Kazaa's Australian Assets Frozen

sandstorming writes "Wired is reporting that Sharman Networks (the creators of Kazaa) and Altnet (which licenses technology to Kazaa) have had their assets frozen in the country of Australia. The verdict comes almost four months after the start of the trial prompted by five record company suits. The Australian federal court will convene on March 22nd for final oral submissions, and the verdict is expected several weeks later. Is this the beginning of the end for Kazaa?"

Comments

This is why

[Tavor]

you should always keep your money in Swiss banks...

This is the End

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd say this is the end of the beginning of the end.

I mean even if they did win. They'd have to install alot of spyware to pay for all the court costs.

Re:first post!

[Anonymous Coward]

I might be a cynic but this could be a bad idea because of the influx that all 3 Kazaa users will generate when they switch over to other networks, I mean do you really want longer queue lines? I know I don't.

freedom

[sonoluminescence]

"I worry about my child and the Internet all the time, even though she's too young to have logged on yet. Here's what I worry about. I worry that 10 or 15 years from now, she will come to me and say 'Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press away from the Internet?'"
--Mike Godwin, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Don't balme to tools.

Kazaa - the golden days are over

[Japong]

Is this the beginning of the end for Kazaa?

The beginning of the end for Kazaa came when Cohen released the first Bit Torrent client. The program has gone dangerously downhill since then, with ever-increasing corrupted or misnamed files being uploaded by corporations, a smaller user base with a smaller variety of files, and increased fear by the public of getting sued for downloading illegal MP3s - not to mention slower download speeds and an adware-riddled client.

Hopefully this is closer to the end of the end for Kazaa.

Re:Kazaa - the golden days are over

[Japong]

Oh it certainly will, suprnova.org has already proved that. But BT isn't based off a centralized hub. As long as you have google, you can find torrents, and they're likely to be more secure and non-corrupt.

The RIAA and MPAA will keep hunting, and the pirates and filesharers will keep on evading and moving further into anonymous and untrackable uploading on the dark side of the 'net. Just like how it took the **AA a year or two to catch on to BT, they're going to have to play catch up with whatever next generation secure P2P apps that come out.

Remember the days when they were targeting warez groups, and taking down a group like CLASS or MYTH was a feather in the anti-piracy cap? Well the anti-pirates have moved on to fry bigger and more user-popular fish, but the warez groups still operate in the largely unmonitored Usenet and IRC communities... protected by their obscurity.

So the faster they track, the faster people run. Eventually they'll all come full circle.

A bit off topic

[hnile_jablko]

Where can a person live to escape the influence of corporate america and its legal influence of politicians world wide... I move to australia and this crap happens with the free trade agreement, and now here in the UK on the front of the times there is a threat of prosecution for 'copyright infringement'. I am starting to understand the desire to see the end of my home country in some ways. Yes, I said it. I do not believe in the death of innocent people, but those innocent people have voted to perpetuate the lifestyles they cling to and that involves in many ways (oil, patents, etc) the erosion of other cultures value systems. No longer does morality play a role in the US (has it for some time?), but more it is what can we get and how can we get it. Make my shares climb and I do not care how you do it. Greed is a virus. UGH!!! For those who wish to vilify me for this sentiment, have at it.

Sharman Networks

[owlstead]

The creators of Kazaa? I think not. They are the current owners of Kazaa maybe, but it seems that a Swedish guy together with two Estonians created the application, while the P2P protocol came from Amsterdam. It was sold to Sharman Networks later on. The Australian software company then messed it up big time - but that is history (it seems).

Source: various articles on Google found by searching for "creators of kazaa".

Corporate World

[nurb432]

Its not 'corporate *america*' that is the problem.

Its corporations in general, *world wide*, who now have more power then small countries.

This of course doesnt mean governments are also an issue, but today it looks like the corporations are a much larger threat in general.

Dont blame the USA for a systemic world problem.

Frozen Assets

[Kenshin]

I just took a walk outside, here in Canada, and my assets are frozen too!

I don't thik it would be possible to freeze my assets in Australia.

Re:Fact is..

[derkyjadex]

I heard that someone stole some software from M$. If they've lost it I'm sure I got a copy of Windows lying around somewhere that I can give them. They can just pay me for the blank CD. They should make more backup copies for themselves.