could very easily afford yourself (pathology aside). Millions of property and litigation laws would also become obsolete, releiving the justice system of a huge infrastructure. Banks, stocks, all business related to money need no longer exist, and what results is a huge outpouring of people to now share what little work need be done. Thus, with secured incomes, people need not work more than a few hours each week, and could have a standard of living that far exceeds what we have now.
It's too bad more people aren't trying to think of ways of doing this, because it is possible. It would be a world were programs like Linux would be the norm, and no one could make shoddy MS-like products (or they could, but no one would have to use them). So far the only serious research group with any credibility that has devised such a non-scarcity economic system is Technocracy. They've been working on this idea since the 1920's, so they have a pretty detailed and workable plan. I hope we one day switch to a society they they propose.
Our ignorance is not so vast as our failure to use what we know. - M. King Hubbert
I agree that copyrighted material shouldn't be freely distributed from an ethical standpoint.
Well, I don't know about you, but I don't agree with large corporations making money off artists 90 years after they died.
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It's interesting to note that the spyware-free Kaaza Lite's webpage slams you with four popups and at least one window that dances across your screen, advertising casinos, Ebay, the University of Phoenix, and some "you're the millionth visitor!" nonsense.
Remove the caps and hold to a mirror.
Let's give ourselves Ashcroftian superpowers
Lately i've seen this commercial run alot lately. Is this what you mean by Ashcroftian Superpowers?
[Ashcroft comes in stage left]
[Ashcroft]Hi i'm josh ashcroft, head of Homeland security, a newly formed branch of the goverment dedicated to fight the threats we face today.
[wipe to ground zero 9/11]
We're looking for patriotic americans who want to help their country protect its citizens from these threats. There are many exciting oppertunities for those americans
[wipe to 4 panel picture showing congress building, american flag, an astronaut, and some field of wheat]
We're offering training to qualified individuals to pursue these careers
[fade to two dumb looking rent a pigs with shit eating grins on their faces]
-----end commercial-------
I saw that commercial and I was sooo pissed. Here i've been eating ramen for the last 2 years, and the best GWB has to offer us now is a rent a pig job?? I mean fuck, cmon people wake up.
9/11 was bad, very bad. Nothing good at all could have ever come from it. It just feels a little too weird and paranoid right now though. Police departments everywhere are hiring, security guard companies are hiring, the Army gave a 35 yro tow truck driver buddy of mine a 18k enlistment bonus to drive gas tankers. The writing is on the wall folks, I think for the first time in a long time, america is going to war.
The thought of a draft is very scarey to me. All of the slashdot employees are of draft age, they should think about it too. The times ahead are nothing I want to be heading into. The turmoil of this paranoia vortex will rip this country to shreds.
It's bad times right now.
Like they are doing in Denmark (check previous Slashdot stories), the attorneys scan the Kazaa network, when they find Danish Ips they check what people are sharing. Get a court order, send them a letter which essentially says "we can see you have done violations which amount to x amount of money, if you pay now you won't have to go to court". Then the newspapers are filled with sad stories, like how a single mother suddenly gets slapped with a $5000 fine because her son, unbeknownst to her, had downloaded his favorite songs. They try to scare people to stop - and none of these P2P programs have much in the way of security, you can always see the IP number. And even if they do try, people can just use the netstat command (On Windoze) to see which machines you are currently connected to.
How long before they start doing something like this in the united states?
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
One of the odd things I've seen about this is what the RIAA calls it and how they punish. If downloading songs is stealing and users are to be punished, then why punish them otherwise? By their logic, a user should be charged for theft of an item rather than copyright infringement. Maybe call it digital copy shoplifiting or whatever.
A user should pay for the materials downloaded. Rather than the $500,000 tag for copyright infringement, they should eat their words and charge users the way they say what the users are doing. If I download a song, I should pay list price for a song. DOwnload a DVD ripped movie and I should pay 21.99. People should be charged exactly for what they download. $500,000 for copyright infringement is bull crap.
13 year old white supremacists are shitty web designers.
A Matter of Motive?
The defendants, which in addition to Kazaa include Grokster and Morpheus, contend they are doing nothing wrong. They said their role is analogous to photocopy-machine makers, who aren't responsible for people who copy entire books, or to computer makers, who aren't responsible for people who use their machines for hacking.
"If you can be held responsible for everything your end users do with it, it becomes very hard to build any technology," said Fred von Lohmann, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represents Morpheus creator StreamCast Networks Inc.
The entertainment industry argues that the Kazaa case is different because the key issue is motive. While some makers of technology truly aren't aware of or do not advertise the illegal aspects of what their technology can do, they say, the owners of these file-sharing systems do.
"Peer-to-peer services overwhelmingly are used for illegal copying and transmission of copyright material over the Internet, and actively encourage, assist and participate in this activity," said Allen N. Dixon, executive director of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which represents more than 1,500 music producers and distributors.
This was the part that I found really interesting. So, if this goes through, and the creators are responsible, does that mean that firearms manufacturers are in trouble? As we all know, a firearm has only one purpose, to shoot things. (Human, animal, or otherwise.) And what about those who manufacture the bullets?
Just food for thought.
Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]