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Kazaa/Altnet To Pay Users For Trading Content

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the not-as-good-as-it-sounds dept.

mesozoic writes "News.com is reporting that Kazaa and Altnet are unrolling a setup where users are paid to distribute 'authorized content.' The article also mentions something about getting rid of unauthorized files, but is unclear on when and how. I'll be paying close attention to whether this P2P business model pans out; Sharman _has_ shown some shrewd business sense in the past."

18 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. Payed for spam! by krisp · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The hosted files that are authorized by content companies will show up in ordinary Kazaa searches. A company distributing a pop song, for example, might buy the keyword "Britney Spears" and links to its content will show up for people searching for the singer's work.


    Great, now I can get paid to host some companies spam on my computer. Lucky me!
    1. Re:Payed for spam! by aborchers · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Wouldn't you only be hosting the "spam" if you had elected to download and serve it? It wasn't clear to me from the article that you'd have to host everything that anyone made available.

      BTW, I quote spam because it doesn't qualify if someone chooses to receive it. It is only spam if it is pushed on a user unrequested. Losing that distinction muddies an extremely important issue about our right to control what communication we receive.

      --
      Trouble making decisions? Just flip for it.
    2. Re:Payed for spam! by generic-man · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Whatever KaZaA Gold is, it's nothing compared to KaZaA Platinum.

      Seriously though, both services are just rebadges of KaZaA or KaZaA Lite, for which they charge unsuspecting users $1-$2 a month (billed annually in advance, of course). There's nothing legitimate about them, but I'm really curious as to how many people have paid for them.

      --
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  2. cut out the middle-man by sweeney37 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    how about this idea instead, they take out gator and any other nasties they include.

    they can keep the money, we'll just call it even.

    Mike

  3. sounds like a dumb idea... by hatrisc · · Score: 4, Interesting

    almost as dumb as getting paid to look at more ads while surfing the internet (a few years back). users were paid so little that it wasn't worth it. and hacking it got your account killed. those bastards.

    --
    I write code.
  4. Raises some interesting issues by valisk · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Here in Europe we can listen too and pass around Public Domain copies pre 1953 works, where the author is dead, so Elvis etc, but in the US this according to RIAA is 'Absolutely Piracy.'

    So say someone in the USA downloads my copy of 'That's When Your Heartaches Begin' to complete his Sun Studios collection, he would be a law breaker, a german doing the same would be enjoying his right to peruse material in the public domain, but where would I stand?

    --

    Economic Left/Right: -0.62
    Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.69
  5. Great! by stanmann · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I can earn peer points for allowing my computer to be used as a distributed host for someone elses software. From P2P to B2P2P, except I don't have to want the stuff on my computer.

    Next stop, My computer will be used as a pr0n server without my knowledge, and since it will be (semi-)encrypted, I won't even necessarily know about it.

    --
    Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
  6. Kazaa Lite by Malfourmed · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Wonder if any of these features will make it into Kazaa Lite or if they're designed to shut out Kazaa clones.

    Or if anyone will care.

    --
    a world in progress...
  7. BITTorrent by mjmalone · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This model seems like it would apply better to BITTorrent, where companies could provide a link on their website to download a song/movie/whatever. It makes more sense that way, companies could sell content on their website and not have to worry about having the bandwidth available should certain content become extremely popular.

    --
    Visualize the world of wine
  8. Sounds like eBay for digital media by gpinzone · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've got to believe the way this will work is that the users will pay per download and you get the money for it (minus Kaaza's listing fee.) However, why the heck would anyone want to use their bandwidth to allow other people money to download something they've already paid for? If users aren't going to have to pay to download, where's the money comming from? Ads? Sound like a classic 1-2-3 profit scenario to me.

  9. Peer to Peer to Peer by Eberlin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You know, I always thought that the demise of napster would evolve into the great peer-to-peer era where we can all do filesharing without being tracked.

    Gnutella proved to be a tad "too difficult" and Kazaa took off (taking Morpheus out in the process). Besides userbase, the only other advantage I see in Kazaa is the metadata. Still, though, when someone is in control of the entire network, you're forced to take what they give you (or run kazaa-lite).

    I haven't followed peer-to-peer in quite some time now. Is there someplace that compares all the different services/protocols and rates them for ease of use, etc? I'm currently using gtk-gnutella but would like to know what my other options are. (qtella, eMule, etc?)

  10. This is just the beginning... by Giant+Ape+Skeleton · · Score: 4, Interesting
    After a long season of P2P software developers co-opting corporate resources, it looks like the technology is coming full circle.

    Kazaa's move is essentially an implementation of what BitTorrent's creator alluded to in the recent /. story --

    getting past the "subversiveness" of file sharing and making it work for everyone, including the creators of the shared content.

    Veddy interesting......

    --
    The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
  11. Keyword: Authorized by NotoriousQ · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They specifically said "authorized", not "legal". Thus someone like who is currently sharing stuff that is legal in the US AFAIK, but not necesserily elsewhere (foreign movies not for sale in US), I doubt that I will be allowed to join this program.

    To me this sounds like paying independents, and possibly some bigger companies small money for releasing their "preview" files.

    This is not about the users of the network, it is about making the network seem more like a usable market or an advertising medium. Although this is not a bad step, I see no benefit to me, so I am staying on Gnutella, perhaps the only usable network that has no commercialism attached to it.

    --
    badness 10000
  12. killing unmetered bandwidth DSLs by Openadvocate · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Now if p2p applications didn't make it hard enough to keep unmetered DSL lines alive, this must be the final touch.
    The question is(as I am not going to install Kazaa and all it's junk on my pc), how much bandwidth would you need to provide in order to make 1$ - power bill.
    And I gues it wouldn't make the job for admins easier at the misc, education institutions. :)

    --
    my sig
  13. What about Acceptable Use? by Silwenae · · Score: 5, Interesting

    But what about ISP's acceptable use policies? If Kazaa is sending you checks, doesn't this violate almost all Acceptable Use Policies that forbid commerical use of residential broadband access?

    Looking at my Roadrunner account's AUP:
    Unless you have specifically subscribed for commercial grade service, the Road Runner service is provided to you for personal, non-commercial use only. This service cannot be used for any enterprise purpose whatsoever whether or not the enterprise is directed toward making a profit. If it is your intention to use this service for these purposes, please contact your local cable operator to inquire whether commercial Road Runner service programs are available.

    I have to believe hosting Kazaa / Altnet content and getting paid for it *could* get some users in trouble.

  14. Not exactly by NetDanzr · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Here in Europe we can listen too and pass around Public Domain copies pre 1953 works, where the author is dead, so Elvis etc

    Actually, that is not entirely so. In Europe, copyright expires 50 years after the death of the author, not 50 years after the work is published and the author is dead. In the US, the current limit is AFAIK 75 years. As a consequence, Elvis' works are not yet in public domain in Europe.

    Other than that, you are absolutely right; it raises some interesting questions. For example, the works of George Orwell passed into public domain in Europe two years ago, but when I featured them on my Web site, I was quickly presented with a cease-and-desist letter from a US publisher. Residing in the US and having all my files on a US-based server, I had to oblige.

  15. Definitions by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sharman executives say the new system is well worth bundling inside their software, but they say it can be easily removed if users don't wish to participate.

    "Altnet's Peer Points is like the spell checker in Microsoft's Word," said Phil Morle, director of technology for Sharman Networks. "It's an integral part of the program that you can choose to use or not."

    easily removed and integral part are mutually exclusive. Who are they trying to BS?

    Getting paid for using my PC resources (bandwidth and HD space)? I don't think so. Have any of these schemes worked in the past?
    Paid for browsing
    Paid for viewing ads/click-thru's
    Paid for buying 'Flooz'?

    Yeah, right. All down the tubes, just like this will.

    Throw in Brilliant's spyware track record, and this is a non-starter.

  16. How long.... by gambit3 · · Score: 2, Interesting



    so, how long do you think it takes before your ISP alters its TOS to make it illegal for you to use your PC for this?

    --
    Watch the Teaser Trailer for "The Lightning Thief" Her