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Shutting down Kazaa

An anonymous reader writes "There is an interesting wired.com article on the fight between the world's media corporations and Kazaa. The lengths Kazaa has gone to to keep itself immune from attack (incorporated variously in Vanuatu (where?), Estonia and Australia), seem to have largely paid off - until now."

338 of 500 comments (clear)

  1. Kazaa participation level by skermit · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you're not getting the downloads or results to searchers you used to, it might be because you're "leeching". This little utility (scanned with latest version of AVP, F-Prot, and Orion) maxes out your participation level, allowing you to leech to your heart's content.

    http://kazaahack.250x.com

    --
    -Christopher Wu
    http://www.christopherwu.net/
    1. Re:Kazaa participation level by skermit · · Score: 1

      Yes I intentionally chose NOT to link the site. If you're too lazy to copy/paste, I hope it won't ./ the site...

      --
      -Christopher Wu
      http://www.christopherwu.net/
    2. Re:Kazaa participation level by NineNine · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And this is good, how? Leechers *do* suck. What's the loss to just leave Kazaa up when you're not using it. Hell, I have a dial-up connection, and I just leave my copy of Kazaa up whenever I'm not using the machine. So, fuck you and your cheating program.

    3. Re:Kazaa participation level by jonathanbearak · · Score: 2, Interesting

      i've been on linux using gtk-gnutella for awhile now, so i haven't really kept up with kazaa. but what you've just pointed out to me is very interesting, and i think threatens users.

      kazaa makes money via file-sharing. users don't. however, by getting these "i am not a leech!" points, users are offering their services in exchanging for kazaa's services. this makes users subject to litigation that isn't just the usual riaa bullcrap, because they can argue that what the users are doing is commercial exchange. users' uploading services pay for kazaa's downloading services; kazaa's downloading services pay for the users' uploading services.

      IANAL, but as i understand things, this gives validity to suing individual users (of kazaa).

    4. Re:Kazaa participation level by Kaz+Riprock · · Score: 5, Informative

      Because of the intense bandwidth being consumed at universities across the nation for uploads and downloads thru the Kazaa ports, many schools are cracking down on fileswappers (not for copyright, but to keep the network traffic managable). In that way, a lot of college students will leech because if they spike the upload bandwidth, the IT police knock on their door and terminate their in-room connection. This has been covered here at slashdot before.

      --
      Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
    5. Re:Kazaa participation level by spaten-optimator · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Furthermore, many people (including myself) have cable modems. Upload speeds are "capped" at a fraction of the download speeds. I can DOWNLOAD from KaZaA with relative ease, and still manage to browse webpages, or use a secure shell connection to a remote site, or do anything else I normally do (except play games which require an extremely low latency).

      However, introduce just one upload from my computer, and I suddenly find that my HTTP requests take forever to get to webservers, and even Google's front page takes longer to load.

      Even so - I tend to allow uploads to continue. What I keep in my "shared" directory are mostly those hard-to-find files that take forever to download because there are a lack of people with that file. I can only hope that people who get those files from me are doing the same.

      ---

      --

      --
      Disclaimer: The above statement probably includes half-truths, because real truth is too complicated.
    6. Re:Kazaa participation level by deadsaijinx* · · Score: 2, Interesting

      i hardly consider cable to be horribly capped. i use cable and whenever my participation points reach to low, i just stop dling and let others load off of my files. i usually have around 800 points and i dont leech. i share everything and i wish others would do the same. as for leechers, go to hell! people, share your files, damn it! SHARE!!!! that is all

      --
      YOU SUCK BALLS!
    7. Re:Kazaa participation level by Lshmael · · Score: 1

      With the bandwidth options in Kazaa (you can both limit the number of uploaders and the max. amount of bandwidth that they can consume, leeching because "i have limited bandwidth" is not a viable excuse.

    8. Re:Kazaa participation level by Jugalator · · Score: 1

      Doh...

      Restrict your upload speed in Kazaa then.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    9. Re:Kazaa participation level by glesga_kiss · · Score: 4, Interesting
      However, introduce just one upload from my computer, and I suddenly find that my HTTP requests take forever to get to webservers, and even Google's front page takes longer to load.

      That's due to a technical quirk of TCP/IP that is more prevailent with asymetric links.

      Every received TCP packet must be acknowledged with an ACK packet. If you allow something to use 100% of your upload bandwidth, you'll find your ACK packets from your downloads get queued to get sent back in the upstream. This hammers your internet connection because the servers won't send you any more packets until you have ACK'ed the already sent ones.

      The solution is to limit uploads to around 90 - 95 % of your total upload capacity. Unfortunatly, while Kazaa has an in-build bandwidth throttle that you can set, you can only change it in powers of two. I prefer WinMX, which allows you to set any value you want.

      This web page explains the problem and the solution in better detail than I have, with graphs etc.

      If you are using a Linux NAT box or a good firewall, you may be able to set up traffic shaping to not allow p2p to max things out. This will also give priority to the ACK packets, and you can set it so that HTTP traffic also gets priority. It's pretty complex stuff though.

    10. Re:Kazaa participation level by captaineo · · Score: 1

      I found a very interesting document on this problem (I REALLY wish I had the URL handy, sorry)... There ARE things you can do on your side that will avoid extreme latency when someone is downloading from your server.

      The problem is that cable modem/DSL "capping" is implemented by the modem itself - internally it keeps a large buffer of outgoing packets, and only lets packets trickle out to the ISP at a predefined rate. You see horrible latency during uploads because your web browsing/game packets (which tend to be small) are stuck in the queue behind your upload packets (which tend to be large). i.e. the cable modem, through its buffering mechanism, introduces a delay of up to several seconds for outgoing packets.

      The document I found described a way to solve this problem using a traffic shaper. If you can find out exactly what your bandwidth cap is, you can set up an IP traffic shaper (e.g. with the Linux packet filter/shaper code) to not release packets to the modem at a rate that will cause the internal queue to build up. By doing the capping "yourself," you give the network stack the feedback it needs to avoid extreme latency (e.g. by forcing the file server to block rather than continue transmitting packets that will only end up plugging the modem's queue). You can also set the packet shaper to prioritize UDP and "interactive" TCP traffic (i.e. games and ssh) higher than bulk TCP traffic (big downloads).

    11. Re:Kazaa participation level by throwaway18 · · Score: 1

      >introduce just one upload from my computer, and I suddenly find that my HTTP requests take forever

      If you limit your upload rate to slighlty less than the maximum allowed by your connection then you will have less latency on your other connections. If you try to upload as fast a s possible the buffers in your computer/NAT router/cablemodem fill up and keystrokes in ssh sessions and suchlike have to wait for everything else in the buffer to go through first.
      With 128Kbit/sec up try limiting kazaa to 11 or 12KB up.

    12. Re:Kazaa participation level by buddydawgofdavis · · Score: 1

      Leechers *do* suck

      Do you not see the hypocracy in your statement? You leech music from the entertainment industry...the so called leech does the same to you. And to think, the music industry actually targets irresponsible, unethical, and childish people like yourself. The problem with the music industry isn't piracy, it's their poor choice of a target audience.

      Oh...and hang up your d*mn phone, nitwit.

    13. Re:Kazaa participation level by captaineo · · Score: 1

      I found the URL (or at least a similar one):

      http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cm ti ps/downup.html

      And here's the Linux solution, a script that configures traffic shaping ("Wonder Shaper"):

      http://lartc.org/wondershaper/

    14. Re:Kazaa participation level by buddydawgofdavis · · Score: 1

      Please ignore my previous post. After re-reading NineNine's post, I realized that he/she is absolutely correct and that I misunderstood. I apologize for the name calling and snide remark :(

  2. That means... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I have some pr0n movies dl'ing over kazaa. They're going at around 0.5-2k/sec and been going for around a month. If they close it down then damn I'll be pissed.

    1. Re:That means... by Alsee · · Score: 1

      Kazaa has a 'resume'-option ..

      Awesome! Damn those Kazaa programmers are smart!
      So if the RIAA manages to shut Kazaa down I just click "resume" and the network comes back up? Take THAT RIAA scum!

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  3. Kazaa vs eMule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Kazaa is P2P for the non-power users...I urge everyone to try out eMule / eDonkey....file integrity is next to none other and speed is remarkably impressive (considering the chunk based downloading system). Check it out!

    1. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by UnuMondo · · Score: 2, Informative

      I also find giFT a great service. It's mostly Linux users apparently, so plenty of oggs and a great deal of music for nerds like ourselves.

      --
      GPG Key ID: 8C444E97 Fingerprint: E7BA D851 9714 8D97 C4F9 1777 8168 6913 8C44 4E97
    2. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      You mean that it is important to you to preserve the integrity of copyrighted material downloaded from these networks? What about the integrity of the copyright holder? What is he getting from you?

      --
      I refuse to create an account

    3. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by edox. · · Score: 1

      giFT is down after Jasta tookover the development,
      you can't find it on giFT ftp:.
      No new releases are out yet
      But Jasta developers are targeting its release soon

      --
      quote:port 17 udp
    4. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by Erik+Fish · · Score: 1

      Last time I tried it eMule didn't make a good drop-in replacement for Kazaa. I always recommend WinMX because it seems to work better and (unlike Kazaa/Grokster/etc.) it doesn't come with spyware.

      Sure, you could use KazaaLite or bypass Grokster's spyware manually but I would rather support a network that doesn't foist spyware on millions of clueless users.

    5. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by fault0 · · Score: 4, Informative

      The problem with eDonkey is that it's pretty centralized in terms of the way OpenNap was centralized (actually more, as there is no "networks" in eDonkey). If the RIAA/MPAA saw eDonkey as a threat, they could easily take down the individual server operators (like the RIAA once did with OpenNap server operators)

      Overnet tries to solve it, but it's just not there yet compared to KaZaA and even giFT/openFT. Hopefully it will be in the future, because I love ed2k and related services.

    6. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by fault0 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's pretty hard to find very new releases and really old/rare releases on directconnect. And the problem with fake sharing is hurting it more and more, especially with clients like dctc/dc_gui where you can type how much you want to virtually share in GB :p

    7. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'll vouch for this. eMule is several times more reliable and useful than kazaa and gnutella/2. It's extremely easy to spot fakes on eMule. It's extremely hard for systems like overpeer to work against eMule. Sharing at reasonable speeds is also forced by the client; on kazaa you constantly get downloads in the .5k/sec-2k/sec range, on eMule this rarely happens, if you have more than 20 or so sources, you are pretty much guarenteed a fast download, even on files in the gigabyte range. Network exploits are also quickly taken care of by eMules open source developers.

      Also for anybody who thinks the donkey network sucks, you have probably only tried the actual edonkey2000 client, don't use that one, it realy sucks, the author loaded it up with spyware and did a realy hack job on it (although he did a very decent job on the network protocol). Get eMule instead, it's GPL too.

    8. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by (rypto* · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Since giFT is still under heavy development, there are no "current" released files. The old releases that are available are basically not the same project, simply using the same name. After jasta "tookover" development, the project has significantly shifted in direction and has made no formal public releases since then. This is due to the extremely volatile nature of the project and we feel it would be best to withhold releases until some more APIs and protocol specifications mature and eventually freeze.
      However, with that said, we still do provide the old giFT releases for educational purposes. Please note that the old giFT used to connect to FastTrack, but due to changes made on FastTrack's part, the client was kicked off the network and thus currently cannot connect. The modern giFT now utilizes an open source reintrepetation of FastTrack's ideas.

      --
      #3 pencils and quadrille pads.
    9. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by chabotc · · Score: 5, Informative

      Incase some people do want to try out mldonkey (i would advice it), these links will allow you to hit the ground running:

      downloads:
      * edonkey2000: http://www.edonkey2000.com/ (official client page. Has a almost working linux client to.. windows client is good)

      * eMule: http://www.emule-project.net/ (considered the best windows client. Also open source)

      * mldonkey: http://www.nongnu.org/mldonkey/ (linux client, with GIU, Web & telnet interfaces. Considered 'best' on linux. Open source)

      * cdonkey: http://cdonkey.suche.org/ (some seem to like it, i don't want to touch it)

      Good content sites:

      * http://www.sharereactor.com (between its own listings, and the content in the forums, this is a unbeatable resource!)
      * http://www.filenexus.com (sharereactor 'competitor', much smaller, but does music)

      * http://www.sharedfolders.net (place where ppl can share their own 'releases' and faborites.. some good stuff can be found there, but takes a bit of work)

      Enjoy, and welcome to the donkey file sharing world ;-)

    10. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by bsharitt · · Score: 5, Informative

      For the Mac users there's Jim, which is a giFT client. It can be found here. Binaries and all. I've found the network to be much better that Limewire and all those Gnutella clients, although there isn't as much content yet(that's why more people need to use is).

    11. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by GeckoFood · · Score: 2, Informative

      ...file integrity is next to none...

      Shall we assume you meant second to none? If you really meant "next to none" then it's a wonder anyone uses it at all!

      --
      Be excellent to each other. And... PARTY ON, DUDES!
    12. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by Dwedit · · Score: 1

      Emule doesn't work at all for my private IP address, but DC++ works fine.

    13. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by bogie · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "but I would rather support a network that doesn't foist spyware "

      So basically your saying your giving the moral highground to a service that is "better" for committing priacy and copyright infringement as opposed to one that fosters spyware?

      --
      If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
    14. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by fault0 · · Score: 1

      > although there isn't as much content yet(that's why more people need to use is).

      Of course, once giFT is released, and win32 frontends are released unto download.com and the like, I think this will change.

    15. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by fluxrad · · Score: 1

      You gotta love that one of the download links for eMule is hosted by Time Warner.

      Can we take this to court as an implied acceptance of eMule filesharing?

      ;-)

      --
      "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
    16. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by shdragon · · Score: 1

      lemme make sure I understand this MODERATORS. An AC vouches for Y piece of software being more useful/easier/better which is then vouched for by ANOTHER AC and somehow these comments get modded up? Exactly what makes them so interesting or informative?

      <rant>
      I'm sorry, I know this is offtopic but it is something that needs to be addressed and I feel here in the forum where a clear example is shown is the best place. I have been on /. a long time and I believe it's high time to that moderators actually FOLLOW the moderation guidelines as opposed to just modding up/down opinions they agree or disagree with. I am convinced that meta-mod does not do enough punish/reward good moderators.
      </rant>

      --
      "...we dont care about the economics; we just want to be able to hack great stuff."
    17. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by CvD · · Score: 1

      The eDonkey people are not updating eDonkey anymore, because it was not meant to be scalable. They have started Overnet, a scalable version. This uses the same great features, file hashes, multiple source downloads, etc, but does not need central peer index servers.

      FileNexus and ShareReactor work in Overnet too. They can take ed2k links and download them. These indexing services are really a very cool feature. No more wondering which file will probably be the one you are looking for and hoping for the best.

      I run Overnet under `screen` on my linux server, which works beautifully. Download speeds vary a lot, but eDonkey/Overnet is generally a P2P app you start up, and then come back a week later to find a whole bunch of files downloaded.

      Have fun peer to peering. :-)

      Cheers,

      Costyn.

    18. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by Jugalator · · Score: 1

      I have two problems with DC:

      1. Minimum share restrictions. The hubs with most varied content usually requires 50 Gb+ shared material. I'll never buy a new hard drive just for a special kind of p2p network. It's not *that* good. Many ppl "fix" the problem by sharing bogus files. Wee, watch the network quality go down the drain.

      2. The hub philosophy. I don't want to restrict myself to a couple of hubs when Kazaa is an enormous, global, network (same with Overnet). eMule seem to work in a similar fashion where one server finds another, which finds another, etc. Hubs suck when you wish to get a lot of sources for a file *or* wish to get a rare file.

      The only pro I can see about DC/DC++ is that you usually get fast download speeds since you can decide to connect to relatively local hubs that are at least in your country.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    19. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by Sarcasmooo! · · Score: 1

      I feel the need to step in here and say that, while I like eMule and most of what's been said is true, I also like eDonkey2000 and have never found one piece of spyware installed through it. And I've been running anti-spyware programs since there was only one anti-spyware program (optout, I think it was called). I'd also be hard pressed to say eMule is that much better. It has no banner ads and some nicer options in the settings menu, but it's based on the eDonkey client........it connects to the exact same servers. And eDonkey has built a following it hasn't, so there are tweaking programs and specialized server lists all around.

    20. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by Jugalator · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but there are some problems still...

      Here's a plan that should work:

      1. Design p2p client using a network offering the performance of eMule.
      2. Make it as anonymous and decentralized as FreeNet.
      3. ...? (add spyware?)
      4. Profit!

      This plan of course fails in the occasion where FreeNet offer the same performance as eMule, but I don't think it does. :-(

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    21. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by Uart · · Score: 1

      Direct connect is great if you have a private hub.

      We had one running on our college network last semester, and it worked great, downloads were fast, and there were plenty of files shared.

      When (trying to) connecting to public hubs though, I found it to be dissapointing for many of the reasons that you've stated, too many people cheat...

      OTOH, I just downloaded Jim (giFT for Mac OSX) and it actually is the best p2p network I have used so far on my mac.

      --

      Opinionated Law Student Strikes Again!
    22. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by sparrow_hawk · · Score: 1

      Huh?!? It doesn't have any "releases", but it is under active development and can be downloaded through CVS. It's all nicely laid out in their documentation, and any Linux user with command-line experience should find it a breeze. It's a great alternative to KaZaA for Linux users (myself included)!

    23. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by krist0 · · Score: 1

      Bittorrent.
      Forces you to share....reminds me of school. The kids who wouldnt share where forced to in the end....your download ability is determined by your upload ability.

      Makes everyone "honest"
      course I am sure some sad bastard has hacked the client already, but still, its good in theory.

      --
      all you are, is all you are, i'm so sorry for you.
    24. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by WereTiger · · Score: 2, Interesting

      To satisfy my curiosity, I followed your advice and tried eMule.

      thus far, I'd consider it poorer-than-average.

      On Kazaa I routinely get downloads of 50k/s and even if I'm not, at least my upstream is being used somewhat efficiently. On Emule my upstream is barely being used (I'm sharing 44 Gigs of files, and have almost 400 uploads queued, and for some reason it's barely doing 1.5k/s?) and in 3 hours I've gotten 1 Meg of a Gig's worth of queued files with over 80 sources altogether.

      Kazaa does better than this. although I love the chunked network system idea, it doesn't seem to be 'working'.

      --
      If you're hearing rhetoric about Linux, open source, or Mac and everyone's bashing Microsoft, you've found Slashdot.
    25. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by WereTiger · · Score: 1

      I'm sharing the same files, and queuing the same files as I have shared and queued on Kazaa. and they're movies (anime episodes, to be specific)

      I wouldn't compare apples and oranges :P

      --
      If you're hearing rhetoric about Linux, open source, or Mac and everyone's bashing Microsoft, you've found Slashdot.
    26. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by Tomble · · Score: 1

      Hmm, I didn't see him make any mention of the moral highground. I think he was simply making the very fair and sensible point that it is better to both deal with and help those groups that do something for you without trying to kick you in the balls at the same time. I don't think that makes him particularly hypocritical.

      --
      Be careful! New moon tonight.
    27. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by ledestin · · Score: 1

      YMMV, but Kazaa and eMule aren't as anime-centered as WinMX. I'm usually able to get what I need, though speeds aren't high, but, well, I can wait.

    28. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by WereTiger · · Score: 1

      Wasn't having any problem on Kazaa, decent speeds even on anime.

      --
      If you're hearing rhetoric about Linux, open source, or Mac and everyone's bashing Microsoft, you've found Slashdot.
    29. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by Archon · · Score: 1

      So basically your saying your giving the moral highground to a service that is "better" for committing priacy and copyright infringement as opposed to one that fosters spyware?

      No "moral highgrounds" are traversed here, I believe. Support in this case is given to the set of tools that interferes the least with an individual's goals. Namely, transferring files efficently without other things to worry about (spyware).

      Say you had two handguns. One operated as a normal pistol but the ammunition was harder to obtain, the other used easier-to-find ammo but each gun had a secret GPS installed in the handle that radioed its location back to the manufacturer. Now, even if you used the gun to shoot busloads of schoolchildren, you might rightly say that the non-GPS gun is a better gun, something you'd purchase and from a manufacturer you'd support. What you actually do with the gun is of no consequence to the decision... or this argument.

    30. Re:Kazaa vs eMule by danro · · Score: 1

      committing priacy and copyright infringement

      Copyright infringement i can understand, but piracy?
      What the hell has either of those services to do with the crime of piracy? Piracy is a very rare crime in the western hemisphere nowadays, but I hear it is still pretty common in the chinese sea.

      --

      "First lesson," Jon said. "Stick them with the pointy end."
  4. Whatever by drunkmonk · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is a measure/countermeasure race, one that the RIAA/MPAA cannot win. Technology changes faster than litigation can be processed, so for every Kazaa that is shut down, the people who are going to develop the next generation of file-sharing utilities will learn from the mistakes made, both legal and technological, and create better tools. There's only so much that litigation can do to prop up a failing business model.

    1. Re:Whatever by ergo98 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I read these sorts of posts as a "leave my playground alone!" sort of petulant rant justifying why P2P is inevitable so therefore they should just suck it (and people have been spewing this trash since the Commodore 64 and disc duping, berating how copy protection is just a waste and technologically the business model is failing.)

      Here's a thought for you, though: Next year there are zero movies and zero commercial music releases. Before you hurrah about how great that would be for the world as all of the independent acts with "much more talent" comes to the forefront, take a peek at your current collection of video and music files. I'll bet a pretty good coinage that it's all Dixie Chicks, Britney Spears and n'Sync. Such is the nature of the horribly hypocritical pro-P2P community: Giveme givem giveme, but can your failing business model. Good old tragedy of the commons playing out on the P2P networks.

      Here's another thought for you -- When big music and big movies fail at thwarting P2P "at the top", they will, and this is a guarantee, start booting in doors and arresting/suing Joe Average for running Limewire and grabbing what appears to be a copyright movie or song. Before you rant about how technologically they couldn't do that, realize that they could with no trouble at all: Tracking down P2P users would be absolutely trivial. Contrary to the YRO sentiment believed on Slashdot, the majority of the general populace would support such actions if presented with big media's side of things.

    2. Re:Whatever by swillden · · Score: 4, Insightful

      When big music and big movies fail at thwarting P2P "at the top", they will, and this is a guarantee, start booting in doors and arresting/suing Joe Average for running Limewire and grabbing what appears to be a copyright movie or song.

      Suing your customers is a somewhat questionable business model. I can't think of a single thing they could do that would kill them more quickly.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    3. Re:Whatever by ergo98 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Suing your customers is a somewhat questionable business model.

      The idea is that they aren't your customers anymore than catching someone sneaking over the fence at the ballpark is prosecuting your "customer". Yeah some people strangely use P2P to grab copies of CDs that they own (a logic that is highly perplexing), but contrary to the "that's the majority" portrayal on Slashdot, overwhelmingly P2P is about people grabbing the latest hit song that they heard on the radio, or a divx of some movie (purportedly because they want a much lower quality version of the DVD they already own...)

    4. Re:Whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Suing your customers is a somewhat questionable business model.

      The idea is that they aren't your customers anymore than catching someone sneaking over the fence at the ballpark is prosecuting your "customer".


      That person still buys hotdogs (at incredably inflated prices!), beer (same), team merchandise, etc, etc, etc. So yes, they are a 'customer'.

      overwhelmingly P2P is about people grabbing the latest hit song that they heard on the radio,

      You mean they heard it FOR FREE on the radio?? And now they want to hear it for free again on their computer?

    5. Re:Whatever by Rojo^ · · Score: 1
      . . .for every Kazaa that is shut down. . .

      From the article:
      If [the judge] does find in favor of Hollywood, then what? The law may take out Hemming and Zennström, but it can't stop a peer-to-peer network that requires no central entity to run. Ultimately, the power to snuff Kazaa rests solely in the hands of Kazaa users. Getting them to do so means first giving them a better place to go.
      I wholeheartedly agree with your comment, but I also agree with the article's point of view that Kazaa isn't on its way out. If Sharman networks is forced out of business, who will force music pirates to stop running software that has no dependency on Sharman networks once it's been coded, posted and downloaded? For that matter, what effect will Kazaa's demise have on Kazaa Lite or Diet Kazaa, which users can also use to access the fast track network? This network seems to be as permanent as the web, Usenet or IRC. It would be as easy to enforce a ban on the fast track network as, say, Usenet or IRC, which are not only other legitimate networks, but also vehicles of piracy.

      In other words, shutting down Kazaa would be about as effective as dismantling mIRC where there also exists xchat, bitchx, pirch, etc.
      --
      <:
    6. Re:Whatever by happy+monday · · Score: 1

      I'll bet a pretty good coinage that it's all Dixie Chicks, Britney Spears and n'Sync.

      Bullshit. That is so much bullshit. That kind of music would not be missed. Anybody can produce music, and without the help of conglomerates.

    7. Re:Whatever by ergo98 · · Score: 1

      Bullshit. That is so much bullshit. That kind of music would not be missed. Anybody can produce music, and without the help of conglomerates.

      What exactly is your point? My point is that right now anybody can produce music, and without the help of the conglomerates, yet overwhelmingly P2P is full of the conglomerates music!

    8. Re:Whatever by swillden · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The idea is that they aren't your customers anymore than catching someone sneaking over the fence at the ballpark is prosecuting your "customer".

      You're wrong.

      The largest music-buying demographic is teenagers and college students, and they're also, as a whole, a group that frowns on "the establishment". In addition, even though they do buy a huge amount of music, in this demographic pretty much *everyone* downloads music, at least occasionally.

      So, even if the RIAA only goes after the most hardcore P2Pers, the fact is that the group as a whole will see it as a personal attack by established corporate interests.

      In short, the RIAA will seriously piss off a huge part of their customer base. It'll kill them.

      As far as the ballpark analogy, consider that the ballparks just kick the kids out, they don't file trespassing charges against them. In the long run it's not even such a bad thing if the kids succeed in watching the occasional game -- just helps to ensure that they're going to be lifelong fans that will buy season tickets when they're adults and can afford it. In other words, the kids don't end up hating the baseball league, and that's important.

      Yeah some people strangely use P2P to grab copies of CDs that they own (a logic that is highly perplexing)

      Why is that perplexing? Personally, I'd rather rip and encode them myself (I like oggs with -q 6), but I can certainly see how it would be more convenient for some people to download them. I have helped my wife download copies of some music that she only has on vinyl (and can't buy on CD because it's never been published on CD). I have hooked my record player up to my computer, recorded the signal, post-processed it to clean it up and then compressed it, but it's a huge amount of work -- so I look to see if I can download it first. Also, I have downloaded copies of songs from to replace the ones I lost when my CDs got damaged.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    9. Re:Whatever by God!+Awful+2 · · Score: 1


      Suing your customers is a somewhat questionable business model. I can't think of a single thing they could do that would kill them more quickly.

      Nonono... suing celebrities is a poor business model. That's why Saks 5th Avenue didn't want to pursue the case against Winona.

      Suing 'customers' doesn't do much damage. The reason is that only a small percentage (say 10%) of consumers base their purchasing decisions on moral outrage. While a disproportionate number of people may post on /., they don't represent the mood of the public as a whole.

      -a

      -a

    10. Re:Whatever by rhizome · · Score: 1

      Uh, no. Your speculation falls flat.

      --
      When I was a kid, we only had one Darth.
    11. Re:Whatever by swillden · · Score: 1

      The reason is that only a small percentage (say 10%) of consumers base their purchasing decisions on moral outrage.

      Yeah? Wait until everyone knows a guy down the street who got his door kicked in.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    12. Re:Whatever by Christopher+Thomas · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So, even if the RIAA only goes after the most hardcore P2Pers, the fact is that the group as a whole will see it as a personal attack by established corporate interests.

      In short, the RIAA will seriously piss off a huge part of their customer base. It'll kill them.


      I doubt it.

      They'll whine and gnash their teeth and buy the CDs anyways. This is the same demographic that says "music group X has sold out!" and buys all of their stuff anyways, and who will watch TV for hours on end while complaining that there's nothing good on.

      As for prosecution, the only people hit will be the suppliers with gigabytes of music or hundreds of movies. Most people won't be directly under attack, and so will barely notice. Remember pirate boards in BBS days? The boards, not the users, were the ones hit. It was actually even more selective than that; the boards specializing in credit card fraud and kiddie porn were hit, while the smaller fish were ignored. This is a natural consequence of the prosecuting organization's resources being limited. Joe User didn't really care; there were always more boards.

      What happens for Joe User is that their favourite boards go down, it becomes harder for them to find what they want online, so they pester their parents to buy $item instead of spending hours looking for it.

      Sharing can't be eliminated, but it can be made inconvenient, which is good enough. And people will still buy things no matter what.

    13. Re:Whatever by rking · · Score: 1

      When big music and big movies fail at thwarting P2P "at the top", they will, and this is a guarantee, start booting in doors and arresting/suing Joe Average for running Limewire and grabbing what appears to be a copyright movie or song.

      They could sue, sure, and I'd expect that to happen at some point to make a number of "example" cases. I'm not convinced that it'll help much but it's certainly worth them trying. I can't see any basis for arrests though, nor for booting in doors.

      Tracking down P2P users would be absolutely trivial.

      Agreed. On any "standard" system at least, the ip address is going to be easily available to anyone you're downloading from or uploading to. With appropriate court orders they're going to be able to match ip to name+address in enough cases to be able to make those examples.

      Contrary to the YRO sentiment believed on Slashdot, the majority of the general populace would support such actions if presented with big media's side of things.

      This is where I don't agree with you. The whole argument is supposed to be that most people are all for file sharing. That's the justification for the DMCA and all the rest of it. It's the reason why they would be suing people at all. If you believe that it's a minority who are sharing files and that the majority are shocked by this then there's no need for any of this. The whole problem (from the perspective of the RIAA and MPAA) is that (at least they believe) most people will eagerly join in with the file sharing. Most people don't have any moral problem with it. Try asking a few friends.

      If the RIAA et al can get the support of the majority then that's all they need, no further action is required.

    14. Re:Whatever by leviramsey · · Score: 1

      Here's a project for you. Start up a P2P app that allows you to log every search request that comes in (I know there's some giFT clients that do this... I believe that other file-sharing systems support this). I did this informally and I saw a lot more search requests for Britney et al than anything else (apart from "lesbian XXX video" and such).

    15. Re:Whatever by AtariKee · · Score: 1

      "Before you hurrah about how great that would be for the world as all of the independent acts with "much more talent" comes to the forefront, take a peek at your current collection of video and music files. I'll bet a pretty good coinage that it's all Dixie Chicks, Britney Spears and n'Sync." Generalizing, are we?

      I don't know about *you*, but I don't "consume" the crap that you list above. With some exceptions, there hasn't been a movie made in years that is even worth the time to download, much less rent or view in a theatre. And don't EVEN get me started on the overproduced, talentless, sound-a-like crap that took the place of music, oh, say, 7-8 years ago.

      Not everyone is a consuming, brainless slob like the type you characterize here.

      --
      "You're getting brutal, Sark. Brutal and needlessly sadistic."
      "Thank you, Master Control"
      -Sark and the MCP
    16. Re:Whatever by roman_mir · · Score: 1
      The largest music-buying demographic is teenagers and college students, and they're also, as a whole, a group that frowns on "the establishment".

      My man, that is where you are wrong. This is what the labels will have you believe, but it is just not true. The music labels will die because they have neglected their real customers aged from 28....into 60. This is where their real bread and butter is and this is the public that they have worked so hard to dismiss within the past, oh say, 20 years!

      Britney Spears is just not appealing to these people, in fact no big superstars are appealing to this people. There should be well established authors and singers - look at the Stones, they still make tons of money from old content, they go on the tours and make money, and the ticket prices are not that low!

      High school and college students on the other hand are more likely to download their music, that is why labels are falling down.

    17. Re:Whatever by ergo98 · · Score: 1

      The whole argument is supposed to be that most people are all for file sharing. That's the justification for the DMCA and all the rest of it. It's the reason why they would be suing people at all. If you believe that it's a minority who are sharing files and that the majority are shocked by this then there's no need for any of this.

      File sharing, just like piracy, is a prisoner's dilemma type of circumstance: Most people know that it's wrong, but they do it only because they feel that everyone else is doing it and they don't want to be left behind (sort of like pirate satellite theft): If there was enforcement these people would all wrap up their activities as a "well I knew they'd stop it some day" and wouldn't disagree or go against enforcement whatsoever. Did you know that something like 80% of the wealth is held by 15% of the people in North America? Surely that other 85% wants it though, right? Let's go get it then because out gang mentality and thuggery can get our way, right? Of course not. Thankfully most people don't think that way.

    18. Re:Whatever by llamaluvr · · Score: 1

      Most people don't have any moral problem with it. Try asking a few friends.

      Just because everybody else does it does not mean it's right.

      Jeesh. I sound like somebody's mom.

      --
      Insightful: 76, Off-Topic: 379, Flamebait: 24, Funny: 152, Interesting: 201, Underrated: 55, Troll: 9, Total: 896
    19. Re:Whatever by ergo98 · · Score: 1

      Okay you've established that you're an elitist contrarian that burrows his brows at the dullard, brainless mobs. Are you a 17-year old "goth"? (Of course it's oft laughable: These "Contrarians" are usually just as brainless as they shun everything that's popular just because it's popular. That is absolutely no different, or deserving of more merit, than those who follow what's popular just because it's popular).

      However my point was that Kazaa et. all thrive almost entirely upon mainstream movies and music contrary to the delusional claims to the contrary. Are there people sharing freeware/garage band music and homemade movies? Maybe a couple. However they are overwhelmingly outnumbed by those who are copying the mainstream.

    20. Re:Whatever by happy+monday · · Score: 1

      Well, I'm just saying that if Next year there are zero movies and zero commercial music releases it wouldn't be such a big deal is all. Not to me anyway. Bands would still want to make tunes and would do so. I wouldn't be shedding any tears for all those out-of-work record company execs.

    21. Re:Whatever by cyberformer · · Score: 1

      The other problem with the baseball park analogy is that a baseball park has a finite size and seating capacity. People who sneak in may occupy seats that could otherwise be sold, block the view of paying customers, lengthen the lines at concessions/bathrooms, and (very slighly) increase the expense of cleaning and maintaining the park. None of this applies to copyright infringement.

    22. Re:Whatever by elandal · · Score: 1

      Whose collection of video and music are you talking about? At least not mine..

      Last year I spent over 5kEUR on DVDs and CDs. While in the meantime I downloaded similar content by gigabytes and uploaded by terabytes. Oh yes, I do have some Hollywood content, too, but that's all bought, not downloaded, because that I see on TV, too. Non-hollywood content I won't be seeing on TV or hearing on radio, so I have to download, watch/listen, and then buy.

    23. Re:Whatever by mOdQuArK! · · Score: 1
      Just because everybody else does it does not mean it's right.

      Similarly, just because the law says that it's illegal doesn't mean it's wrong. Everybody has to make their own decisions about morality, even if that decision is to blindly follow what other people tell them is moral.

      Most people are willing to accept that if you don't hurt somebody else by your actions, then there's nothing wrong with your actions.

    24. Re:Whatever by llamaluvr · · Score: 1

      but you are hurting the copyright owners...you're stealing from them. You can argue that people keep buying music and movies so it's okay to give out some for free. But the fact that 60 million people are on Kaaza, and most of them have the intention of downloading copyrighted works without compensating the folks who made them- there's gotta be some "hurt" going on there.

      Anytime you refuse to compensate somebody for services rendered, somebody's losing money.

      --
      Insightful: 76, Off-Topic: 379, Flamebait: 24, Funny: 152, Interesting: 201, Underrated: 55, Troll: 9, Total: 896
    25. Re:Whatever by mOdQuArK! · · Score: 1
      but you are hurting the copyright owners...you're stealing from them.

      No you're not. The copyright owners haven't lost anything that they already had. They've only lost a "chance" to get money, a chance which exists _only_ because of legislation, not because of any true concept of providing a good or service. In a true free market, they would've never gotten that extra money in the first place. Any normal business owner which complained about "losing" money because everybody wasn't giving them money after that business had performed a service for one person sometime in the past, would be laughed out of court.

      But the fact that 60 million people are on Kaaza, and most of them have the intention of downloading copyrighted works without compensating the folks who made them- there's gotta be some "hurt" going on there.

      No, there isn't (except in some people's minds).

      Anytime you refuse to compensate somebody for services rendered, somebody's losing money.

      Incorrect. If this were a true market, then content creators would be paid for whatever good they created or service rendered - _at the time that the good was provided or the service rendered_. There is no particular moral obligation for me (or anyone else) to pay them _every time_ that particular piece of content changes hands, since they have already been paid when they created the work & handed it over to the first buyer.

      "Copyright", and other forms of intellectual "property", are highly artificial market concepts. We (society) allowed them to come into being in the hopes that they would encourage more content production for public usage, _not_ to enrich particular individuals or corporate entities. (I sincerely doubt that these concepts would have made it into the Constitution if the founders thought that intellectual "property" was only good for enriching individuals/corporate entities.)

      If we (society) can see that that these concepts are not achieving the results that we wanted (producing large amounts of high-quality content for public usage), then we shouldn't be supporting these concepts.

    26. Re:Whatever by AtariKee · · Score: 1

      The second part of your comment makes a bit of sense. But you lost me when you started generalizing about my manners and habits. Your weak insults do nothing but prove that you're just mad that I'm right and you're wrong.

      And yes, I *am* an elitist. Got a problem with that?

      --
      "You're getting brutal, Sark. Brutal and needlessly sadistic."
      "Thank you, Master Control"
      -Sark and the MCP
  5. Interesting ads by LiftOp · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Fascinating to me that media companies like DirecTV and Netflix bought ad space. Netflix, I suppose, must be something of a thorn in the side of moviemakers (no reason to ever BUY a DVD), but DirecTV?

    It's hard to condemn someone and still profit from their popularity.

    1. Re:Interesting ads by proj_2501 · · Score: 2, Informative

      DirecTV is actually owned by GM.

    2. Re:Interesting ads by slaad · · Score: 1

      DirecTV is not owned by GM. It is owned by Hughes, which was owned by GM, but spun off last year.

      --


      ~Warning!~ The above is encrypted using rot676!
    3. Re:Interesting ads by leviramsey · · Score: 1
      DirecTV is actually owned by GM.

      For now, at least. It's blatantly obvious that News Corporation (Rupert Murdoch) will buy DirecTV once GM puts it on the block again. He needs it so he can give Sky (which also owns his Asian Star TV assets) a truly global reach, as well as give him a nice bargaining chip against AOLTW. Most likely, he cashed a lot of chips in Washington with the Republicans to get the EchoStar/DirecTV merger canned (Murdoch is the most prominent right-wing media baron in the world... his British papers are even more rabidly conservative than his New York Post).

    4. Re:Interesting ads by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      "Make no mistake, DirectTV would sell its own mother into prostitution if (whenever) it can. These lying/stealing/cheating/ maybe even murdering pack of thieves (just ask thier stock holders) are a blight on the ass of society."

      This flamebait brought to you by your nice, friendly neighborhood Time-Warner Cable provider!

    5. Re:Interesting ads by proj_2501 · · Score: 1

      You sure about the "spinning off" part?

      "However, parent company General Motors (GM: news, chart, profile) said recently it is considering all its options, including spinning off DirecTV, keeping it or inviting other strategic partners."

      From CBS MarketWatch, January 22, 2003

      Hughes' stock symbol is GMH, and they're often mentioned in GM press releases and earnings reports.

    6. Re:Interesting ads by NaDrew · · Score: 1

      "You work for the cable company, don't you."
      "Uh, yeah."
      "Yeah."

      --
      Vista:XPSP2::ME:98SE
    7. Re:Interesting ads by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      "but DirecTV?"

      They put commercials on cable TV channels as well. DirecTV is a content provider (as opposed to a content owner) attempting to compete directly with another content provider (ie. Kazaa). While they don't have some of the advantages Kazaa has (Kazaa is free and offers instant gratification), DirecTV provides better quality content (digital music, movie channels) for about the same price as the monthly cost of a broadband connection.

      They're attempting to compete in an open market without resorting to trying to buy their own legislation. What a concept!

    8. Re:Interesting ads by nelsonal · · Score: 1

      There are spin offs and spin offs in Wall Street parlance. A real spin off would distribute all of the shares in a subsidiary to the current shareholders. Leaving two distinct public entities, I think this is what HP did with Agilent. Also cited by the market press as a spin off is when a company sells or distributes a smaller percentage of a subsidary, but keeps either the majority or a large minority stake. This is what GM has done with Hughes, but they did recently decide that they will sell the rest, I think they would consider about any reasonable cash offer, since their pension will need a considerable cash infusion, and their 0% financing has reduced their cash flow generation for the near future.

      --
      Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
  6. How? by nightherper · · Score: 1
    isn't Kazaa just software that runs on a P2P network? I thought they couldn't kill this kind of sharing. If the company making the client is gone, wouldn't you just download an archived copy and use it, or switch to another client?

    Could someone explain a little bit more on this?

    I stopped trying to leech long ago. It's just not very fun with a 56k.

    --

    ...

    1. Re:How? by swordgeek · · Score: 4, Informative

      Fairly simple. Kazaa is a proprietary client using a specific, 'proprietary' protocol[1]. There's only one company behind it, even if the distribution itself is well, distributed.

      Now something like Gnutella is going to be near impossible to kill.

      [1]proprietary is in quotes here because the very concept of a proprietary network protocol is somewhat questionable. Suffice to say, it's not an openly revealed protocol.

      --

      "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
    2. Re:How? by james_bray · · Score: 1

      The problem lies in the licensing.

      AFAIK, Kazaa uses a closed-source proprietry licensing model. Therefore, if the host company is shutdown, further development is halted. With no updates, people will quickly switch to another P2P network (ie Gnutella) and Kazaa is effectively dead.

      --
      http://www.reeb.freeserve.co.uk
    3. Re:How? by anethema · · Score: 1

      You cant shut down a 'protocol' I'm not sure if you still have to auth with a central kazaa server, but if not, one company behind the protocol or not, you cant shut it down. Who would you shut down?

      --


      It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
  7. Leechers Suck! by Seek_1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You do realize that if all everyone did was leech then the entire system would collapse right??

    I like the way that Overnet does things. Your max download speed is 4X your upload speed. This forces people to use their upstream bandwidth, even if they're not sharing anything (which is evil in itself) as the temp files are all also shared (so anything you're downloading can be downloaded by other people until it's completed).

    1. Re:Leechers Suck! by NaDrew · · Score: 2, Insightful
      You do realize that if all everyone did was leech then the entire system would collapse right?

      If everyone (or a significant majority of everyone) set their participation level to "Supreme Being", it would just invalidate the whole "participation level" system and we'd be back where we were before it was added--from each according to his upstream, to each according to his downstream. IMO that would be a good thing. It's hard enough finding the right version of the song I'm looking for, not a bad cover or low-bitrate or RIAA-spoofed version. We don't need this artificial user rating system on top of it.
      --
      Vista:XPSP2::ME:98SE
    2. Re:Leechers Suck! by Blue+Stone · · Score: 1

      "You do realize that if all everyone did was leech then the entire system would collapse right??"

      You talking about Kazaa, or the music industry?

      --
      Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. - Ambrose Bierce
  8. Where? by skroz · · Score: 5, Funny

    How dare you! I plan to RETIRE to Vanuatu! With a land area slightly larger than Conneticut, a total population less than 200,000 people, and an economy based mostly on subsistence farming and, er, shady overseas financial deals (with a little tourism on the side,) what's not to love?

    Please note the above comments about shady financial dealings, and ask yourself again why Kazaa is incorporated there.

    For more information on vanuatu, see the CIA world Factbook.

    http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geo s/ nh.html

    --
    -- Minds are like parachutes... they work best when open.
    1. Re:Where? by epicstruggle · · Score: 2, Informative
      --
      "Im drowning here, and you're describing the water!"
    2. Re:Where? by Cyno01 · · Score: 1

      What it doesn't say is that Vanuatus chief export is actually phone sex hotlines.

      --
      "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
    3. Re:Where? by notestein · · Score: 1

      Reasons not to retire there:

      1. A severe earthquake in November 1999 followed by a tsunami, caused extensive damage to the northern island of Pentecote and left thousands homeless. Another powerful earthquake in January 2002 caused extensive damage in the capital, Port-Vila, and surrounding areas, and also was followed by a tsunami.

      2. Population 65 years and over: 3.3%. Health care issues in the middle of the Pacific? Yes!

    4. Re:Where? by nickclarke · · Score: 5, Funny

      And you'll even be safe from George W Bush:
      "the country has no known petroleum deposits"

    5. Re:Where? by palfreman · · Score: 1

      I spent a lot of my childhood in Vanuatu in the early 80s. We were there as expatriates (with time-limited residency) but even back then you had to have proven assets of over a million dollars to go live there perminantly.

  9. song = movie? by sczimme · · Score: 4, Interesting


    From the article:

    Record labels and movie studios want the services closed and fined $150,000 for each illegally traded song or movie.

    The dollar figure itself is ridiculous, but I find it interesting that the proposed fine is the same for movies and songs. Let's say the average song is 3 minutes, and the average movie is 90 minutes - i.e. 30 times the length of a song. If the movie fine were $150,000, then the fine for a song should be $5,000 (using duration as the primary factor). If the fine for a song were $150,000, well...

    Having said that, I don't believe the labels, et al will collect anything.

    --
    I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
    1. Re:song = movie? by squeakygeek · · Score: 1

      I just downloaded a song using kazaa... I just cost the recording industry $150,000? I know they have alot of money, but a bunch more of these should dry them out.

  10. Hehe, let em try. by miffo.swe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Not that i like pirating at all. In fact its one of the biggest habit holding people back from adopting open source. If poeple had to pay the fantasy prices they would be alot swifter to use open source instead of pirating. Likewise pirating is bad for independant artists and cheap labels that nobody cares about. People dont pay so they dont care about lower proces.

    Still, trying to stop pirating is totally fruitless. Next in line is shadow networks where no one is tracable. To stop one of those is next to impossible. A filter at each ISP can do the trick but it would be an enourmous task to get that implemented in every country. When its filtered just send your packets in some other protocol like vpn or ssh etc. even if they succeed stopping pirating alltogheter over the internet people still will exchange cds and dvds like back in the 90s but with new types of media.

    The cost of stopping pirating is just to big and they should spend that money on relations and better products instead of fitghting the windmills.

    --
    HTTP/1.1 400
    1. Re:Hehe, let em try. by skermit · · Score: 1

      I like to think of P2P as the digital Penny Tray. There's always something there if you need it, and if you have something to offer, it'd be nice if you put something back; doesn't mean you have to though.

      --
      -Christopher Wu
      http://www.christopherwu.net/
    2. Re:Hehe, let em try. by JohnFluxx · · Score: 1

      They could switch to attacking the people downloading the stuff.
      They bust a random load of people and make an example out of them. Just fine them say £1000 or so. I know that I would ban kazaa from all my computers if I knew that they were randomly fining people.

    3. Re:Hehe, let em try. by PyromanFO · · Score: 2, Funny

      Its like that, only its a fraction of a penny and we do it a couple of million times. Whats wrong with that?

      BTW, I use Kaaza, just a joke :)

    4. Re:Hehe, let em try. by james_bray · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Thats extremely unlikely to happen.

      Actually enforcing such a scheme, even just for US netizens, would be a very difficult task.

      Not only that, but Im fairly sure that tracking people (and consequently collecting information about them) would be an illegal act in itself.

      No, the only way to combat music-sharing is to fight on the same turf. Setup a secure server; allow people to download tracks for a small(er) fee. Offer additional features, competitions, chances to win things etc. Give them a reason to pay for the music online, and maybe they will...

      Just my $0.02...

      --
      http://www.reeb.freeserve.co.uk
    5. Re:Hehe, let em try. by surprise_audit · · Score: 5, Interesting
      A filter at each ISP can do the trick but it would be an enourmous task to get that implemented in every country. When its filtered just send your packets in some other protocol like vpn or ssh etc

      Is anyone using HTTPS yet? That would be tough to block, because they'd be interfering with inter-state commerce, and if I recall correctly, that would run smack into the Constitution...

      As for getting filters implemented in every country, that'll pretty soon take care of itself. When every PC in the US has the "Trusted Platform" chip built in, the Internet will fragment into two parts - the USA and Everyone Else. This will be due to the Trusted Platform equipment in the USA not letting itself talk to the non-Trusted Platform equipment in the European Union and elsewhere.

    6. Re:Hehe, let em try. by SonicBurst · · Score: 1

      Boy, I wonder how many people will get that reference. Hehe, hats off to you though for coming up with it...wish I had!

      --

      Geek used to be a four letter word. Now it's a six-figure one.
    7. Re:Hehe, let em try. by Sacarino · · Score: 1

      This is not a mundane detail, Michael!

      heh.

      --
      -- El Sacarino tiene gusto de la chocha
    8. Re:Hehe, let em try. by Erwin-42 · · Score: 1

      It has already happened -- here in Denmark. The Anti-Piracy Group acquired warrants to find identities of file sharers (with blessing of copyright holders, of course) and sent them letters demanding reparations. 125 people paid up a total of 305 thousand Danish kroner. This happened about 2 months ago (here's a wired story about this: http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,56717,00 .html )

      It seems however that they decided to change their style in the future: they will search for people that share illegal files but only demand a written declaration that the file sharing will stop.

    9. Re:Hehe, let em try. by happylight · · Score: 1

      office space?

    10. Re:Hehe, let em try. by SonicBurst · · Score: 1

      Ding Ding! We have a winner! Such a funny movie, that was.

      --

      Geek used to be a four letter word. Now it's a six-figure one.
    11. Re:Hehe, let em try. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      As for getting filters implemented in every country, that'll pretty soon take care of itself. When every PC in the US has the "Trusted Platform" chip built in, the Internet will fragment into two parts - the USA and Everyone Else. This will be due to the Trusted Platform equipment in the USA not letting itself talk to the non-Trusted Platform equipment in the European Union and elsewhere.

      Anyone who thinks the EU will hold out for more than a week in the face of pressure from the US govenment AND the global megacorps is living in a fantasy. Your Palladium is coming, Europe, and your leaders won't have the backbone to try and stop it. In 10 years, the only place you will be able to get TCPA/Pd free computers will be a few third-world nations, and those will be slapped with a trade embargo. Once the US government declares a "war on copyright piracy" everyone else will toe the line, just like they did for our "war on drugs" and "war on terrorism".

    12. Re:Hehe, let em try. by JohnFluxx · · Score: 1

      And has it worked?

    13. Re:Hehe, let em try. by surprise_audit · · Score: 1
      Actually, that was kind of tongue-in-cheek, not meant to be completely serious. Everybody with two braincells to rub together knows that trying to replace all the PCs in this country with DRM-enabled hardware is going to be like trying to place a limit on "the right to bear arms".

      What we really need is a way to convince the NRA that DRM is just a short step away from making privately owned assault weapons illegal. (No, I don't know how to do that, but I'm a-thinkin'...).

      Um, how about "my PC is my weapon in the fight against terrorism" and DRM is the federally mandated trigger-lock of the PC world...

    14. Re:Hehe, let em try. by Saeger · · Score: 1
      Is anyone using HTTPS yet? That would be tough to block

      If the mainstream began to tunnel p2p via https you could bet that they might argue for traffic shaping rather than outright blocking since they can no longer sniff packet contents... "in the interest of national security" of course, even though true "terrorists" don't need gigabytes to communicate, but the "pirate terrorists" do. Have to prove your innocence like a good citizen by communicating in cleartext and/or giving Microsoft root.

      --

      --
      Power to the Peaceful
    15. Re:Hehe, let em try. by meringuoid · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Um, how about "my PC is my weapon in the fight against terrorism" and DRM is the federally mandated trigger-lock of the PC world...

      If, as the US government once argued, PGP is a munition, then a PC is a weapon.

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
    16. Re:Hehe, let em try. by meringuoid · · Score: 1
      Anyone who thinks the EU will hold out for more than a week in the face of pressure from the US govenment AND the global megacorps is living in a fantasy.

      Is this the same EU that was quite happy to fight trade wars with the USA over such things as bananas and steel? And are these megacorps the ones that are overwhelmingly US-based and generally not European? Sure, there's a big incentive for the EU to look after Hollywood's interests...

      Your Palladium is coming, Europe, and your leaders won't have the backbone to try and stop it. In 10 years, the only place you will be able to get TCPA/Pd free computers will be a few third-world nations, and those will be slapped with a trade embargo. Once the US government declares a "war on copyright piracy" everyone else will toe the line, just like they did for our "war on drugs" and "war on terrorism".

      Yeah, war on terror, just look at the way France and Germany are going right along with Georgie's war plan without any complaints. And war on drugs, too; America's great campaign against people enjoying themselves certainly affected the decisions of the Dutch government. Oh, and it's not called Palladium any more... haven't you been paying attention today?

      --
      Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
    17. Re:Hehe, let em try. by surprise_audit · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Woohoo!! In which case, it's not a long step towards classifying Microsoft as a manufacturer of munitions and then they come under government control, right?

      Of course, I'm not sure if that would be a good thing or a bad thing..

  11. kazaa by pummer · · Score: 3, Informative

    KaZaA, as we know, is laden with spyware. use kazaalite.

    1. Re:kazaa by edox. · · Score: 5, Informative

      Diet Kazaa is much better than kazaalite you can change your nearest supernode[find a t1 or higher super node]. It has ip browser that show the ip address of the remote user. It blocks upgrade notice. You can customize ur kazaa remove the media bar, remove the menu bar etc.. all that kazaalite lacks

      .

      --
      quote:port 17 udp
    2. Re:kazaa by (rypto* · · Score: 5, Informative

      Get it here Its worth endorsement

      --
      #3 pencils and quadrille pads.
    3. Re:kazaa by (rypto* · · Score: 1

      Its this attitude that doen't allow open source to grow.
      They don't make profit so that means they are fucking weak?heh!

      _

      --
      #3 pencils and quadrille pads.
    4. Re:kazaa by pummer · · Score: 1

      whose popup ads? My version of k-lite has none.

  12. Re:What the RIAA should do. by Seek_1 · · Score: 1

    So you're basically advocating one company stealing a competing company's property right? So like if I'm your neighbour and I like your car better than mine, I can just go over and steal it because it was making me feel bad about myself?

  13. Vanuatu by errxn · · Score: 5, Informative

    I got curious, so I checked it out. It's a small island nation in the South Pacific. Here's a map, for the interested:

    --
    In Soviet Russia, Chuck Norris will still kick your ass.
  14. Why can't they win? by glrotate · · Score: 4, Interesting

    These ventures require money. Who will want to risk money on a venture that has a high likelyhood of getting smashed?

    Whack-a-mole Napster, Whack-a-mole Kazaa.

    Who's next?

    The other Ace in the hole that the RIAA has is going after users. Wait till they sue 500 or so of the most pernicious "sharers" at your local university. Would you step in to replace them?

    1. Re:Why can't they win? by Hobbex · · Score: 4, Interesting

      These ventures require money. Who will want to risk money on a venture that has a high likelyhood of getting smashed?

      No they don't. These networks are entirely self supporting, and could well be supported by free software projects.

      As always, the free projects are taking longer to mature then the proprietary once, but they are coming along. Look at EMule and DC++ for instance.

      I think that they could possibly kill the "global" P2P systems if they managed to effectively attack and fine people who are sharing data. As it is, the worst thing that can happen if you share is that you get told to stop - if there was a substantial chance that sharing files meant a $100 ticket, they would dry out pretty fast.

      (I wrote "global" because I think in such a case people would start trading in closed circles, relying on the six degrees of seperation for files to get around.)

    2. Re:Why can't they win? by Anonynnous+Coward · · Score: 1
      Wait till they sue 500 or so of the most pernicious "sharers" at your local university. Would you step in to replace them?

      And more importantly, once the RIAA clearly turns the guns directly on its potential customers, will they miraculously start buying the music they're afraid to share? I seriously doubt it. Expect a rise of face-to-face trading.

    3. Re:Why can't they win? by fault0 · · Score: 1

      Yup, and there is also giFT, which unlike DC++ and emule, work on a completely open protocol. giFT works very similarily to how fasttrack networks like KaZaA work, and was once even able to connect to KaZaA before the kazaa developers changed the protocol to break giFT.

    4. Re:Why can't they win? by artemis67 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      These ventures require money. Who will want to risk money on a venture that has a high likelyhood of getting smashed?

      90 million captive users watching your banner ads while they download? This is a golden business model of cat-and-mouse; by the time the courts shut them down, they will have made hundreds of millions, stashed away in private overseas accounts, and then they just declare bankruptcy to avoid paying anything out.

      The reward is too great to discourage future Kazaa-wannabees, and all that is going to happen is that the rogue file swappers will perfect their business models based on all of the previous litigation and judgements. I suspect the RIAA will exhaust their legal war chest before they make a dent in online file swapping.

      It just reinforces the fact that the music industry needs to offer a competitive product (not the token ones they are tossing us now). Start selling songs, from .50 to $1.50, and give the owner complete control over the file. Will that be enough to stop online music piracy? Of course not, but music piracy existed long before Napster came along.

    5. Re:Why can't they win? by Planesdragon · · Score: 1

      As it is, the worst thing that can happen if you share is that you get told to stop - if there was a substantial chance that sharing files meant a $100 ticket, they would dry out pretty fast.

      See http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html

      Even if we make the system so efficient that the RIAA only needs to spend one hour of lawyer time per offender to get an injunction, and all that they ask for is an injunction and legal fees, the costs of a civil suit could easily exceed $100.

      If you're file sharing, the ONLY things keeping you from a rather nasty civil suit are your obscurity and the time the RIAA would have to spend to take you down if they found you.

    6. Re:Why can't they win? by Hobbex · · Score: 1

      If you're file sharing, the ONLY things keeping you from a rather nasty civil suit are your obscurity and the time the RIAA would have to spend to take you down if they found you.

      Yes, and those reasons are strong enough that you do not need to fear the civil suit.

      It's like if they had to file suit against people who park illegally for "misuse of property" or something like that. Yes, it would cost a lot more money to mispark, but on the hand, the system could not possibly prosecute every person so the chance of being targetted would be slim.

      A fine of ~ $100 would probably work. Most people would probably cough it up, and after a while it would be as accepted as a parking or speeding ticket. A much higher price would just result in everybody refusing to pay, at which point they would be back in the same boat.

      (I don't know why I am tipping off the enemy - but I figure anything I can think up they have ought of a long time ago.)

    7. Re:Why can't they win? by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      "I think that they could possibly kill the "global" P2P systems if they managed to effectively attack and fine people who are sharing data. As it is, the worst thing that can happen if you share is that you get told to stop - if there was a substantial chance that sharing files meant a $100 ticket, they would dry out pretty fast."

      If they manage to actually find you sharing files on Kazaa, they have the clout to make your life a living hell of litigation, financial worries and threats of a jailtime hanging over your head. Even if you win the legal battle in the end, no one in their right mind will risk sharing files after they see all this happen to someone else, and that is why they'll probably go all out against the first of such cases.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    8. Re:Why can't they win? by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      uh like those 'fines' (extortion letters) sent to those couple of danish guys who had mp3s on share..

      was on slashdot few months(?) ago.

      yeah, and everyone stopped immediately!!!!!!

      yeah right, like the little-over-year ago crackdown on the big warez groups, that stopped warezing right?(ok it slowed for couple of days)

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    9. Re:Why can't they win? by Kashif+Shaikh · · Score: 1

      Well, if all P2P systems communicated using a standard/common protocol, then RIAA et all can do little to stop file sharing.

      I mean, anyone(commercial,personal, or "warez kid" entity) can possibly code up a new p2p app given the specs...RIAA can't just go shutting down each p2p app one by one. This would be akin to battling software pirates on the net: you can't try outlawing ftp programs and http browsers 'cause it is used to dl possibly illegal content.

      The way to police things: goto source of the problem. Since kazaa et all are decentralized(like the www/ftp sites), RIAA would go after the super nodes and try to shut 'em down. But being stupid as they are, they still think shutting down an app would eliminate the problems. Hey doesn't this sound like those gun control issues?? But that's another story another time....

    10. Re:Why can't they win? by Tomble · · Score: 1
      The issue arises, that if such groups manage to make a few examples (eg, that IP organisation that sued a bunch of file sharers in Denmark for something like the equivalent of $150,000 EACH, which was mentioned on /. about a month or 2 ago), that sort of thing can probably scare a reasonable proportion of the people on the networks- either into not sharing anything themselves, or into stopping using the networks completely.

      Then, those organisations have even fewer targets to pick from, so it becomes easier for them to decide which users seem to be contributing most. So then they can stamp on them. And not only do even more people get scared off, but the ratio of contributors to leechers drops badly (it often tends to be that the minority contributes the majority) so those trying to download find much less, and many of the people left sharing stuff find they get even more traffic, probably putting them off further.

      As I keep saying, unless you use a file sharing network that gives anonymity, this factor can become an achilles heel. Try GNUnet, if you're using *nix (and follow it's progress if you're using Windows, there'll be a version for you eventually), it's not yet finished, but it already gives you anonymous file sharing, and more is to come!

      --
      Be careful! New moon tonight.
    11. Re:Why can't they win? by Tomble · · Score: 1
      you can't try outlawing ftp programs and http browsers 'cause it is used to dl possibly illegal content.
      IIRC, there was some case taken against the PAN Usenet newsreader (which is open source, BTW), on pretty much that basis (it had support for binary attachments, GOSH how dangerous and subversive).

      AFAICT, it must have been unsuccessful, as they still seem to be around. Or maybe it hasn't come to court yet???

      Since Kazaa et al are decentralized
      I think you're wrong on that, isn't it multi-layered with central organisations at the top? Meh, I could be mixed up about that, I don't use it meself. True P2P nets like Gnutella, Freenet, and GNUnet are decentralized, though, I do know that.
      --
      Be careful! New moon tonight.
    12. Re:Why can't they win? by SmittyTheBold · · Score: 1

      90 million captive users watching your banner ads while they download? This is a golden business model of cat-and-mouse; by the time the courts shut them down, they will have made hundreds of millions, stashed away in private overseas accounts, and then they just declare bankruptcy to avoid paying anything out.

      Yeah, maybe a few years ago. They're most likely just affording their Ramen noodle diet these days.

      --
      ± 29 dB
    13. Re:Why can't they win? by deblau · · Score: 1
      if there was a substantial chance that sharing files meant a $100 ticket, they would dry out pretty fast.

      Sorry, but you're wrong. If I can download $10,000 worth of music for every $100 ticket, I'm gonna go along happily downloading. If they throw me in jail, that's a different story.

      --
      This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
  15. Bootstrapping? by yerricde · · Score: 5, Insightful

    even if they're not sharing anything (which is evil in itself)

    If not sharing is considered evil, and a fellow new to movie trading has nothing to share, then for a fellow without a DVD-ROM drive or the video mastering expertise to make a good DivX rip, how is it possible to download one's first movie from Overnet without appearing "evil"?

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
    1. Re:Bootstrapping? by SuperDuG · · Score: 1, Insightful
      Okay ... compare what you're doing to drug dealing ...

      If not dealing and whording the stash is considered evil, and a fellow new to dealing and trading drugs has nothing to deal, then for a fellow without a large cash flow or the drug factory to produce my own product, how is is possible then to deal drugs on the street without appearing "evil"?

      Drug Dealing is bad ... what is stealing movies and distributing them? How about you go to a bank and rob them, then you give out the money to everyone who asks for it, does that make it right?

      --
      Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
    2. Re:Bootstrapping? by tada_mac · · Score: 1

      that would be 'hoarding'

    3. Re:Bootstrapping? by SuperMario666 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Your analogy doesn't really make any sense.

    4. Re:Bootstrapping? by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Um. What? That's the worst pair of analogies I've ever heard. In my entire life.

      How about this: You go into a bank, rob it, and because of this, everyone everywhere can have all the material posessions that they want. This is of course, not possible. It is possible with digital media. Intellectual property and money are inherently not analogous.

      As to your leeching argument... what? Does that make any sense to anyone else? (No, SuperDuG, please do not repeat it for me.) In the future, try using shorter sentences.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
    5. Re:Bootstrapping? by DarkZero · · Score: 5, Funny

      Drug Dealing is bad ... what is stealing movies and distributing them? How about you go to a bank and rob them, then you give out the money to everyone who asks for it, does that make it right?

      Please list some of the names of the poor, unfortunate souls that have died from intellectual property overdose, as well as the others that have died from being shot during a P2P file heist. I'm sure that with tens of millions of Kazaa users, those lists must be very, very long.

    6. Re:Bootstrapping? by Hott+of+the+World · · Score: 3, Funny

      Agreed.

      That comment was about as coherent as

      1.Give bad analogy
      2.????
      3.Prove Point!

      --
      | - | - |
    7. Re:Bootstrapping? by Jugalator · · Score: 1

      how is it possible to download one's first movie from Overnet without appearing "evil"?

      While you download your first movie from Overnet, everyone will be able to download the movie you're currently downloading from you, as long as your upload queue doesn't fill up. So it's not that bad IMHO, especially if you keep your downloaded stuff shared after you've got it.

      Then it's worse to bypass the leech restrictions put into Kazaa since they was put in for a reason. If a guy that haven't contributed much to the network just steal my bandwidth, I wouldn't be as happy as if I knew the guy I was uploading to was *truly* a "supreme being" on the p2p network.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    8. Re:Bootstrapping? by symbolic · · Score: 2, Insightful


      This is irrelevant. It's still theft.

    9. Re:Bootstrapping? by pod · · Score: 1

      Don't be ridiculous and think this through.

      There's no such hard limit. You can always leech, but your download will be much slower. Think of it as a bootstrapping period during which you're a newbie and allowed to leech.

      And as previous poster mentioned, OverNet lets people (forces in fact) to share out their 'in progress' partial files.

      The reason I'm replying here is that the parent has been modded +5, with which there is nothing wrong, but it is clearly uninformed.

      --
      "Hot lesbian witches! It's fucking genius!"
    10. Re:Bootstrapping? by symbolic · · Score: 1

      Might I suggest that you spend some time learning about what 'theft' is. Where does this idea that it has to 'deprive' someone of something come from?

      Theft deals with the unlawful acquisition of something of value. Whether or not someone is deprived of something physical is completely beside the point. The bottom line is that when you acquire a copyrighted work without paying for it, you are deriving benefit without compensation to its owner. This creates a one-sided transaction where the author is the one getting short end of the stick.

    11. Re:Bootstrapping? by DarkZero · · Score: 1

      Where does this idea that it has to 'deprive' someone of something come from?

      Maybe from the fact that that has been one of the natural facets of theft for thousands of years? Up until relatively recently, there were few ways that you could actually make a perfect copy of something and give it to someone else. Now that is the only way that content is moved back and forth on the internet and it is certainly not theft, but instead its exact legal definition under the laws of most civilized nations: copyright infringement.

      When I copy a song, I am not depriving the person that I copied it from of their song. I am, however, depriving its author of payment. This process comprises only half of what has been the definition of "theft" for thousands of years. Given that it is not exactly the same thing as theft, it should not be called the same thing, either.

    12. Re:Bootstrapping? by DarkZero · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This is irrelevant. It's still theft.

      Even if I were to consider it theft, which I obviously do not, theft != drug dealing or a bank heist. Both of those activities entail the risk of death and often the actual death of human beings, which is a far cry from "stealing" some pop music song on the internet. It is a false analogy created specifically to create a faulty link between file sharing and murderous activities which are, very rightly, considered to be completely different offenses with completely different penalties under the law.

    13. Re:Bootstrapping? by Viol8 · · Score: 1

      If you're quite happy with theft why not just shoplift the original CDs from the store? Or would you not do that because you operate under double standards? ie Electronic theft is ok , physical theft isnt?

    14. Re:Bootstrapping? by symbolic · · Score: 1

      When I copy a song, I am not depriving the person that I copied it from of their song. I am, however, depriving its author of payment.

      That's exactly what I said.

      This process comprises only half of what has been the definition of "theft" for thousands of years.

      You're wrong, I'm sorry to say. Legal definitions change (they must) to facilitate changes in culture, technology, etc. The "let me have it all for free" crowd is notorious for applying this lame argument in an attempt to rationalize their behavior, making it seem less problematic than it actually is.

      What's the difference between someone who writes and records a song, sells only five copies because 1000 people have illegally acquired it, and someone who makes 1,000 cookies, and has them stolen? Since the end result is nearly the same (you have something you shouldn't, and the owner doesn't have what they should), I'd say there's little, if any difference at at all.

    15. Re:Bootstrapping? by symbolic · · Score: 1


      Apparently you've missed something. Do a search on Google for "theft of copyright".

    16. Re:Bootstrapping? by vsavatar · · Score: 1

      I absolutely agree here. Whilst there may be some moral qualms about this, it is not the same thing as stealing physical property from someone. Does it mean it's really "right"? Not necessarily, but since the average human being is only capable of seeing what he/she has been taught to see it is very difficult for a person not to refer to something which resembles, but is clearly different from theft, as theft.

      It is for this very reason that we will never see matter replicators even if it were scientifically possible to create them. God help us, we'd all be stealing the profits of those poor farmers by replicating all the food we needed rather than buying it from them. World hunger be damned along with the good of mankind because it's still theft damnit! After all, if it's theft to steal money from a bank and give it to a person that's starving then it must also be theft to replicate food to solve the problem of world hunger. People who hold the view that copyright infringement is the same thing as theft must be forced, by the very logic their using to accept the statement that replicating food = theft from farmers because "stealing is stealing"!

  16. Are there hubs for common folk? by yerricde · · Score: 1

    Do there also exist DC++ hubs with a decent selection that allow dial-up users? And how is somebody supposed to afford over a thousand CDs to rip to get over the 100 GB minimum? (An mp3 or ogg album at 192 kbps is only about 90 MB.)

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
    1. Re:Are there hubs for common folk? by rastachops · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Since when did dialup users contribute in a worthwhile way to P2P? They are slow to upload to and generally dont share anything either.

    2. Re:Are there hubs for common folk? by xenocide2 · · Score: 1

      They're also slow to download ;). I never minded them, but maybe thats because college dorm people, bandwidth really isn't an issue. In fact, its more the 10 gig HDD thats stopping me. Sure, its down to less than a dollar a gig but you still can't just buy 40.

      --
      I Browse at +4 Flamebait

      Open Source Sysadmin

    3. Re:Are there hubs for common folk? by martingunnarsson · · Score: 1

      I'm sharing around 50 GIG, and I haven't ripped any CD:s. You start out in hubs with low requirements, then make your way up to hubs with higher and higher requirements.

      --
      Martin
    4. Re:Are there hubs for common folk? by yerricde · · Score: 1

      You start out in hubs with low requirements

      So are you claiming that there exist numerous DC "starter hubs" that allow dial-up users who have nothing yet to share? I'd have to hope so.

      then make your way up to hubs with higher and higher requirements.

      How does a fellow "make his way up" with respect to bandwidth without plunking down 200 grand? Or did this part refer only to amount shared?

      --
      Will I retire or break 10K?
    5. Re:Are there hubs for common folk? by martingunnarsson · · Score: 1

      There hubs with no or very low share-limit. Most people probably have a couple of pirated games or so they can share. Yes, I'm only talking about the shared amount here. I don't think broadband users even want dialup users on the P2P networks, it's a broadband thing.

      --
      Martin
    6. Re:Are there hubs for common folk? by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      "Since when did dialup users contribute in a worthwhile way to P2P?"

      Yeah, as we all know, the vast majority of internet users (let alone P2P users) have broadband connections.

      "They are slow to upload"

      Speed is relative. Upload speed from a 56k connection is just fine if you're downloading through a 56k. And vice versa.

    7. Re:Are there hubs for common folk? by Mr.+Droopy+Drawers · · Score: 1


      There's this new thing called CD-R's. I hear you can stor 700 MB on them. And, they're REMOVABLE!

      WOW!

      --

      To Copy from One is Plagiarism; To Copy from Many is Research.

  17. Read the article by mfos.org · · Score: 1

    It's not that the people are trying to keep Kazaa alive, Kazaa has no central point to take out, so even if the parent corp went under, Kazaa would still function. All Sharman is trying to do is to stay in business so they can make money.

    1. Re:Read the article by james_bray · · Score: 1

      Ah, but thats not entirely true.

      Kazaa is, AFAIK, a closed-source proprietary network. This network is presumably written and maintained by a small staff of dedicated programmers. If these programmers are prevented from maintaining the code and Kazaa is not released as open source, the product will effectively die.

      --
      http://www.reeb.freeserve.co.uk
    2. Re:Read the article by fault0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      > Kazaa is, AFAIK, a closed-source proprietary network. This network is presumably written and maintained by a small staff of dedicated programmers.

      Unless the protocol is not broken, like it has been in the past (giFT 0.9.x). The main reason that the current protocol hasn't been broken yet is because 1). it's tough and time consuming to do, but not impossible 2). once it's done, the kazaa programmers could easily break it again, which they did in the past (KaZaA 1.3.3)

      If the kazaa programmers were taken out of the picture, I'm pretty sure that groups like the "givers" who broke the protocol before, would do it again.

  18. Beautiful...simply...beautiful... by l33t-gu3lph1t3 · · Score: 1

    It seems that Australia is the only weak link Kazaa has when it comes to legal prosecution. If whatshername moves offshore, boom - there's no one to prosecute. The File-sharing part of the internet will be kind of like the Cayman Islands =^_^=.

    Here's an interesting idea: Kazaa/Klite has many, many problems (the programming itself). Fix the problems(mirroring issues, corrupted downloads, etc), work full DVD (or encrypted divx) music videos in to the mix, then setup some sort of reasonable pay-for-play scheme, and hell, I'd buy music from the service...Maybe set up some sort of MTV-like html viewer integrated into the service program, and voila: you have a viable filesharing scheme.

    Sigh, now if only the content industry would realize that the Internet can be their friend...lol...

    --
    ------- "From bored to fanboy in 3.8 asian girls" ----------
    1. Re:Beautiful...simply...beautiful... by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      the idea of 'data havens' of many sorts has been used quite widely on the scifi.. artificial islands(traditional hippie boat pirate radios anyone??), small countries for hire, satellite at orbit..

      it's really such an obvious idea though ;)

      they should make copyright infrigment so hard and illeagal that we geeks could get the chicks the net cowboys have on cyberpunk..

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  19. What About Gnucleus? by ras_b · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'm surprised i don't see more mention of Gnucleus for file sharing. Why don't more people use this? Gnucleus is an open source client for the gnutella network- no ads, no spyware, and no hidden corporations running it. I have been using it successfully for a long time, but whenever i ask others what they use it's always "kazaa". I don't get it.

    1. Re:What About Gnucleus? by RumpRoast · · Score: 1

      Gnucleus is good, but sharezaz is better!

      --

      My Ass hurts.
    2. Re:What About Gnucleus? by inerte · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Because Kazaa has 3.5 million users online at any given time. Gnucleus (Gnutella) only has ~150K.

      And, Gnutella has a diversity of clients. Not all of them implement or support the latest advances. Meanwhile almot everyone on Kazaa runs the most recent version.

      So, Kazaa is a better network, with more users. In other words, more content that is easier to find.

    3. Re:What About Gnucleus? by JoeMac · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Gnucleus is not a bad utility, but it lacks a sufficient userbase to be of use to me. I recently switched to KazaaLite after using Gnucleus for what was probably a good 8 months, and files that I searched for that whole time on Gnucleus no one ever had...but I found them immediately with various users on KazaaLite.

      With filesharing, you have to go where everyone else is to have any hope of finding anything specific that you're looking for. Sure, roaming someone else's shared files for something new can be fun, but it's time-consuming and often fruitless.

      I used to agree with all the arguments you made about why Gnucleus is worthwhile, but I finally broke down and said: "Damnit, I just want to find what I'm looking for." And having Gnucleus spend 10 minutes trying to connect to SuperNode every time just so I can get zero results for a search doesn't impress me too much.

    4. Re:What About Gnucleus? by ciryon · · Score: 1

      Because it's mainly for Linux users? Because Linux users can download good software from sourceforge and don't want the latest fps game?

      Or am I the only one who actually buy my CD's?

      Ciryon

    5. Re:What About Gnucleus? by CvD · · Score: 1

      Linux users? They don't even have a Linux client...

      I wish...

  20. Statutory damages for copyright infringement by yerricde · · Score: 2, Informative

    If the fine for a song were $150,000, well...

    It is. Instead of taking actual damages, a prevailing copyright owner can elect to take statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work, as defined in Title 17, United States Code, section 504. And for a sound recording, statutory damages can potentially reach $300,000 because copyrights on two separate works are infringed: the copyright on the melody (owned by the songwriter or by the songwriter's publisher) and the copyright on the sound recording (owned by the band or by the record label).

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
    1. Re:Statutory damages for copyright infringement by Yokaze · · Score: 1
      Do I read that correctly?

      "per work" and not "per file"?

      Especially this section makes me wonder:

      For the purposes of this subsection, all the parts of a compilation or derivative work constitute one work.


      So does that mean, they they may only demand a remedy of up to $300k per album infringed, even excluding covers?

      This would reduce the fee tremendiously.
      --
      "Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
  21. Out of genuine curiosity... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Do you dare to guess what percent of the files you "trade" on these networks, that is, you either download or let others download, is _legal_? As in: the original copyright holder has given permission for the file in question to be redistributed (at least in its original form). Is that 10%, 1%, 0.1%? And please do not sprout that crap about "I own the CD/DVD/program/book". The fact that you are letting 100s of other people download it makes it as ilegal. And please do skip the crap about "I'm just sampling what's out there, I delete the files after I figure I don't like them or buy the original if I do".

    Do you dare give a real figure?

    I really don't see why /. is running the story in the first place. Kazaa facilitates ilegal sharing of copyrighted materials. It should have been shut down long ago. I don't care if you like or don't like the law. It is the law we've got and you can start by sticking to it. If you don't like it, change it. Let people in countries where there's no such laws live a happy life.

    1. Re:Out of genuine curiosity... by james_bray · · Score: 1

      "I really don't see why /. is running the story in the first place"

      Because Slashdot promotes the open discussion of material, not just one person's narrow-minded view.

      Not everything in life is black or white you know...

      --
      http://www.reeb.freeserve.co.uk
    2. Re:Out of genuine curiosity... by Exiler · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's called protest by lawlessness. The best example I've heard is the speed limit, if they changed the speed limit on highways to 20 MPH, and no one followed it and kept doing 60, they CANNOT fine everyone, and therefor the law would be changed eventually.

      --
      Banaaaana!
    3. Re:Out of genuine curiosity... by Threni · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Kazaa facilitates ilegal sharing of copyrighted materials. It should have been shut down long ago"

      The internet/postal service/phone companies facilitates ilegal sharing of copyrighted materials. It/they should have been shut down long ago.

      NOW do you see why your post looks stupid?

    4. Re:Out of genuine curiosity... by Exiler · · Score: 1

      Niether is that of filetrading networks. Care to think before you open your mouth?

      --
      Banaaaana!
    5. Re:Out of genuine curiosity... by Threni · · Score: 1

      >What _is_ the purpose of file trading networks

      Your question presupposes that there is only one purpose. This is incorrect.

    6. Re:Out of genuine curiosity... by mabinogi · · Score: 1

      You can protest all you like, but don't expect it to change anything, and don't be suprised when the FBI comes knocking on your door and confiscates all your hardware...

      Saying it's a protest doesn't change the fact that it's illegal.

      --
      Advanced users are users too!
    7. Re:Out of genuine curiosity... by writertype · · Score: 1

      Hell, we've known this in California for years. The only thing slowing drivers here is traffic.

    8. Re:Out of genuine curiosity... by Decimal · · Score: 1

      It's called protest by lawlessness. The best example I've heard is the speed limit, if they changed the speed limit on highways to 20 MPH, and no one followed it and kept doing 60, they CANNOT fine everyone, and therefor the law would be changed eventually.

      No, but they can fine everybody who they catch. Not only does this encourage selective enforcement, but it makes a nice revenue stream from ticket fines. Just because everybody keeps going 55 or higher does not mean that the speed limit will change back.

      --

      Remember "Bring 'em on"? *sigh
  22. This might work... by Big+Mark · · Score: 1
    From the article:
    Bermeister plans to introduce an opt-in distributed computing scheme this year to resell idle processing power and hard drive storage of Kazaa-member computers
    How about if KaZaA gave some of the income they get from that to the users who contribute their resources. Then the same users could use the money gained through having their PC on overnight to buy guaranteed high-quality downloads from that AltNet thing that they bundle with KaZaA.

    If enough people do this the RIAA, MPAA, (insert two letters here)AA and whatever might get enough money for them to realise that filesharing isn't as bad as they think it is... And then they just might fuck off to where they belong!

    Just a thought.

    -Mark
    1. Re:This might work... by liquidsin · · Score: 1

      The problem with that is that the **AA will probably realize that the money people are spending on their goods was *earned* by *stealing* said goods. They probably won't be fans of the idea of you purchasing movies/music with money you got from trading pirated copies of other movies/music.

      --
      do not read this line twice.
  23. Aern't they missing the point by endrek · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Um... Even from the article it doesn't look like kazaa will be "going down" any time soon. Sherma nset it up so that it would be pretty much impossible to take apart, wheather or not he was still involved with it. I really don't think the media industry has any idea what they are dealing with. They seem to think that now that they have him it will end. They can do eveything they want to him include kill him and kazaa will live on. They really have nothing but the man who started it. Kudoos to him tho ;)

  24. Troll? by yerricde · · Score: 1

    I don't see how parent could have been moderated a troll, Under the DMCA's takedown provisions, making Global Crossing and Register.com terminate Sharman/LEF's internet service is exactly what a copyright owner is supposed to do.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  25. Fighting the RIAA using their own tactics by AnalogDiehard · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Record labels have used offshore corporations and tax havens to siphon profits from struggling artists for years, telling them that their income would be safe from US or UK tax laws. Then that money mysteriously disappears.

    Creedence Clearwater Revival is the best example of this. They were foolish enough to heed the advice of a label accountant and agreed to shelter their royalties into an offshore corporation under the control of the label - and then stood helpless as they discovered to their horror that the corporation and their money vanished.

    And of course the labels continue to refuse to open the accounting books for audits. These practices continue today, through contracts that severely restrict audit policies and reducing the royalty flow to artists to a trickle leaving them with no resources to hire the qualified legal counsel necessary to force the labels to open their books. If you thought Enron or WorldCom were bad...

    I find it highly ironic and appropriate that the RIAA is chasing a target who is beating them by using their own tactics through offshore puppet corporations with ghost staff and through countries that do not acknowledge US law. In the end when the RIAA is pointing a finger at KaZaa in court, it should be emphasized that they have three fingers pointing back to them.

    --
    Eternity: will that be smoking, or non-smoking? I Corinthians 6:9-10
    1. Re:Fighting the RIAA using their own tactics by commodoresloat · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's a good idea fighting the RIAA using their own tactics. Just like they fight the p2p networks by filling them with crap files, forcing users to distribute shitty music files, we can do the same to them! Record crap music, get a contract with them and force them to distribute crap music! Everybody wins!

      Oh, wait..... never mind.

  26. Re:DC++ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Why has this idiot been modded up for boasting about how l33t he is at pirating?

  27. Dude you are sooo L33T. by glrotate · · Score: 3, Funny

    I feel ashamed of my self just for reading your posts.

  28. giFT has too many roadblocks for Windows users by yerricde · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's mostly Linux users apparently

    Last time I checked, it didn't even build on Windows. This has changed. I don't think many Windows users are willing to 1. download all of giFT's dependencies, which include SSH, CVS, Cygwin, Cygwin Xfree86, Perl, the Ogg libraries, and more; 2. learn how to use Cygwin; 3. configure the dependencies; and 4. compile giFT when they could just go on kazaalite.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
    1. Re:giFT has too many roadblocks for Windows users by (rypto* · · Score: 1

      giFT no more available

      may be they might launch with dependencies

      --
      #3 pencils and quadrille pads.
    2. Re:giFT has too many roadblocks for Windows users by fault0 · · Score: 1

      > SSH, CVS, Cygwin, Cygwin Xfree86, Perl, the Ogg libraries, and more; 2. learn how to use Cygwin; 3. configure the dependencies; and

      SSH, CVS, Cygwin, XFree86, perl are not giFT dependencies.

      Ogg libraries are a optional depedency.
      CVS is currently required to get the giFT sources, but of course, that will change once giFT is actually released. binaries will of course be provided for win32 users then.

      > 4. compile giFT when they could just go on kazaalite.

      Completely true, but you have to realize that giFT hasn't officially been released (well, not since the whole OpenFT thing).

    3. Re:giFT has too many roadblocks for Windows users by seann · · Score: 1

      "Cygwin Xfree86"

      Why do you need "Cygwin Xfree86" for a console daemon that doesn't even know what XFree86 is?

      oh! for the graphical user interface, giFTcurs ..that runs in a console window.

      I get it. that makes sense ;)
      (no, it doesn't.)

      Now really, that ImageMagik library, you could of pointed to that. It's a bitch.

      --
      I'm a big retard who forgot to log out of Slashdot on Mike's computer! LOOK AT ME.
  29. I'd rather not pay $200,000 by yerricde · · Score: 1

    If you lived in a geographical area without a cable Internet service provider and without a DSL provider, would you be whistling the same tune? It costs $200,000 to change which geographical area you live in.

    They are slow to upload to

    So increase your number of simultaneous uploads. If you have 128 kbps outbound, you can serve approximately three dial-up users at full speed, or six at half speed.

    and generally dont share anything either.

    Many dial-up users share, but their queues fill up real fast.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  30. amusing.. by kevin+lyda · · Score: 2, Insightful

    i like the blurb where they said that kazaa made millions without spending any money on content. the same could be said of ebay or fedex.

    i've never used p2p services, but from a high level kazaa is like a directory service. maybe it does some caching, anonymizing and other kinds of negotiation, but on the whole it's major selling point is that it hooks up different classes of users: producers (well, maybe "data holders" would be better) and consumers.

    and it's not all that fair to blame a directory for what its users do wrong. i do find kazaa's "corporate hacks" interesting. they've gone to great lengths to level the playing field on a corporate/legal level. i don't like their tech or their ethics in other areas but they have proved that there are ways for an underdog to fight large corporations.

    --
    US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
    1. Re:amusing.. by kevin+lyda · · Score: 1

      that last "finally" - can you pin a year on that? actually, a rough guess is fine. will it be before or after the sun goes nova?

      --
      US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
  31. Switch to OpenFT! by Lispy · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why don't they use an opensource protocol such as OpenFT?

    They could only supply a windows gui and throw the ads and spyware on the users. They wouldn't be the driving force behind the protocol so the Music-Industry couldn't sue them for providing a filesharing platform. Am i wrong on this?

    cu,
    Lispy

  32. Even if they lose... by Tuxinatorium · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Even if they lose every single lawsuit, they can't be shut down. The US or Australia have no way of enforcing anything in Vanatu or Estonia. Besides, Kazaalite can continue to operate even if Sharman were nuked off the face of the earth. Hell, BearShare and other gnutella clients are even more decentralised than Kazaa. What they're doing is like trying to kill a fungus by killing the cell that started it. Going after the companies that make the software is useless, because people will continue to use and distribute the software long after the parent company is gone. Eventually, they'll realize that the ONLY way to stop piracy is to go after individuals and use scare tactics, so the RIAA/MPAA will go on a reign of terror arresting college students who share too many MP3s, movies, etc.

    1. Re:Even if they lose... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      "The US or Australia have no way of enforcing anything in Vanatu or Estonia."

      You forget the sacred and hallowed rights given by holding mastery at force of arms.

      To put it bluntly, I'll quote one Paul Muad'dib. "He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing."

      The last time I checked, the United States alone had enough firepower to destroy several small islands in the pacific.

      Once all non-cooperative governments are brought into line, it's a simple matter to pass legislation outlawing the use of filesharing programs such as Kazaa.

      The next step is questionable. Do you line the users up and have them shot? While it would save taxpayer money, it's about the only tax savings that wouldn't increase popularity. Thus, given the widespread use of Kazaa/etc., one would be forced to build more prisons/etc. These would cost taxpayers money, of course, but perhaps enough spin could be put on the fact that they would create a multitude of new jobs (including construction, security and secretarial).

      Assuming no major problems with budget ("Just make up some more money and take out more loans!") and no revolutions (I don't expect people will be giving their lives for the right to steal movies), the 'reign of terror' will come to pass, and filesharing will be, in effect, shut down.

      Boom.

    2. Re:Even if they lose... by KilljoyAZ · · Score: 1

      I wonder when the RIAA/MPAA will realize that the copyright enforcement situation in Vanatu/Estonia can easily be remedied with a sufficient application of cash. If they're losing 1/10 as much as they say to P2P, it would be a wise investment.

      --
      This .sig is currently on hiatus for retooling.
    3. Re:Even if they lose... by LiENUS · · Score: 1

      actually kazaa has a centralized login server, shut that down and no one can login to the network, hence kazaa dies.

    4. Re:Even if they lose... by Tuxinatorium · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't be suprised if the RIAA/MPAA IP Nazis actually hired some mercenaries to go into estonia or vanatu and kick pirates' asses. Who's going to stop them, the UN? *laugh*

    5. Re:Even if they lose... by Tuxinatorium · · Score: 1

      But they can put the server anywhere on earth, or in international waters, so there's no way the RIAA/MPAA can shut it down without resorting to vigilante tactics.

    6. Re:Even if they lose... by irve · · Score: 1

      The Estonian connection is only because Kazaa was written here. There's nothing left to enforce, deed's been done, the catch is the central server, I think.

      US courts demanded some papers from Bluemoon who made Kazaa, but local court did not allow this because the demand was not reasoned well.

    7. Re:Even if they lose... by g_attrill · · Score: 1

      Indeed I believe the server is located 3 miles off Felixstowe (UK) at HavenCo, metioned here several times before.

      Gareth

    8. Re:Even if they lose... by stefpe · · Score: 1

      Yeah, the US government *could* send a couple of bombers off to Vanuatu. But they don't need to. (And I'm quite sure they'd neither want to nor dare to either).

      All it takes is an airtight trade embargo. Sure, Vanuatu probably has little or no exports, but they're bound to need some American products, computer gear for example.

      And even if Vanuatu doesn't give a shit about that (which is possible seeing as they've probably never relied very much on technology in the first place),
      it would still be effective against a country like Estonia.

    9. Re:Even if they lose... by Guppy06 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "The US or Australia have no way of enforcing anything in Vanatu or Estonia."

      In the case of Estonia, they may have some incentives. Incentives like "If you'd like a free trade agreement.." or "If you'd like to join NATO..."

  33. Does it even work on dial-up? by yerricde · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm surprised i don't see more mention of Gnucleus for file sharing. Why don't more people use this?

    On my dial-up connection, I was never able to start even one download with Gnucleus.

    I have been using it successfully for a long time

    Are you on dial-up or high-speed?

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  34. To answer your question by bagsc · · Score: 1
    --
    http://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
  35. The American idea of corporate everything by davinc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The interesting part of all of this seems to be an underlying belief that every human endeavor must be industrialized. I personally don't pay for shrink-wrapped music, and I never will. I gladly pay musicians by means of a tip charge, cover charge to get into a club, and by buying an occasional CD from the band if they are good. Record companies get nothing from me.

    Music isn't an industry, any more than art is. At the moment industry backed music chokes out the independents, leaving you with either corporate music, or having to search for independent music. I would listen to independents more, but I shouldn't have to work that hard to find music. Record labels gained power by getting access to OUR public airwaves and then monopolizing them, and attempts are being made to do the same with the Internet.

    I was a musician and lived in Hollywood for a few years. The current system turns music into prostitution, where the only way a band can ever be heard is to prostitute themselves to the labels. The Internet has to potential to return music to its traditional place as folk art, and that is what the labels are out to stop.

    Once people realize that music has been with us since the dawn of man, and doesn't need a corporate headquarters to exist and be good, then record companies will finally (and are) lose their grip.

    1. Re:The American idea of corporate everything by nrobert · · Score: 1
      One other side to the 'record companies are just corporatate parasites on Art' argument is that this placing of a hurdle between musicmakers and the audience does provide a service to the general listening public of separating the true crap out of consideration.

      Complain all you want about 'corporate teen bands' (straw man?) but in the end nobody can force people to buy the stuff. It gets bought because it is good. And, perhaps more to your point, you might be afraid of the implicit conclusion in that perspective, that sales actually are a good indication of quality. That quality exists, and that your version of quality only counts for 1/X where X is the population of the listening public.

      Few folks ever mention that record company people constantly filter out the noise down to a better signal. The only way they get paid for that service (that saves us large amounts of time and energy) is through various channels of commerce.

      --
      --- Programmers do it with their digits!
    2. Re:The American idea of corporate everything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Yes they do get your money.. you said you buy cds from the band. Any blank cd purchased results in money to RIAA.. they ASSUME that it will be used to pirate... therefore they get a cut.

      Essentially if you pirate music, you paid for it if you burn it on CD. At least the RIAA part is paid for...

  36. KaZaA is my hero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Seriously... I have no respect left of KaZaA or the Music Industry.

    KaZaA would do anything to make money. The founders will move to strange countries with strange names. The will look into selling "my" hard-drive space and to physically take control of my computer and display ads that they feel are appropriate. I won't use KaZaA.

    The Music Industry would have me buy a cd that may or may not work everywhere that I would want to play it. Simply because they are so insecure about their product and the willingness of people to steal it. I have bought 3 cds in the past year and that was plenty for me to decide that I will never buy a cd again. Empower the user with your product... Don't reduce them down to nothing.

    that strange country could be nuked tomorrow and I wouldn't mourn the loss of KaZaA. Good friends, newsgroups, and IRC are 10x better than KaZaA... and I don't even have to look at Ads.

    1. Re:KaZaA is my hero by Anenga · · Score: 1
      Good friends, newsgroups, and IRC are 10x better than KaZaA... and I don't even have to look at Ads.

      I'm sorry, but your dead wrong there.

      Does IRC or Newsgroups have Partial File Sharing? Download Mesh? Swarming? Tiger Tree Hashes? Hash Verfication? URI's? No, it has none of that. IRC is a leechers paradise. People come and download off one person with one connection. Then you have to wait in long queue lines and get slow sends. I'm sorry, but the days of IRC and Newsgroups are growing thin. If your using IRC for file distribution your equilivant to the RIAA not wanting to change it's business models. Evolve dammit!

      If I have a 400MB file on IRC on a cable modem I can only upload that file to maybe 1-4 people with a moderate speed. The rest are all queues. If I uploaded that same file to users on Gnutella2 using Shareaza the person I'm uploading to can immidiately share that partial file to everyone who is waiting in queue for the file and for the other people I'm uploading to. Shareaza will upload a different segment of the file to each of the people I'm sending the file to. That way they can all download from eachother and get the file faster.

      You get none of that on IRC or newsgroups. IRC is being killed with dDos attacks and soon enough nobody will want to have an IRC Server on their systems. P2P Networks such as Gnutella2 cannot be shut down unless you dDOS every node on the network (which is pretty much impossible).

      Just because you dislike Kazaa doesn't mean all of P2P is bad or that it's technology is subpar.
  37. Until Now? by m1a1 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Until now implies that something can be done if the judge rules in favor of Hollywood. This is simply untrue. As you can gather from the article, the CEO of Sharman Networks has not set foot in the U.S. and will not do so. Sure the company is on trial, but all that exists of them in the United States is lawyers. How they expect to get traditionally uncooperative countries to shut down servers I don't know. It will be interesting.

  38. Re:DC++ by fault0 · · Score: 3, Informative

    > I happen to be on one hub which requires 100gig verified share and 10mbit of bandwidth...

    Which is *very* easy to fake. I can grab dc_gui from here, install it, goto the user prefs tab, goto shares, change the size offset to 150.43 GB (or whatever you want), and add a virtual share directory of my current download directory.

    If I really did want to share anything, I could change the QOS settings to low cost IN the client, or add a very small upload bandwidth limit (minimum 0.5 kb/s in it)

  39. Estonia, safe haven? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Qutoed from the article:
    > Estonia, a notorious safe harbor for intellectual property pirates.

    That's a bunch of nonsense. The BSA (business software alliance) has a gestapo mentality in this land. They come with the police, they ride your place and they confiscate everything. And they put you into newspaper. There's even a special anonymous phone - call them, tell who to search - and that gives them enough power to go in with a police warrant.

    They spread leaflets - "are you a thief, we're soong coming to check you". They have TV ads, fear spam-campaings, etc.

    The primary problem with kazaa is that the US courts don't really have jurisdiction here. There isn't much they can do. They tried to get documents using our courts but their request was inconsistent according to the local judges.

  40. KaZaa vs. RIAA by Ab0rtRetryFail · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have to agree with Zemran here. I think that the main reason why CD sales have decreased is that THEY ARE TOO EXPENSIVE. With the somewhat recent competition coming from DVDs and Video Games, the music industry MUST show that their products are worth the exorbitant sticker prices charged. It costs less than a dollar for a person to make a CD that ordinarily costs 14 to 19 dollars at a store. Prices are GROSSLY inflated. The RIAA can continue to attack these filesharing services, but they MUST find a way to either lower the price of CDs, add enough value to CDs to merit their price, or do both. If they don't, I expect the record industry to be supplanted by a more consumer-friendly method of distribution. ADAPT OR PERISH.

    1. Re:KaZaa vs. RIAA by Eric+Savage · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I see this over and over and over again, that CD's are too expensive. So a CD costs a dollar to make, big deal. There are thousands of other products that have low manufacturing costs with extremely high markup to cover product marketing and development, do you complain about all of them? Now I do think the recording industry is fighting the tide here, and that they need some fundamental changes. I'm not going to go off on the whole "function of the label" rant you've likely seen before, but there is a basic reason that CD's cost what they do and its from your first economics class:

      So lets say the overall cost of a CD including manufacturing, royalties, all the various channel costs, and promotion is about $5. CDs are now about $15, and I buy about 4 a month, with revenue of $60 and profit of $40. If CDs were $30, I'd probably buy one, revenue is $30, profit is $25, not a good move on the part of the label. Now, if CDs were $7, I'd probably buy a couple extra, but not alot extra because I just don't have time to listen to that many new ones and quite frankly, there are probably not enough good ones to satisfy that level of purchase. Now that the revenue is at $42 and the profit is at $12, someone at the label is going to get fired. Oh, and if it cost $7, you would either a) still say its too expensive or b) find a new reason to justify pirating, so they get nothing from you either way.

      Also, if charging $15 is so evil, how come every band I see selling CDs at their shows charges $10-15? Do you yell at them for "exorbitant" markup?

      --

      This is not the greatest sig in the world, this is just a tribute.
    2. Re:KaZaa vs. RIAA by devleopard · · Score: 1

      ADAPT OR PERISH.

      There's a third option - hire/pay off enough lawyers, congress-folk, and judges to defeat products

      --
      The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.
    3. Re:KaZaa vs. RIAA by MKalus · · Score: 2, Informative
      Also, if charging $15 is so evil, how come every band I see selling CDs at their shows charges $10-15? Do you yell at them for "exorbitant" markup?

      Those bands usually sell a lot less CDs AND at the same time foot the bill for the production and duplication themselves.

      Having said that, a CD that sells a million times shouldn't cost $15/piece, considering that thanks to mass production the profit is going up, no?

      --
      If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
    4. Re:KaZaa vs. RIAA by Fiveeight · · Score: 1

      Now that the revenue is at $42 and the profit is at $12, someone at the label is going to get fired.

      And when sales and revenue go through the floor because everyone feels ripped off? Doesn't matter what the real profit margin is, customers think it's too expensive, and that's costing sales. They can't be upfront about the manufacturing/distribution/marketing costs, because they'd have to admit the raw deal artists get and the amount that's given to media companies to promote some tracks. So they need to either cut costs, accept less profit or convince people that CDs are good value.

    5. Re:KaZaa vs. RIAA by mholt108 · · Score: 1

      its only really informed techs that feel ripped off. Most people would just accept that the $15 is what they have to pay for a cd and save up for it. If the content is compelling the cd will sell.
      The record industry is going down, not becuase of KAZZa or cd costs, rather because they are not offering enough variety and talented artists. Just look at the top 15 - sure there are a few M&M's , Nick Caves and Moby's putting out quality stuff - but mostly it is just R&B crap and highly processed pop. The industry is strangling itself and is so big that it cannot afford to restructure to allow more talented artists to publish to a prepared market.
      The talent is out there, but the market has to be educated and prepared.

    6. Re:KaZaa vs. RIAA by Eric+Savage · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You are exactly right, it doesn't really matter what the profit _margin_ is* which is why I wasn't talking about the margin. Its the bottom line. Do I care about their costs? No. I don't ask the car manufacturer how much its paying for rubber or steel, do you? If the price is agreeable to me, then I buy it. When I first started buying CDs back in 1987 or so, they cost about $18-20. Now, 15 years later, I'm paying about $15 ($11.88 for most new releases at Newbury Comics). Sounds to me like they are getting cheaper.

      Also, can some explain the logic in "Labels screw artists by giving them a small share, so I will pirate the music and make sure the artist gets zero"? If you mail the artist a few bucks for every album you grab off the net, my pardons, but I doubt that is commonplace.

      * I'm sure it matters but not as much as total profit

      --

      This is not the greatest sig in the world, this is just a tribute.
    7. Re:KaZaa vs. RIAA by transient · · Score: 1
      I think that the main reason why CD sales have decreased is that THEY ARE TOO EXPENSIVE.

      I agree that CDs are too expensive. However, I've thought this since CDs replaced tapes. CDs have been $15-$20 since before the days of P2P. Given that, can you explain why CD sales are just recently decreasing? The prices haven't changed, so something else has.

      --

      irb(main):001:0>
    8. Re:KaZaa vs. RIAA by hhknighter · · Score: 1

      which pricing model beats free?

      I don't know if you have seen some news report on college kids downloading (they tend to pick those who are quite ignorant but think they are "l33t", chances are, the colleges busted their ass right after the interview aired). Most of them claim that it's free and they are poor, and nothing is stolen because nothing physical is being stolen (then wtf are they watching or listening to?). Now this free shit has become "yo cutie, check out my 'connections'". It's now a way to get girls into your room.

      I agree to ADAPT OR PERISH. The Internet is a place where distance is almost eliminated, and there's absolutely more than enough opportunities out there for companies to gain their exposure to. RIAA/MPAA could've seriously profitted from the Internet, with a few "adjustments" to the current usage. Now it's too late. Kazaa exposed itself to the massive less-savvy user group and it will be difficult to turn or even stop them, without striking some dominating fear upon them.

    9. Re:KaZaa vs. RIAA by PhrackCreak · · Score: 1

      Also, if charging $15 is so evil, how come every band I see selling CDs at their shows charges $10-15? Do you yell at them for "exorbitant" markup?

      Easy to knock down a straw man, isn't it? Last time I went to a show where CDs were available, one band was giving them away and the other was selling them for $8. Ignoring the freebies, $8 vs. $13.99 - the price of the last new major label CD I purchased - reveals a 75% markup. Considering that the major label is getting bulk discounts on manufacturing and distribution, (they don't buy 1000 CDs for $1000, and don't ship them in the back of the bassist's station wagon) they would make a greater profit margin at $8/cd than your average local music act.

      --
      - You don't know how to maintain a station wagon either!
    10. Re:KaZaa vs. RIAA by lahna · · Score: 2, Insightful

      In Finland most records cost over 20 euros.

    11. Re:KaZaa vs. RIAA by crusher-1 · · Score: 1

      "can you explain why CD sales are just recently decreasing?"

      Possibly because the economy has been tanking for the last few years and over that time more people are having financial issues. Like one poster commented earlier that people that have to tighten their belts will have to choose between CDs or food and rent - where do you think their money is gonna go?

      I'm not sure about the impact on p2p. Yes I knew a few people that had large amount of mp3 from Napster, but they were few in numbers. Then there are those that have a small amount of mp3s but don't want to spend alot of time dl'ing music (perhaps they have a life outside of burning pirated mp3s).

      But I for one, being a musician for over 30 years have frankly become disinterested in buying music (I used to buy music frequently and in large numbers). I have better things to do with my money. Back when "records" were the only thing I would be able to afford them with little thought about the impact on my budget. Now I just don't see the value in paying $20 for a CD that I'm only interested in hearing less than half the songs on it. if it were around $10 or $12 that might change things. But 20 bucks for four songs out of an album - nah I'll pass. I'd rather save my money to pay off my loans, buy a house, make my car payments, etc.... And while were at it, could it be that the cost of doing business for the recording industry has risen as well so profits are down - they're not immune to the econmic crunch either. Perhaps their just doing a little scape-goating. Ya, I don't doubt that p2p might be cutting in on their revenue stream, but I have a hard time buy into their contentions that it's as big of a factor as they would have us think. They said the same thing about cassette tapes and video recordings - now they make a mint form video recordings and CDs replaced albums and tapes became a non-factor shortly after (the car stereo cdplayer that didn't skip everytimg you hit a small bump made that possible). So, they put records albums out of the picture but cassette tapes meant you could still record music. Then tapes became unpopular and cd recorders became the big thing - they crumbled a bit, but not so much. Probably because they didn't see p2p comming. Now their back to the same problem they had when things changed from the 8 track cassettes (couldn't really record those too easily) and the new fangled cassettes tapes (they wanted to keep 8 tracks the standard - ugh). Now they have the double whammy. CD recorders with p2p and a very down economy. I really think the lost revenue their whinning about goes a lot deeper then Napster clones.

    12. Re:KaZaa vs. RIAA by Filik · · Score: 1

      Actually, the real problem, at least in Europe, is that the music industry tries to control the whole sales-chain. That way they makes sure there can be no competition with lower prices. Also, the stores themselves pay exorbant prices just to get the CD's in store. Unfortunately there hasn't been much political will to break up this monopoly.

    13. Re:KaZaa vs. RIAA by Vlad_the_Inhaler · · Score: 1

      If you read the Janis Ian article which was linked to here a couple of months ago: http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.h tml , you would have seen that they are obliged to. The record companies will not let artists undercut the record stores. They will not even let them compete - record stores are allowed to sell CDs at a discount and bands are not.

      The industry has been complaining for years about the stranglehold the middle-man has on their dollars, yet they wish to do nothing to offend those middle-men. (BMG has a strict policy for artists buying their own CDs to sell at concerts - $11 per CD. They know very well that most of us lose money if we have to pay that much; the point is to keep the big record stores happy by ensuring sales go to them. What actually happens is no sales to us or the stores.) NARAS and RIAA are moaning about the little mom & pop stores being shoved out of business; no one worked harder to shove them out than our own industry, which greeted every new Tower or mega-music store with glee, and offered steep discounts to Target and WalMart et al for stocking CDs. The Internet has zero to do with store closings and lowered sales.

      --
      Mielipiteet omiani - Opinions personal, facts suspect.
  41. Does that mean Websense, etc. will go ,too? by civad · · Score: 1

    It is interesting to note how one business depends on another. One would think that companies like Websense (ZDNet has a news article about them- search for ZDNET Websense on Google ) that depend on the P2P filesharing 'industry' will go out of business if Kazaa, etc. are shut down. Though as someone said earlier: for every Kazaa there is shutdown, several more will crop up. If that is the case, it might be a good idea to invest in Websense and their likes ...

    1. Re:Does that mean Websense, etc. will go ,too? by forkboy · · Score: 1

      Websense was around before Napster even, and were doing just fine then. A good network administrator should know what type of traffic is crossing his network, p2p or not. Of course, newer network hardware that has better reporting capabilities may make some of Websense functionality obselete, but one area Websense still wins out is that their reports are awfully pretty and look really nice to the pointy-haired types.

      --
      This message brought to you by the Council of People Who Are Sick of Seeing More People.
  42. Largest lawsuit in history? by trip11 · · Score: 1

    At $150,000 per song or movie traded, and say 10,000 traded per day (I figure a low estiment) thats 1.5 billion per day. Say they sue for three years, thats 1.5 trillion in damages. I realize these are numbers just tossed out with no justification, but can anyone think of a lawsuit for a larger sum of money?

  43. Hypocrites Suck Too by SuperMario666 · · Score: 2

    You do realize that if all everyone did was leech then the entire system would collapse right??

    Exactly the same argument used by the music and entertainment industries, but they're evil so it's OK to "leech" off them.

  44. Thanks dude. by glrotate · · Score: 1

    Don't worry, I've got Karma to burn. I'd just like to know why the RIAA isn't doing this since it seems like such an obvious strategy?

  45. Flip the script by TheJZA · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is there a way that can we can just get rid off the MPAA instead.

    --
    The JZA
  46. Re:Why not limewire by edox. · · Score: 1

    didnt you mention open source limewire on gNet
    It is open standard software running on an open protocol, free for the public to use.
    advandages over other p2p
    >>>>Remote queueing: if an uploader is too busy to handle a download request, it will queue you. The uploader then serves downloads in a first-come, first-serve basis. This feature is compatible with the queueing schemes used by other vendors.
    >>>Safer resumes: LimeWire keeps track of the hashes for all incomplete files. This reduces the chance of a corruption when resuming.
    >>>Browse host feature--even works through firewalls
    >>>Unique "ultrapeer" technology reduces bandwidth requirements for most users
    >>>Limewire is written in Java, and will run on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Sun, and other computing platforms

    check out the flash preview here

    --
    quote:port 17 udp
  47. What about Mr Whipple? by ReadParse · · Score: 1

    Seems like if you want to go after Charmin Networks, you can get to them through Mr Whipple, their well-known spokesperson in their pre-internet days when they were simply in the toilet paper business.

    Ok, bad joke on which I tried to hard to establish the link between "Sharman" and "Charmin". Withdrawn.

  48. P2P Needs a More Secure Base (e.g. FreeNetProject) by jdkane · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Given the cases of late where big-name companies are sniffing out and trying to also legally charge P2P "offenders", I would like to see increased security, not in the form of SSL/encryption -- because that won't help when IP numbers are still available -- but instead I would like to see an implementation of P2P clients that run on top of the FreeNet project, or something similar. http://freenetproject.org Here's a brief description from the FreeNet project website to provide some context:

    What is FreeNet?
    Freenet is a large-scale peer-to-peer network which pools the power of member computers around the world to create a massive virtual information store open to anyone to freely publish or view information of all kinds. Freenet is:
    * Highly survivable: All internal processes are completely anonymized and decentralized across the global network, making it virtually impossible for an attacker to destroy information or take control of the system.
    * Private: Freenet makes it extremely difficult for anyone to spy on the information that you are viewing, publishing, or storing.
    * Secure: Information stored in Freenet is protected by strong cryptography against malicious tampering or counterfeiting.

    Supposedly, being on the FreeNet provides total anonymity because the protocols are encrypted from the ground up. You can't know where stuff is coming from and where stuff is going. This prevents spying, even by rogue clients. The content on FreeNet is hosted by every computer that is connected to the FreeNet at the time. You have a data store on your computer when you are connected to the FreeNet, but it is encrypted so you can't know what content from the FreeNet is being hosted on your computer (which brings up other issues). Of course nobody else can supposedly tell either.

    I don't know the implications, or even if it is a feasible task to port P2P to FreeNet, but I think something like this is a necessary step as time marches on and as the red tape and legal woes thicken. (Maybe the implicit anonymous nature of the FreeNet doesn't allow for the same P2P processes to work -- then again maybe it's ideal) .Right now FreeNet is very slow and the last time I used it (version 0.4) was buggy. However I haven't tried the latest 0.5 release.

    Of course this won't necessarily prevent the companies that create and distrubute the P2P software from being prosectued. However it might provide the anonymity that these companies need to distribute their software and keep operating -- provided they don't make themselves known to the public. If they are not known, then nobody can find them. Which begs the question: Then how would these companies get advertising revenue if nobody knows about them? Well, they could advertise on a webpage on the FreeNet and accept credit card payments over the FreeNet, and then the advertiser's content would magically appear in the P2P application. This would take a lot of trust on behalf of the advertisers.

    Just a thought. I'd like to hear a response from developers who are involved with the FreeNet project and/or P2P clients about the feasibility of all this.

  49. Not about newbies by Seek_1 · · Score: 1

    The comment I made about leechers obviously wasn't for people just starting out. By leecher I meant someone who uses the system and simply doesn't share any files and moves everything out thier download directory as soon as it completes. Obviously you wouldn't expect anyone with nothing to share to contribute much, however as they download stuff and build up an archive of files, they would be expected to have at least some of it as shared in order to 'contribute back to the community' from which they got their files.

  50. Re:P2P Needs a More Secure Base (e.g. FreeNetProje by fault0 · · Score: 1

    The problem with freenet, at least what I've seen in the past, is that it just doesn't do the p2p side of things very well, as things are not as direct as it is with other networks. The average p2p user is rather going to want content coming into their hd immediately.

  51. An interesting thought.. by hklingon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I had an interesting thought the other day. Hang with me for a moment...

    If I hear a song on the radio, and I record it. That is okay. If I record something off the TV antenna, that is also ok.

    Now consider companies like Clear Channel, whose only goal is to cover every square inch of the US's surface area with the same radio stations. Theoretically, 88.9 in Podunk, USA, is the same as 88.9 in San Francisco, Tacoma, Buffalo, etc. Now, I'm wandering around, going to work, etc. being bombarded with these radio stations, and these television broadcasts, so, if I were recording everything broadcast to me, I'd probably have copies of all the latest music and some popular television programs. Now suppose, through corporate machinery, prettymuch the same opportunity were available to each and every American Citizen. What copyright gripe could the media companies have?

    I realize the nature of copyright is such that I cannot redistribute works that are copyrighted. I can't find it on findlaw, but it seems like someone was caught selling stuff that had been broadcast (the superbowl, I think) that he had recorded. If memory serves, the ruling was something like new audiences were being created for the copyrighted work, audiences the original copyright holder was entitled to. But what if at every corner of the US you can pick up Clear Channel?

    Better yet--what if I start a TiVo type service. We make you sign lots of paper work and we verify where you live. We have a computer program and a schedule of all content on broadcasts you can receive. Our computer records it, and lets you download it from our website. I'd expect the FBI to haul me away and lock up the key--but I don't think it is (or should be) illegal. What exactly has happened here? The people we're serving have a right to the content, we've just automated the time-shift of when that content is delivered to them. We'll even include the commercials, though for single songs people might want, this won't work as a lot of radio stations have moved their commercials to about once per hour or once per half-hour.

    As far as quality goes, I wonder if Sattelite radio is obscured behind some sort of "terms of service" agreement that you agree to listen in exchange for not recording at all.

  52. Originality Please by bangzilla · · Score: 1

    Within days we've seen two articles from Wired pumped here (this one and http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/24/144621 7&mode=thread&tid=98 this one on Sony, RIAA et al) C'mon Taco - how about some original work rather than just pointers to magazines (that actually hit the streets about two weeks ago -- why the lag?)

    --
    Rich people are eccentric. Poor people are strange. Me, I'd be happy with odd.
  53. Re:As a musician... by civilizedINTENSITY · · Score: 1

    "This reduces the value of the music, and in turn reduces the value of the artist's contribution to society."

    I'm reminded of a story I read of an artist whose friend was expressing an interest in art. He bought her a Piccaso sketch. She thought it wasn't an especially pretty reproduction, but it was a gift (and her "values" put an obligation on her), so she found a place to hang it were only family members were likely to notice. A few weeks later a professor visiting her for dinner happened to catch sight of it. "Why are you displaying an original Picasso there!" Realizing it was "valuable", she redisplayed it proudly. She made everyone look at it who came over.

    Now the question. What is the inherent artist "value" of the artist's contribution? Can it be related in a meaningful way to the *market value*? To such that the reducing the market value of music reduces the value of the artist's contribution to society implies the artists contribution is merely to increase the GNP. Might as well sell pretzels, then. Wrong. "As a musician" seems to me to be "as an MBA" in artists clothing.

  54. It's all about the bandwidth anyway... by Kjella · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Roughly 100% of those I know with broadband pirate stuff.

    Roughly 0% of those I know with dial-up download stuff, they ask those above for a burned CD, but often they don't like asking for hand-outs.

    Why? Speed. It's not about whether Napster / KaZaA / WinMX or whatever is easy to use or anything. As more and more people get/want broadband the faster it goes. What RIAA is doing is like playing Whack-A-Mole on a game machine that keeps going faster and faster.

    Pretty soon, you can have so much stuff that if you're caught, you're bankrupt. 200gb of mp3s to $2/song (about full retail price here :p)? That'll be a $130.000+interest, thank you.

    I'm pretty sure you can manage to do so already with books. Oh that's 200gb of e-books, only 1 kazillion dollars for you.

    Kjella

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    1. Re:It's all about the bandwidth anyway... by fault0 · · Score: 1

      > Roughly 0% of those I know with dial-up download stuff, they ask those above for a burned CD, but often they don't like asking for hand-outs.

      This might be true now, but wasn't true back when the p2p revolution started (e.g, Napster). There were a shitload of modem users on Napster. There were some cable and DSL people, and quite a few college students (the t1/t3'rs). The modem users back then probably just got broadband later.

  55. "Power users." by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't care about being a power user or not. I want to be on as diverse a P2P network as possible, to have the best chance of find relatively obscure work. Being able to use a back-propagating learning neural network that reassembles fragmented downloads intelligently and learns bad host IDs is useless to me if I am on a P2P network limited to Rush fans.

    1. Re:"Power users." by moonbender · · Score: 1

      Ah, the glorious days of Audiogalaxy. Rest in peace.

      --
      Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
    2. Re:"Power users." by Pinball+Wizard · · Score: 1
      Being able to use a back-propagating learning neural network that reassembles fragmented downloads intelligently and learns bad host IDs is useless to me if I am on a P2P network limited to Rush fans.

      Sweet Jesus on a pogo stick, where can I find this network you speak of?

      --

      No, Thursday's out. How about never - is never good for you?

  56. Wrong Idea by seangw · · Score: 1

    The whole problem behind these networks (Kazaa, Napster, Audiogalaxy, etc.) is that everyone wants money for what they do.

    Freenet is a great idea, decentralized system, anonymous access, etc. Why not capitalize on that concept (in the sense of make value of, not money from)?

    I realize everyone wants money, but if you argue we are just sharing information, and someone is making a profit off of it, then there is a problem with the whole system.

    C'mon, I know that the readers of slashdot alone, could probably organize such an initiative and have a beta release in at least a few months.

  57. Execution by __aafkqj3628 · · Score: 1

    I'm curious about how (if) the US will execute the shutdown when all of the stuff is off-shore and not under US juristiction?

    1. Re:Execution by Cid+Highwind · · Score: 1

      It's simple, really.

      1: Get Dubya to call Kazaa a terrorist organization
      2: Have the US military bomb them into oblivion
      3: ???
      4: Profit!! for the ??AA

      --
      0 1 - just my two bits
  58. NO, NO, NO by Tuxinatorium · · Score: 1

    There's no way in hell the US will take military action against a country because people in that country are violating US copyright laws. That would be like sending the DEA into Amsterdam to arrest people who smoke pot (legally) there. Our laws do not apply to other countries, and attempting to enforce our laws in other countries completely denies the sovreignty of other countries. If the US did that, it would in effect be a global tyrant, ruling other nations from afar without giving them any representation in congress. Rather like what Britain did to the colonies. Forcing other countries to pay the Microsoft Tax, etc, would in effect be taxation without representation, because they didn't have any say in the US laws governing microsoft, and they don't have much choice but to use Mindows.

    1. Re:NO, NO, NO by Ed+Random · · Score: 1

      Err... One appropriate quote springs to mind after reading your scenario ;)

      "There is a theory which states that if anyone discovers exactly what the Universe if for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another which states that this has already happened." -- Douglas Adams

      --
      -- Gxis! Ed.
    2. Re:NO, NO, NO by privacyt · · Score: 1
      The US in 1989 invaded Panama simply because of that country's strong bank secrecy laws. Panama was 100% libertarian with its banks. Anyone could deposit money into a completely anonymous account. This made Panama far more pro-privacy than Switzerland.

      That of course was a thorn in the side of the Bush Administration, since the "War on Drugs" has the objective of being able to spy on every aspect of a citizen's life. Therefore, Panama got invaded, and a US-puppet government was installed. Invading Panama because of its strong banking secrecy was a blatant violation of its sovereignty.

      By the way, the stated reason for the invasion, the crimes of Manuel Noriega, were pure BS. This is because every one of Noriega's crimes were done while he was on the CIA's payroll.

  59. Another Article from the Entertainment Biz by TarPitt · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The Los Angeles Business Journal has a front page article about the menace of file sharing, and what the Entertainment Business (note: always capitalized in Los Angeles, a pure company town) is doing about it.


    Quote:


    The recording industry already has blamed illicit music file swapping for keeping as much as $5 billion from its coffers since 1999.

    But it gets much worse. With the number of households installing high-speed Internet access - the key component in moving large data files - projected to nearly triple within four years, the music business faces the prospect of mammoth losses and little assurance that its counterattacks to piracy will have much effect.


    For the entire article, try this

    --
    If your children ever found out how lame you are, they'd murder you in your sleep
    1. Re:Another Article from the Entertainment Biz by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Did these dumbfucks ever consider that CD sales are down because:

      A. most of the new music coming out SUCKS

      B. the economy is WAY in the tank, millions of people are either out of work or lost billions of dollars in the dot-com fallout, and would rather buy food than CD's.

      C. CD's are so fucking over-priced it's hilarious.

    2. Re:Another Article from the Entertainment Biz by crusher-1 · · Score: 1

      Yep, pretty much hits that nail on the head. I'm beginning to think that those in power in the recording industry are more clueless about the internet and modern end-user technologies than those in Washington - and that's pretty clueless IMHO.

  60. Re:Once and for all... by thesilverbail · · Score: 1

    how about Cash?-Ha!

    --
    I have found a truly wonderful proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, but unfortunately this sig is too small to contain it.
  61. Agreed by Jason+H.+Smith · · Score: 1

    I just moved to Bangkok from the U.S. I must say, I was absolutely stunned at the low prices of VCDs. Not shady pirated copies, mind you: I'm talking real, shrink-wrapped-and-hologram-thingy Hollywood movies.

    VCDs are Heaven. I absolutely love that I can sacrifice a little quality for a great price. (Where have I heard that before?)

    Get this: Today, I just bought three more movies for $7! All perfectly legit. That beats the hell out of stressing over mencoder and your Netflix queue. And guess what? I can perfectly legally encode to mpeg4 to put on one CD, or on my home file server (I like to play music and movies with a wireless laptop.) Frankly, I'm having so much fun, I can't believe I'm not breaking any laws.

    In two months, I've spent more money on legal movies in Bangkok than I did in the U.S. in probaly the last two years (and I make next to nothing at my job right now). Why? Because I don't feel alienated and villified as a consumer.

  62. Games aren't all that big by yerricde · · Score: 1

    Most people probably have a couple of pirated games or so they can share.

    Twenty pirated NES games at 128 KB each after compression still total only 2.5 MB, nowhere near the 1 GB that most hubs seem to require.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  63. And the Internet Made an Enemy by Peter_Pork · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The world media corporations are scared to death of the Internet and how file sharing is quickly decreasing their revenue. At some point they are going to realize that the Internet, as we know it today, is their main enemy (rather than just file sharing applications). Don't you think they will try really hard to lobby for killing the Internet? I know, I know, they can and they do sell content on-line, but the threat is too great, and they may push really hard to create a new network with such draconian control that no piracy will take place. Do you think this is a real threat? Will they succeed? As a first step, they could simply buy a few of the major ISPs (most are bankrupt) and impose content filtering. They certainly have enough money to fight this war...

  64. My Experience by f0rt0r · · Score: 2

    I once came upon some edonkey links while searching for music videos, and decided to give it a try ( to get the videos ). After loading the authors version of Edonkey and doing some searches plus clicking on edonkey link to queue up file, I wound up with nothing. It may have been a config problem, though I searched through message boards and check out issue/resolution posts. Still nothing. I even resorted to the basic searches like *.mpg, *.mp3, etc and still nothing.

    In comparison, Kazaa(using Kazaa lite ) may not always turn up what I am looking for. But it is much better than Zero hits, and I think that is due to its popularity. Suprisingly, Shareza does a good job also, though I have to wait a bit to find peers and supernodes to connect to. On linux I have only used Qtella, which also works fine in regards to returning results to my searchs.

    I digressed a bit by mentioning other P2P networks, but I am in a comparison mood right now, so I compared all the ones I used so far.

    Question - is there a "kazaa-lite" for (Mandrake)Linux? I would love to try out their network while on my favorite OS.

    F0rt0r
    Sig Impaired and Proud of It!

    --
    I can't afford a sig!
    1. Re:My Experience by sparrow_hawk · · Score: 1

      Some people have had good experience using KaZaA Lite under Wine... Googling for "kazaa linux wine" should do the trick. I couldn't get it to work, so I finally gave up and checked out giFT/openFT, a KaZaA/FastTrack workalike for Linux systems. Wine is really more of a stopgap measure, IMHO.

      giFT has the same bugs/features (eg. not being able to search for the files you share), but operates as a daemon, is infinitely configurable, and has several quality UIs; plus, it's GPL'd and doesn't have spyware. It does require some command-line work, but they spell it out pretty well for you. I've been pleased, though. It could use more files, so the more users the better!

  65. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  66. Re:Arrogant dick. You're helping them win. by lukew · · Score: 1

    Madonn', you are the peoples poet.

  67. Re:Vapourware by fault0 · · Score: 1

    > Downloading giFT currently requires CVS and SSH.

    No it doesn't. It requires CVS only. SSH is only used for sf.net's non-anonymous cvs (i.e, you are a developer for giFT and have write access)

    > Compiling UNIX code on Windows requires Cygwin, and running it requires an X server. (Or has it been ported to pure Win32 to compile with the MinGW compiler?)

    Uh, the main method of compiling giFT is to use a product called Microsoft Visual C++. Perhaps you've heard of it, no? giFT includes the VC project files within the win32 directory. The secondary method is to use MinGW. I've heard of cygwin builds, but it really isn't necessary.

    > Compiling UNIX code on Windows requires Cygwin, and running it requires an X server.

    Uh, giFT is a deamon. Even on linux, it doesn't require a X server. Some frontends do, but even the most popular frontend for linux, giFTcurs, is console based. So what X server?

    > In other words, praising giFT on Slashdot is spreading vapour.

    Not really. there are a bunch of people on slashdot who have compilers, whether they be on an UNIX-like OS (many people are), or have a compiler in a windows OS (many people are developers).

    Slashdot is news for nerds. Many nerds have this shit. get over it.

  68. Re:eMule is for bastards by moonbender · · Score: 1

    Bah, bullshit. If anything, eMule improved the network's performance. Client to client source propagation, intelligent corruption handling, the queue rating system - the list goes on and on. Your notion of eMule affecting Overnet performance is ridiculous - eMule doesn't do anything with Overnet, the protocol was never implemented. Maybe you're thinking of mldonkey; that one does have some Overnet support.

    As for your choice of P2P, according to my experience, eMule is one of the best "fire and forget" clients. Mostly everything is available, and after you added it to the queue, all you've got to do is wait. It takes a while, but eventually it'll be done. I never used Overnet, but from what I gather it's similar, albeit a bit slower overall. On the other hand, when I used Direct Connect, a computer crash basically meant you were fucked, and if you wanted a quick match of some online game, well tough.
    The other extreme would be the IRC or, worse, the FXP scene - you're among the first to get stuff, but considering how much time you spend for it, you could just as well get a real job and go the lawful route.

    --
    Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
  69. mail your stolen music back to the MPAA by gelfling · · Score: 5, Funny

    I call on all thieves to email their ill gotten gains back to the MPAA. I have about 300GB that I should send back to them and if the rest of you criminals did the same we could solve this scourge on society once and fer-all.

  70. A taste of their own medicine by gregsv · · Score: 1

    I can't say I have any sympathy whatsoever for the RIAA/MPAA/[insert your favorite evil monopolistic content group here]. They have been ripping off decent people who choose to go and actually purchase CDs and videos for years, and they have nobody but themselves to blame when the consumers decide to return the favor. This is not about anything more than big-shot record label execs getting scared that they might lose the opportunity to finance their fat arses, big houses, and fast cars with the hard-earned money of the general public. I'm sorry, but I have better things to do with my money. Maybe if the record companies had decided on a business model that didn't put the bottom line before honesty and fairness, they wouldn't have to worry about Kazaa and other P2P networks today.

  71. Ripping Vinyl by dbc001 · · Score: 1

    Ripping vinyl is a huge pain in the ass. I ripped a few 12" singles once and realized that if anyone walked within about 30 feet of where I was ripping (I was on the 2nd floor of a really old building) the needle might pick up the vibrations of the footsteps and alter the recording. Although I would love to have the time and energy to rip all my vinyl, it's just too much of a pain in the ass. I've actually encountered vinyl rips that have record-skips recorded into them!

    -dbc

    1. Re:Ripping Vinyl by RichardX · · Score: 1

      "if anyone walked within about 30 feet of where I was ripping"..."the needle might pick up the vibrations of the footsteps and alter the recording"

      IANA Hifi guru, but my dad is, and I've learnt a couple of things over the years. Sounds to me like you need airpods (expensive optimal solution) or cones (cheaper. dunno if 'cones' is even the right term)

      Basically these isolate your turntable from vibration. The cones (which are literally just pointy cones) do it by minimising contact between the turntable and the surface it sits on - you rest the turntable on 3 cones. Hence the only contact to the surface beneath is three tiny points.

      Airpods take the concept further. they're magnetically repelling cylinders. Basically, they cause your turntable to be magnetically levitated, and therefore heavily isolated from external vibration.

      I'd point you to some good websites, but like I said, I don't know much about this stuff personally. A quick google should turn up some good info tho.

      Hope this is some help :)

      --
      Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
  72. I bet they get your money anyway by mgkimsal2 · · Score: 1

    Record companies get nothing from me.

    I bet they do. I bet there's shops you frequent that have piped in music. By shopping there you are supporting those record companies who have their music piped in.

    1. Re:I bet they get your money anyway by davinc · · Score: 1

      In more than one way. I also payed by leaving the music industry as a career. I went to music school and loved it, but it felt more like preparing for a boxing match than learning a craft. The competition to whore yourself out is brutal. The most fun I ever had as a musician was playing covers in a cheezy 70s band, when we really had no intentions other than to make a few drunk people move.

  73. The War Is On by NetGyver · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ah, you took the five steps ahead approch to this. I do not doubt that your doomsday end-result isn't likely to happen, on the contrary, it will happen--it's just a matter of time.

    However, this thing we call piracy is nothing new. Closed circle casual piracy, like casual sex will always be around, however now we see a change that's been brewing since Napster came to power, we're now seeing MASS piracy, MASS amounts of people engaging in IP violations. This says something about the media conglomos themselves, this says something about how the consumer trend is changing, and this says something about IP/copyright laws in general.

    The sides are polarizing, and what used to be a decent civilization of consumers and content creators has now de-evolved into a new "Wild West".

    Let them come, Let the RIAA/MPAA start suing consumers who utilize p2p in their spare time. I don't think you fully understand what kind of shit storm that would rain down on the entertainment industry once this starts. Why do you think they've been trying to shutdown the sites instead of suing the users?? Not because they love us, but because of massively BAD PR. There are MILLIONS, and MILLIONS of p2p file swappers....Some old, some young, some with good paying jobs, some without.
    Some with a grudge against the "man" and some who just want to actually get to know what they are buying before they buy it. And there are others in between.

    Once you label all these diverse people as "criminals" or "thieves", or even imply that they are (people in the crossfire for example)they will ALL revolt.
    And that's not all, there are people in the crossfire here that have nothing to do with p2p that will get hurt too. CD-R taxation, ISP being taxed and therefore the costs are past on to your grandma out in montana on dialup who googles only for cross stich patterns. And when they look at what's going on, they'll blame the person who's behind the jacking of the connection costs--The ISP, and once the ISP gets enough heat on them, then they bitch back at the RIAA/MPAA...then after the news media gets wind of all of this...MORE people try out p2p, and more people see how obnoxious the tactics of the MPAA/RIAA are, and the cycle continues to escalate.

    The "general populace" you speak of *is* engaged in this activity.

    Far too many people spend time on their polar sides to understand what is going on here. The RIAA is taking fair use away, the MPAA extending copyrights every time they're about to expire, price fixing of CDs, obnoxious bands on payola radio, overly restrictive DRM on CDs, the list goes on and on, but that's just to name a few.

    Something has to give or this will fester at a exponetial rate. People will be hunted down and fined/jailed, the RIAA will be bleeding red ink, their will still be fabucated crap on the radio. There will be rallies in the streets and online, mass dissent among consumers, and most of all, new laws that will bring new restrictions on things that we thought were safe.

    Look at it this way, the whole p2p idea sprung up out of practically no where, and jetted into the internet's mainstream practically overnight. Yet, the RIAA has been working the same business model for multiple decades. If you don't move fast enough and change enough, your consumers will either fuck you, or leave you. And p2p users who are and who used to be media consumers are doing them both. That tells me that something is wrong on the content holder's side. But that isn't to say they should heed to the "pirate's" wishes, all i'm saying is both sides have better start looking for compromises before it becomes to late.

    --
    A Penny for my thoughts? Here's my two cents. I got ripped off!
    1. Re:The War Is On by Snaller · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Once you label all these diverse people as "criminals" or "thieves", or even imply that they are (people in the crossfire for example)they will ALL revolt.

      No they won't - people mostly don't give a damn, and almost never get together about anything.


      therefore the costs are past on to your grandma out in montana on dialup who googles only for cross stich patterns.


      She can try this one:

      --
      If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
    2. Re:The War Is On by phriedom · · Score: 1

      "Let the RIAA/MPAA start suing consumers who utilize p2p in their spare time. I don't think you fully understand what kind of sh*t storm that would rain down on the entertainment industry once this starts....There are MILLIONS, and MILLIONS of p2p file swappers...Once you label all these diverse people as "criminals" or "thieves", or even imply that they are (people in the crossfire for example)they will ALL revolt.The "general populace" you speak of *is* engaged in this activity."

      I think that when the RIAA first goes after end users of P2P networks for copyright infringement, they are going to pick out the most egregious and unsympathetic violators. These will be university students, probably at a California State run University so that they can be painted as clogging up the State owned Internet lines and bogging down the traffic for all the other students. They will have raid arrays full of music, movies, and porn. The more disgusting the porn, the better for the RIAA. The violator will also be inarticulate, ugly, and probably have poor hygene. The RIAA will concoct some absurd dollar number about the value of the "stolen" media he posseses and an even larger number alleging the value of what he distributed to others based on expert testimony and logs. The RIAA will win. The general populace will mostly agree that those dirty hackers did something wrong and will not do anything remotely akin to a revolt.

      More on the general populace: Per the 2000 census, less than half of the US households have internet access. IMHO: of those, it is probably a small percentage that understand what Fair Use is and how it is being threatened. Of the people who do value Fair Use, only some of those think it is okay to violate copyright wantonly and distribute copyrighted material. It is going to be a pretty small revolt.

      There certainly isn't any political will to stop the RIAA, evidenced by their ability to get the Sonny Bono act passed (and the DMCA for that matter.) P2P users don't vote or contribute to political campaigns very much. Without any political force, what would some of riot-in-the-streets demonstrations accomplish? They would probably evoke a backlash in public opinion. So the only kind of "revolt" that I can see that might happen is that P2P users will be so mad at the RIAA, that they might not buy any more big label CD's. I think that is the best we can hope for and I'm all in favor of that. But honestly, of the million of P2P users out there, most of them are using P2P because they value music and won't like giving up buying CD's. I think that many P2P users will just abandon P2P if they think they could actually get in trouble for it. Others will rebuild the P2P networks so that the users cannot be identified and the P2P networks will live on.

      Me personally? I've got a Bill Withers song stuck in my head from one of the Superbowl Ads yesterday and I'm going to go over to djangos.com and see if I can find it used, because there is no way I'm putting a P2P client on my computer here at work.

      --
      Don't moderate flamebait as Troll. Know the difference or you will be Meta-moderated.
    3. Re:The War Is On by NetGyver · · Score: 1

      I probably didn't articulate myself as well as could have, and I appreciate the reply.

      Your right about the RIAA picking out test cases, they'll want to make them high profile as a reason to deter other p2p users from engaging in distributing copyrighted works. It's a trump card the RIAA haven't played yet. The question in my head is why not just do it already. If this seems like such a good idea then what's the hold up?

      As far as your description of the would-be guy to get nailed in the RIAA's test case of suing an individual, honestly it doesn't sound likely. It sounds like a stereotypial geek your describing.
      Why on earth would the RIAA pick a person to sue based on hygene and looks? Also, porn isn't exactly illegal. I doubt the porn would even get so much as a blurb in the media, unless it's child porn.

      If napster and kazaa and other p2p software has shown us anything, it's that their apps are incrediblely easy to use, which is why their clients have been gaining in popularity in the order of millions of users. These p2p users aren't just geeks. Think of all the different kinds of people who by CD's and DVDs in stores, kids, adults, middle class, upper class, black, white, asian---I'm pretty sure that p2p users as a whole are as diverse in culture and lifestyles as those who shop in stores.

      As far as revolts, I wasn't meaning to imply 1960's race riot type of revolts or anything, but there certianly has been a backlash since p2p hit the ground running. This will definately escalate and expand along with the issue at hand until something can be worked out on both sides of the table.

      of the million of P2P users out there, most of them are using P2P because they value music and won't like giving up buying CD's

      I agree. I bought alot of CD's during the 90's, and I wish i didn't. Today, i still buy the same amount CDs, the only difference is that I buy really GOOD CDs now, instead of 1-3 good track discs.

      Personally, I don't like the idea of mp3s or digtal music files to begin with. If i really love a band, I want a pressed CD with lossless sound quality, not mp3 or ogg files. I'd love to be able to browse a label's entire music catalog and have them make me a cd of the tracks i want. And just to be able to buy any album from any band in their entire music catalog.

      I just hope something good comes out of all this mess.

      --
      A Penny for my thoughts? Here's my two cents. I got ripped off!
    4. Re:The War Is On by phriedom · · Score: 1

      "As far as your description of the would-be guy to get nailed in the RIAA's test case of suing an individual, honestly it doesn't sound likely. It sounds like a stereotypial geek your describing. Why on earth would the RIAA pick a person to sue based on hygene and looks? Also, porn isn't exactly illegal. I doubt the porn would even get so much as a blurb in the media, unless it's child porn."

      I think they would select someone who could easily be seen as the Bad Guy by the press and the general public. Finding a college student with 40 gigs of illicit mp3's who is using P2P on the University connection shouldn't be very hard, so why not also associate P2P with a creepy guy too if you can do it. Porn just makes him creepier, at least to the general public.

      --
      Don't moderate flamebait as Troll. Know the difference or you will be Meta-moderated.
    5. Re:The War Is On by NetGyver · · Score: 1

      He's a college kid, using a internet connection his tuition money help pays for, downloading porn because he's after all just a young man with an abundance in hormones, just like every other youth on the planet...I see this as normal, not creepy heh :)

      --
      A Penny for my thoughts? Here's my two cents. I got ripped off!
    6. Re:The War Is On by phriedom · · Score: 1

      Sure you do. But how do yo think it is going to be reported? Reporters are trying to make a story. Its going to be "The accused allegedly had over 15,000 illegal mp3 files, and over 20,000 pictures of hard-core pornography, and a collection of pornogrpahics movies, all taken from the internet." Then they will get from soundbites from some acquaintances.

      --
      Don't moderate flamebait as Troll. Know the difference or you will be Meta-moderated.
    7. Re:The War Is On by NetGyver · · Score: 1

      This will probably get reported the same way as other things related to the RIAA get reported:

      "Tonight On News 8, The RIAA leads FBI and Secret Service officers to a college dorm to apprehend a college kid with illegal digital music files. FBI Agent: "Appariently the youth in question also has a great deal of hardcore porn photos and movies as well, what a sick fuck this kid is, not only did he download Britney Spears "...Baby One More Time" hit single, he also wanked to a photoshopped naked picture of her too. We know this because we found a semen stained throw pillow beneith his bed, and a low-res printout of the artist fully naked as well." The incident took place at approxmently 7:30 PST. John Longrow, a witness and close friend of the yet-to-be-named offender gave us this statement after watching his fellow student being apprehended: "I saw the police walking down the hallway and I knew that it must be something serious going on. Right before they kicked down the door, one of the officers pulled out a boom box and played a tape with this awful song on it..."Baby Got Back" you know, just like Master Pain from Kung-Pow: Enter The Fist movie, right before he kicked that other guy's ass. I asked the policemen where he got that nasty ass song, and he said he bootlegged it from the internet and laughed, i found that quite interesting."

      In other news: Sharman Networks, owner of the popular Kazaa software and file-swapping service, counter-sues the movie and music industries with antitrust violations. Film at 11"

      In any case, most media outlets haven't been too kind to the RIAA to begin with, especially concerning with ther tactics in enforcing their IP. I doubt this will change when the RIAA starts suing/arresting people. It'll just get more airplay in the news media. Mom's and Dads with offspring in the military and 9/11 victums will watch in horror as they wonder where the hell the world is coming to when murderers are running loose on the street, and terrorists are attacking our nation. To think that some scrappy kid with a pc and "illegal" music files could warrent such dramatics...

      --
      A Penny for my thoughts? Here's my two cents. I got ripped off!
  74. Re:P2P Needs a More Secure Base (e.g. FreeNetProje by CvD · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The technology behind FreeNet is very cool, very well thought out, except for one thing: searching. You can't really search for arbitrary strings like most apps. They are working on it, but a good solution is yet to come out of it.

    There are some indexing services, but they need to grow and get a user community behind them (like FileNexus and ShareReactor for eDonkey/Overnet)

    If they got that going, it'd be interesting... but then you would still be restricted to searching in what was in the releases index... which would not reflect everything that is available.

    Cheers

  75. Complaining about Leeching on P2P... Funny. by Mulletproof · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I mean really, you hardly have anything to complain about here, using a quasi-illegal program to share music you shouldn't, by law, be sharing in the first place. Please feel free to drop the hypocritical facade any time your ready. So while you engage in semi-illegal file transfers, people are leeching files from you in a similar manner. I call that "Irony".

    Move along, nothing to see here.

    --
    You need a FREE iPod Nano
  76. My favorite quote by LFS.Morpheus · · Score: 1
    Then there are the guys sitting behind [Kazaa's] attorneys, from Tech-9 - an industrial rock band that distributes its music online. They're wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the letters FTI. Fuck the industry.
    Damn straight.

    An awesome article. I recommend you actually (*gasp*) read it.
    --
    The space unintentionally left unblank.
  77. I agree but what should the prices really be ? by OneInEveryCrowd · · Score: 1

    My own personal opinion is that if songs were about 5 cents US or less or you could get the whole album for 99 cents or less the piracy problem would go away and the industry would be making more money and not less because there would be no incentive to cheat.

    There is a precedent for this scenario. Remember the early 90s when CompuServe charged $6 or $12 per hour for access and had several hundred thousand members. Remember what happened when Netcom introduced $20/month flat rate pricing ?

    It's too bad that in reality the clueless newbies normally called content industry CEOs don't get this and maybe never will.

    The monthly flat rate models I've seen for music access just don't work for me. Why ? I already have dsl, netflix, cable, cell phone, health club, etc. One more monthly bill just isn't possible.

  78. I just want my participation level to be fair... by Sarcasmooo! · · Score: 1

    I shared more and more and it never seemed to change from 14(low). I dunno why. I gave up eventually.

  79. Re:Whatever whatever by Kibo · · Score: 1

    Here's some info for you.

    They Might Be Giants:
    First Heard: Bootleg of Apollo 18 on cassette.
    Own: Just looking one last very hard to find release.
    Last Purchase: One week ago. Dial-a-song anthology.

    Bare Naked Ladies:
    First Heard: Bootleg of Gordon on cassette.
    Own: All their albums but the greatest hits, and no singles.
    Last Purchase: Their last album.

    Alpha Team:
    First Heard: Go Speed Go through my dorm room wall.
    Own: A bootleg cassette I had my neighbor make. A collection of morning cartoon songs I got because it listed Speed Racer. An assoted Techo collection called Sm:)e. And a three song single of Go Speed Go remixes. Oh an the mp3 I got to make a cd with, before I found the previously listed cds.

    And there are more examples.

    All also note that the RIAA doesn't serve their market at all. All they are interested in doing is pushing shit sandwiches to the exclusion of everything else. They are, in the classic Teddy Rossevelt sence, a Trust. They control, to the great disadvantage of the market, everything about a piece of music, including whether the girl scouts can sing it, cradle to grave. What horrifies them isn't that people are stealing, but that they've lost control of their process and their monopoly will die, leaving them having to actually participate in the market as opposed to dictating to it.

    How many people use the sharing networks primarily for the hard to find stuff? The RIAA made them go there. They decide what music is rare, hard to find, or just unproduced. I know in my "hate to go shopping for anything especially music" case, it takes a while before I stop activly searching local record stores, and enter either a passive searching mode, or actively search for it on-line.

    When it comes to the lesser of two evils. I always pick the smaller, more diffuse evil, as opposed to the giant hulking brimstone smoking version. Call me quirky.

    --
    --Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
  80. Kazaalite Vs eMule by abhikhurana · · Score: 1

    As soon as I read this comment, I downloaded emule and searched for Shania Twain I am gonna getcha just for a test. The avrage speed I got was around 5 KBps.On the other hand, if I ddownload the same song using Kazaalite, I get a speed of 48KBps. So just tell me once again as to why should I use eMule?

  81. stealing music etc... by tq_at_sju · · Score: 1

    if MP3 downloading is stealing, how come i can listen to any music i want on radio stations and internet radio ? It's only stealing because they think they are losing money, not because it's actually stealing.

    --
    http://www.vanillaafro.com - take me seriously and I will shoot you
  82. Yeah, how reprehensible by autopr0n · · Score: 1

    Stealing service from an organization making money from other people's copyrights. Oh, the horror!

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
  83. Re:I've just been using USENET. by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 2, Insightful

    One does wonder why Usenet is yet to be sued. It far predates Napster. Does it in some way pass a legal challenge that Napster didn't, or is it considered just too arcane for Joe College-Student to use in ripping off the starving record companies?

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  84. Hmmm... by Greyfox · · Score: 1

    I wonder how much of a mercenary force the RIAA would have to hire to invade and take over the country. I don't reckon they can be particularly well defended...

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  85. Good open source/non-evil file filesharing stuff? by autopr0n · · Score: 1

    If RIAA thinks going after KAZAA is difficult, imagine them going after something like Freenet. The way I figure, if there's a way to send money to something, there's a way to take it back. A system with no financial structure won't be attackable in a cort of law (not that they can't do something like try to DOS the network out of existance)

    Anyway, what are some good non-evil P2p services? I've stayed away from kazaa, as I'm not really a big fan of spyware. I've been using WinMX to find realy rare stuff, but most of my downloading, untill thirsday night, was done over the campus lan. Thirsday night they busted into a few dorms and shut down the central searching system (Strangesearch) for our campus. Are their any other good ones out there based on open source stuff?

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
  86. Choose another ISP by Kunta+Kinte · · Score: 1
    Furthermore, many people (including myself) have cable modems. Upload speeds are "capped" at a fraction of the download speeds.

    Maybe it's time to find an ISP that does not put these restrictions on you. Like SpeakEasy for instance.

    Unless consumer start rewarding companies that provide services at the consumers terms, and shy away from those ISPs with draconian policies, those caps will only get worst.

    Leeching is bad for P2P networks no matter the reason. If everyone acted the same way as the leechers, the value of the P2P would drop considerabley.

    --
    Based on upvotes, Ageism is the only "-ism" Slashdotters care about and think isn't SJW
    1. Re:Choose another ISP by squeakygeek · · Score: 1

      Many people don't really have a choice when it comes to ISP. There is only one non-dialup ISP in my town, and they get away with much more than just very slow upload speeds. They try to charge you an extra five bucks per month for each computer you have connected, and they try to prevent you from running a router. Thats just the start of it, too.

  87. Maybe by Adam9 · · Score: 1

    Probably because the RIAA is slowly but surely getting a bad reputation since they're cracking down a lot more. They don't need anymore of this.

    Imagine the headlines of, "RIAA SHUTS DOWN KEY PARTS OF INTERNET". Yeah, that's a major exaggeration. Does the media exaggerate? Never!

  88. Re:I was confused by cwebster · · Score: 1

    >Thanks. I don't consider a Windows program completely "free" if it depends on a $1,000 compiler from Microsoft.

    if by $1000, you mean $60, then you have a point. Thats for Visual c++.NET learning edition, which im sure is more than ample to build giFT. If you have a college ID, you can probably pick up the pro version for a decent price, and if you go to select schools with MS's licensing deals, you can get all of Visual Studio.NET for $35.

    to claim $1000, is just uninformed, and needless propogation of bullshit, thanks for your contribution to the internet.

    >Unfortunately, I can't run Linux or FreeBSD effectively on either of my computers, both of which have winmodems and neither of which I got an opportunity to customize.

    must be those $1000 modems keeping you down, or do you not consider an operating system "free" if it depends on hardware that costs you your hard earned allowance?

  89. nevermind the fact by _avs_007 · · Score: 1

    That just because people sneak in, doesn't mean they would've bought tickets in the first place. Look at the Montreal Expos. If you could sneak into a game, I doubt you necessarily would've bought tickets to the game ;) Maybe you only went because it was "free". But hey, what if you go for "free", and you found you really really like the Expos, or whoever they were playing.... I've done that. dl an Mp3 that I loved so much, I actually go out and buy the album. But I never would've bought it, if it wasn't for the MP3...

  90. Sounds interesting. by abulafia · · Score: 1

    Is there a client for Linux? Doesn't look like it.

    --
    I forget what 8 was for.
  91. 1. Lose Banner Ads 2. ??? 3. Profit! by Heisenbug · · Score: 1

    I'm not actually sure that would work out for them. Kazaa is just about as distributed as OpenFT -- distributed enough, anyway, that no central servers are required to keep it running. As long as we can still get the client no one can stop us from running it.

    The reason they don't use an OS protocol -- or open up the FastTrack protocol -- is that then anyone could write a client for it. If that was possible, do you really think anyone would use their spyware version? In fact, they have gone to a great deal of effort to make their protocol as closed as possible for that reason.

    Kazaa could do what you say, the corporation(s) could disappear entirely, and the network would keep going just fine. I'm sure they'll do that, as soon as they get tired of making millions of dollars a year.

  92. kazaa shutting down by Syphon_x12 · · Score: 1

    i really dont think they have much of a chance of shutting it down, mainly because when they get it down it will just keep on moveing with slight varations, but it will still basically b the same kazza, so they should just fucking stop trying.

  93. Re:I've just been using USENET. by polyiguana · · Score: 1

    Usenet is distributed and has non-infringing uses. Indeed, the vast majority of newsgroups are non-infringing. Sure, there was the ALS Scan vs. RemarQ case, but that was relatively minor, and the MP3 newsgroups do have non-infringing material, such as bootlegs from bands that have designating that their live performances can be shared. This is substantially more material on a percentage basis than on Kazaa.

  94. Re:I've just been using USENET. by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 1
    Indeed, the vast majority of newsgroups are non-infringing.

    All the moreso, I would have believed that the case could be made against the infringing newsgroups without ever trying to shut down Usenet itself, and there would have been an easier going of it. Yet that hasn't happened. One does wonder why. In Usenet more then most other places, the ability to close down only infringing uses seems evident by requiring news services to not carry specified groups. Curious, wouldn't you say?

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  95. Slightly missing the point by Shade,+The · · Score: 1

    Actually, IIRC, originally Freenet wasn't encrypted at all. The main point is that it's decentralised; there's no real way of tracking who put what on the network as it all gets copied around. A bit like trying to find who originally ripped an mp3 found on Kazaa. Encryption was put on afterwards, which is probably a darn good idea, because then people can rightly claim they have absolutely no idea what's on their node, which makes putting forward any legal case against an individual near impossible. They (i.e. the RIAA, MPAA, etc) would have to make the technology itself illegal.

  96. Re:P2P Needs a More Secure Base (e.g. FreeNetProje by Anenga · · Score: 1

    Don't compare FreeNet to P2P Networks such as Kazaa, Gnutella etc. FreeNet is not meant to be a P2P File Sharing network. It is meant to be a decentralized secure/private network to share webpages and other censored/banned material. (Like the "Great Wall of China").

    Problems with FreeNet is that it's all static. You can't really have a PHP/MySQL website on it or anything like that. FreeNet is literly useless. It's ideals is the only good thing about it.

    Another problem with FreeNet is it's searching mechanism. It's nothing like rival P2P Networks (such as Gnutella2 etc.). The only things you'd be able to find on FreeNet are very popular files. It would be difficult to release stuff on FreeNet because of that.

    IMHO FreeNet is not the future of file sharing. A stable user-friendly client has yet to transpire and it's developers are currently working on other e-mail/enterprise products and not focusing on FreeNet. gIFT seems to be the same way.

  97. Re:Good open source/non-evil file filesharing stuf by Anenga · · Score: 1

    Have you tried Shareaza (w/Gnutella2)? Gnutella2 is currently the most powerful/sophisticated and advanced P2P network yet. The Shareaza client is Free/No Spyware/No Ads. You can also set it up to work on a LAN environment, so you can make your own private Gnutella2 network which would work pretty well (since it has Global search).

    Shareaza isn't open source but Gnutella2 is. Or it will be, as the specs have yet to come out (though are expected soon).

  98. Alternatively... by Tomble · · Score: 1
    Of course, it could be argued, that the way to avoid the possibility of being sued for either (a)paying money to an organisation that allows one to download (or share) content that might be copyrighted, or (b)sharing (or even trying to download) content that various organisations might claim to be copyrighted*, is to use a file sharing system that not only doesn't require a central organisation (either to pay money to or to get the service from), but also makes it impossible for any sod to tell which user is doing what. Like GNUnet, for example.

    These points also really apply to Freenet, but IMO, GNUnet is ultimately superior, like for one thing, any user on dial-up or with a not-very-permanent connection and IP is basically a leech on Freenet, whereas GNUnet allows practically anybody to both benefit and contribute (not only in uploading files but also improving effectiveness of the network).

    GNUnet has other advantages too, but is still in development- you can use it already, but not on Windows (*yet*), and AFAICT, the protocols aren't set in stone yet so you have to keep your GNUnet programs up-to-date to use it. And if you don't find it good enough for you, just keep coming back every few weeks, as work continues (or you can even help out).

    *-I say "claim to be copyrighted", as just because Group X says Person Y is doing something, and has a log somewhere, it doesn't really follow that it is true- I could cheerfully tell the world that Hilary Rosen goes through my dustbin, and that I drew a picture of the alleged event. Wouldn't be true, but it'd be my word against hers (OK, that would be rather unlikely, and I'm in another country. Blah blah). Further, just because Person Y appears to be sharing a copy of There's Something About Hilary Rosen, it doesn't follow that that file is what it claims to be. Why wouldn't it be? Hell, I don't know. But it doesn't have to be. If you've used Gnutella (you say you still are. I for one stopped ages ago), surely you'll have encountered this sort of thing by now.

    --
    Be careful! New moon tonight.
  99. Piracy and Copyright Infringement by UberQwerty · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Let's not go throwing around insults without understanding what they mean.

    "...committing priacy and copyright..."

    Both of these are violations of the law, but so what? Law is not the same as Right, and in fact, it has often been the opposite. It's possible to argue that music sharing amounts to civil disobedience, which all political theorists (who are not currently in power) will tell you is a Good Thing. Let's remember that a Good Thing is what's best for people in general, not what's best for the coorporations.

    Here's how to make that argument:
    Obviously, the system won't work if everyone gets their music for free. The recording companies won't make any profit, and people in general won't hear well-recorded music at all. This, however, does not by itself justify the bullshit that recording companies are putting us through. It is entirely possible for most people to get their music for free, and a few to pay for it.
    People like CDs. They like the package, the booklet, the pictures. So, it's likely that of the people who download lots of free music, those of them who can afford to will buy the CDs they particularly like. Since about $17 of every $20 CD is pure profit for the record company, they really don't have to sell to a very high percentage of their audience. Some people say that this is the reason why record sales were at a peak before Napster died, and have dropped off since. I, personally, bought 5 of the 7 RIAA CDs I own because I heard the music first for free, illegally.
    That would lead us to believe that we'd all be better off with filesharing/ piracy, even the giant rich companies everyone hates. Besides, making it illegal is like prohibition - now the only people who purvey shared files are themselves criminals, and can't be trusted. We all know what Kazaa tries to do to our computers.

    <rant>

    Another (moderatly less convincing) way to make this argument is to say that those &^%*& record companies shouldn't charge so much. Maybe if they charged a reasonable amount, like $7, for each CD, more peopel would buy. The reason this is less likely to convince is that free market capitalists will argue that the all-knowing public in this, our idealized capitalistic economy, would have counteracted any selfish moves of the businesses and prices will have already reached their equillibrium. The fact is that this just isn't true; the music industry, just like most others in America, is an oligopily, which functions just like a monopoly except that it avoids the letter of the law against monopolies.

    </rant>

    --


    PUBLIC SPLIT ON WHETHER BUSH IS A DIVIDER -CNN scrolling banner, 10/15/2004
  100. no optimization by yerricde · · Score: 1

    if by $1000, you mean $60, then you have a point.

    Microsoft claims that the $60 version of Visual C++ doesn't optimize. I've been told that the performance of code compiled by the $60 version of Microsoft Visual C++ is close to that of interpreted JavaScript.

    must be those $1000 modems keeping you down

    You got me there; the excuses are over. I think I've found where to budget my next 80 USD: on an external V.92 modem plus shipping and tax.

    --
    Will I retire or break 10K?
  101. Re:I've just been using USENET. by polyiguana · · Score: 1
    In Usenet more then most other places, the ability to close down only infringing uses seems evident by requiring news services to not carry specified groups. Curious, wouldn't you say?

    That is interesting. Some, like the ALS groups, have been shut down, and the MPAA does use DMCA to try to get news providers to shut down posters of movies in the movies groups. The main issue is that there are non-infringing posts in each newsgroup, and that the newsgroups themselves do not designate that infringing material is present. Also, it doesn't seem like some folks, like the ones at Playboy, seem to care about the content in the newsgroups with their names. I don't know why.

  102. Re:Complaining about Leeching on P2P... Funny. by Snaller · · Score: 1

    I call that "Irony".



    Presumably because english is not your first langauge.

    --
    If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
  103. And don't forget by Snaller · · Score: 1

    Edonkey nicey shows your IP number so the authorities can track you down - as they have been doing in europe for a while, and as they apparently (see previous Slashdot stories) are starting to do in America as well.

    --
    If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
    1. Re:And don't forget by hkmwbz · · Score: 1
      You are joking, right? You do realize that whenever you are connected to someone else - uploading or downloading, they can easily find your IP address? That's the whole point of IP addresses - a unique address so the other end knows where to send to and receive from.

      Thinking that your IP address is hidden just because the client doesn't show it is silly.

      --
      Clever signature text goes here.
    2. Re:And don't forget by Snaller · · Score: 1

      You are joking, right?

      Nope, edonkey shows your IP number right there for all to find (even before you download something).

      Besides, if nothing can cloak that, then RIAA has alreayd won, eh?

      --
      If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
    3. Re:And don't forget by hkmwbz · · Score: 1
      Ok, let me go through this again:

      You are joking about not realizing that anyone can see your IP if you are connected to them? Nothing can "cloak". If people couldn't get your IP, they wouldn't be able to connect to you, period.

      Whether or not the client shows the IP address is irrelevant. It is there, and the RIAA or whoever else might want to find it, can easily do so.

      --
      Clever signature text goes here.
    4. Re:And don't forget by Snaller · · Score: 1

      You are joking about not realizing that anyone can see your IP if you are connected to them?

      And you are joking about not realizing that anyone can see the IP of the sharere without being connected to them? (in this program)

      --
      If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
  104. You missed the point. by Skadet · · Score: 1

    So basically your saying your giving the moral highground to a service that is "better" for committing priacy and copyright infringement as opposed to one that fosters spyware?

    No. He's saying that between two services which can both be used for "priacy", he prefers the one that does not include spyware as an additional feature.

    If you consider the function of P2P and spyware equally evil, doesn't it make sense to choose the one that is 1x evil rather than 2x?

  105. You bitch about the wrong thing. by GojiraDeMonstah · · Score: 1

    "Would you step in to replace them?"

    You bet your sweet ass. The day that the RIAA starts suing college kids for wanting to try-before-buying music so as not to burn their parents' hard-earned education savings is the day that I personally invest time in writing/distributing my own P2P client.

    The reason that hackers around the world haven't banded together on this issue is that there is already a solution - KaZaA and others - but it wouldn't take venture capital to come up with a replacement. I guarantee that at the bottom of the 9th inning, if Sharman goes down, they release their source and then people around the world pick up the ball and make it 10,000 times harder to litigate.

    Why? you ask. IMHO, the hatred towards the entertainment industry is misguided. For me, it's not about prices or quality of material, it's about availability. If I could pay $100/month to a service on which I could see/hear anything I wanted, from old Bugs Bunny & Tiujana Toads cartoons to impossible to find Beatles outtakes, I would drop that cash in a heartbeat. The Main Reason I use KaZaA today is not that I'm some freeloading cheapskate, but that I can get a Louis Jordan single from the 40s in about 5 minutes, which is about how long it also takes me to get the most latest Bitchen-est Foo Fighters song.

    Yet, those goddamn motherfuckers have yet to release Van Halen's 1981 live concert on video (even though they have the whole thing edited and ready to go, parts of which you can get on KaZaA), or let me query a database and download snippets of everything that (swoon) Jessica Alba has been in. To reiterate, I am willing to pay for these services. But since the Powers That Be have their collective head too far up their collective ass, they FORCE me to resort to "piracy" (Aarrghh!) to get any kind of content that isn't force-fed through the normal channels.

    In Sum: Make it so that any consumer can buy/rent any electronic content that has ever been created is available, and I will pay just about anything (thus fairly compensating the artists, the copyright owner(s), and the various arms of the entertainment industry). Other than that, quit bitching.

    --
    "Stop throwing the Constitution in my face, it's just a goddamned piece of paper!" - George W. Bush Nov. 2005
  106. The RIAA has tracked down the number one pirater. by Omni+Magnus · · Score: 1

    His name is defaultuser@kazaa. This guy is going to get the book thrown at him.

  107. Re:Ya, Right!!! by crusher-1 · · Score: 1

    The U.S government and the U.N., European commonwealth, etc.., etc..., are going to base such things as nonproliferations treaties, trade agreements dealing with commodities like automobiles, parts, durables goods, etc, on a file sharing program. "No you can't join NATO because you're nation won't shut down a music sharing server? Do these words ring a bell - Pirated software, People Rebublic of China, Free Trade Agreement, and "MOST FAVORED NATION TRADING STATUS!!!!!

    Ya, the RIAA/MPAA and it's parent subscribers issued an order to Congress and the Administration - "If Estonia won't shut Kazaa down and you want campaign money you'll pursuade them even if it means sending in a few dozen cruise missles to hit those damn servers" :-/

    Ya, sure - Ok.

  108. Question... by tooloftheoligarchy · · Score: 1

    Can someone just please explain to me why the picture of the CEO of the company that owns the interface looks like a cross between a dominatrix and The Terminator?

    Maybe it's just me...

  109. Forget length. File Size! by Duds · · Score: 1

    If it's $150k for a (say) 8MB song.

    I wouldn't want to be on the recieving end of the suit for downloading that Bowling for Columbine DVD!

    (and yes, if some bugger released it on DVD I'd be first in line to buy)

  110. and indeed it's harder for music by Duds · · Score: 1

    Plus, in general, we'd have to say that the english speaking film world is very much "based" in one place. Certainly a lot more than the english language music world is.

  111. Who's next with service? by Groote+Ka · · Score: 1
    Napster down, Kazaa stood up.

    Kazaa down, who's next?

    That is, if they ever catch Kazaa (or Kazaa goes to a pay service)

  112. Yeah, you're by Lispy · · Score: 1

    probably right. I was thinking that Windowsers would use it since they are used to the name "Kazaa" but then again this didn't work for Morpheus after they switched to Gnutella. So should we hope for Kazaa being sued to death to get rid of the bannerads? I guess so.

    cu,
    Lispy

  113. What's next? shut down Usenet? by A55M0NKEY · · Score: 1

    That's the first p2p application. 99% of what most ppl use usenet for is downloading pr0n. Though most pics are posted as teaser ads from web-sites I doubt the copyright fees have been paid on most of it. One has no idea if the poster of a random usenet pr0n pic owns the copyright or not. For that matter there is no way for Joe Sixpack who uses Kazaa to know that the Eminem song he is downloading is NOT being shared from a server run by a record company as a 'promotion'.

    --

    Eat at Joe's.

  114. shutting down kazaa by conFU$3d · · Score: 1

    Seems like a lot of people are searching for reasons to shut kazaa down or keep it up and running, but I believe in the KISS principle. How did copyright laws come about in the first place. They came about because we live in a democracy, and the majority figured it was a good thing to have, not anything the record idustry did. Well now we have 90 million copies or more of Kazaa being dowloaded, and that seems to be a pretty good chunk of a majority, considering how many computer users there are compared with total population. Just because we decided on a set of rules some time ago does not mean we cannot change these rules, especially if it is the majority that wants them changed, ITS A DEMOCRACY AFTERALL!

  115. Re:Let them try; I have right on my side by Dave2+Wickham · · Score: 1

    /me smells a troll
    "most of the music the RIAA churn out sucks, so why should I pay for it"
    Simple: Pay for it and listen, or don't pay and don't listen. If you claim that it sucks anyway, then you won't want to listen to it, and don't need to download it.

  116. This guy died from ip overdose: by voisine · · Score: 1

    Man dies after gaming marathon:


    http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1106-961731.html

  117. When the film Soundtrack costs more than the DVD.. by zen2k2 · · Score: 1

    ...you have to wonder why.

  118. Shame vs. Effort by /Idiot\ · · Score: 1
    It was once said that there is no shame in not knowing, just not finding out.

    For more info on the Republic of Vanuatu: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ nh.html

    --
    /dev/Idiot/
  119. Re:Complaining about Leeching on P2P... Funny. by Mulletproof · · Score: 1

    Let's remember the context of the story-- SHUTTING DOWN KAZAA. We're not, or at least i'm not talking about home brewed FTP servers or whatnot. I'm talking about P2P networks with 90% or more (Kazaa for instance) of their traffic dealing in copywrite violating transfers.

    While ICQ can be used to do the same thing, it is first and formost designed as an IM program. If you tell me there isn't a vast difference between Kazaa and ICQ, I'll laugh in your face. While piracy can occure using ICQ. It's simply not set up for large scale searching and downloading. It's like handing your friend a select book instead of being able to view any book in the Library of Congress and download any one you want, which is Kazaa's method.

    You're right-- Just because something can be used illegally doesn't make the goods or services inheritly bad. But when you're service deals in mostly in illegal goods, you become the subject of intense scrutiny. In this case, kazaa has been labled a crack house. Your Apache server, hasn't.

    --
    You need a FREE iPod Nano