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Kazaa Launches Legitimacy Campaign

Posted by simoniker on from the v-well-behaved dept.

Beolach writes "The Washington Post has an article on Kazaa launching a $1 million advertising campaign promoting itself as a legitimate media distribution tool. From the article: 'The campaign is the latest push by the Kazaa file-sharing service and its parent company, Sharman Networks, to counter a multi-million-dollar legal and lobbying effort launched by music, software and movie firms convinced that peer-to-peer (P2P) services are a major source of online piracy'."

10 of 252 comments (clear)

  1. But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    How will Kazaa Lite promote itself then? ;)

  2. Piracy by Stephen+R+Hall · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Kazaa is a major source of on-line piracy - they cannot deny this. However, P2P file sharing does have legitimate uses, and the tool cannot be blamed for what it is used for. Rat poison can be used to kill people, but that is about how it is used, not what it is.

    1. Re:Piracy by Davak · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Oh... I see the anti-gun, anti-weapon, anti-rat poision people eating this thread up. (groan)

      However, more than actually trying to plead their case, it sounds like Kazaa is just trying to build support for their service. The ads are encouraging users to be cheerleaders for the service:
      The ads invite readers and Kazaa's estimated 60 million users to "join the revolution" by proclaiming their love of Kazaa to "politicians, journalists, record labels, movie companies and friends." They also exhort the entertainment industry to embrace the "revolution" or get left behind as technology passes them by.

      Use your money to educate people about copyright laws.
      Use your money to compensate artists.
      Use your money to change the laws regarding digital distribution.

      Use your money to promote an actual positive idea... We don't need wasted ads encouraging people to be cheerleaders for a service.

      They should just say:
      "Tell your lawmakers that you want free copyrighted material or you won't vote for them."

      That's just not a very tasteful way to promote your service, IMHO.
    2. Re:Piracy by Simon+Lyngshede · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not many belive that Kazaa has a legitimate use. I understand that you could use p2p to distribute Linux or something, but that it hardly what Kazaa was designed for. Most of the stuff you legitimately distribute with Kazaa would be better of using websites, ftp or bittorrent.

      P2P has legitimate uses, Kazaas current business model does not. Don't protect Kazaa to defend P2P networks, Kazaa only use is the distribution of illegally copied material. Could someone give me a something that Kazaa could be used for which wouldn't work better via http, ftp or Bittorrent?

      I don't think you can compare Bittorrent and Kazaa, because Bittorrent originally was designed to solve the problem of distributing legal material in a way that wouldn't overload a server. I understand that Bittorrent can, and is, misused to distribute copyrighted material. My argument is simply that Kazaa was not really design to solve a similar problem, they always been in the business of distributing copyrighted material.

  3. It's legit. The users are iffy by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sharing files is not against the law.

    Distributing copyrighted works is.

  4. Kaaza and the War on Copyright Violations by YouTalkinToMe · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I found this quote particularly interesting:

    "Whenever I talk to people about Kazaa, they treat it like marijuana -- as much as they love it, they have a sense that what they're doing is a little bit wrong."

    I also think the pending War on Copyright Violations is a bit like the War on Marijuana: Driven by entrenched intrests; lubricated by political donations; with lots of innocent casualties; and ultimately futile because at the end of the day it criminalizes something which is not immoral.

  5. Stats Explosion by Davak · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The MPAA estimates that file sharing has cost the film industry more than $1 billion in the last year.

    I estimate that the MPAA overestimates 125% of the stats that they estimate.

    Because somebody watches a pirated movie does not directly mean that anybody lost money over it. Money is only lost if that person would have paid money but instead watched it for free.

  6. Re:It's legit. The users are iffy by Urkki · · Score: 5, Funny

    Owning a legal gun is not against the law.
    Shooting copyright lawyers is.

    Disclaimer: Anybody is free to interpret this post as any combination of anti/pro-guns, anti/pro-file, anti/pro-piracy and anti/pro-shooting ;-)

  7. Not a weak argument... by khenson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is exactly the same argument as "guns are not made for killing people" - and both arguments are correct.

    Blaming a gun for a murder is senseless and sophmoric and blaming a file distribution technology for piracy is as well. People have "warez" ftp sites where piracy occurs, does this mean ftp needs to be abolished? How about the internet in general?

    It is a simple mathematical case of failing to find the common denominator. People pirate files using ftp. People pirate files using http. People pirate files using P2P. Do you see the common denominator here?

    People kill with knives. People kill with vehicles. People kill with guns. People kill with clubs. Did you find the common denominator in this one?

    In case you missed it - the answer is "people". If you want to stop piracy you have to make "people" stop doing it - not disable or outlaw the technology and if you want to stop murders you have to make people stop killing each other, not outlaw or abandon guns, knives, etc.

    But that's not easy, is it? It's easier to abolish guns than address the *REAL* problem of dealing with people. It's a cop-out.

    reminds me of a story: One night a woman is on a street corner looking for something when a man wanders up. He can see the lady's distress and asks what the problem is. The lady tells him that she lost a hundred dollar bill and is looking for it - so the man starts helping her look. After a bit of searching he asks the lady where she thinks she may have dropped it and the lady responds by pointing down the street through the darkness a block away. Puzzled, the man asks the lady why she is searching here? Pointing to the overhead streetlamp above them the lady responds "because the light is better".

    We cannot, as a society, try to find the answer to problems where it is easiest to look because, quite simply, the answer simply isn't there. It is far more difficult to find the "answer" to murder is in people, the "answer" to piracy is in people. A far more daunting fix may be in order but it is the correct one. Anything else is as futile as looking for lost money in a place where the light is better.

  8. Oh Good by Insipid+Trunculance · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I have used Napster,gnutella,Morpheus and Kazaa lite.Why?Not to get anything that is legitimate but copyrighted music.Not because i dont want to spend any money but because i cant get here in london what i want.

    I dont have a problem if i want to listen britney boobs and company.their music is everywhere.

    But good flamenco and jazz is impossible to get.most of it is simply not available anywhere.

    so what am i doing ? violating the rights of the artists or am i keeping their legacy alive, some of those artists long dead.

    --
    Wanted : A Signature.