Kazaa Blocks Australian Users

afaik_ianal writes "The Sydney Morning herald is reporting that Kazaa is blocking Australian downloads of their client, just a day after the deadline passed for implementing keyword filters. According to the article, Shaman networks were still working on installing the filters yesterday."

Comments

Bit misleading?

[NewsWatcher]

I thought the story headline was slightly misleading. People in Australia with KaZaa can still use the service, they are just trying to block new users downloading the software. Bit pointless really given any number of other P2P applications will turn up versions of KaZaa or KaZaalite.

Re:It's kind of funny...

[NoGuffCheck]

While Sharman Networks is based in Australia here is the company structure:

Sharman Networks was registered in Vanuatu in January 2002 as a private company that markets and owns Kazaa.
Kazaa includes Kazaa Media Desktop, kazaa.com and kazza.n et.
Sharman Networks has nil authorised capital and two ordinary issued shares.
The shareholders are two companies: Global Nominees and Credit Facilities Limited.
The beneficial owne rs are Vanuatu International Trust Company Ltd as a trustee for the Sharman Trust.
Sharman License Holdings is 100 per cent owned by Sharman Networks, and the beneficial owner is Sharman Trust.
Worldwide Nominees is the director of Sharman Networks and Sharman License Holdings.
Worldwide Nominees is owned by Global Nominees and Credit Facilities Limited. The director is Geoffrey Gee and Regent Limited. Geoffrey Gee is a Vanuatu-based solicitor.
The beneficial owner is Trustees International Limited as trustee for Golden Sands Trust.
Global Nominees is a Vanuatuan company, the beneficial owners of which are the partners of Vanuatu accounting firm, BDO.
Credit Facilities Limited, which is one of the nominal shareholders of the shares in Sharman Networks, is similarly a BDO company.
Lindsay Barrett is a partner of BDO in Vanuatu. He's also director of Vanuatu International Trust Company, VITCO.
VITCO is the trustee of the Sharman Trust and owner of the whole of the issued capital of Sharman Networks Limited.
The nominated eligible beneficiaries as defined in the trust deed are the International Red Cross.
The International Red Cross claims to have never been contacted about this. Nikki Hemming is listed as "director" of VITCO, which is the beneficial shareholder of the Sharman companies located in Vanuatu.
Sharman operates in Australia via LEF Interactive.
LEF is an Australian registered private proprietary limited company. Sole director is Nicola Anne Hemming, whose only property asset has been sold to Sharman accountant John Simon Myer.
LEF has paid up capital of $1.00.
If you can set up this sort of company structure and understand it, you deserve to live in a multi million dollar mansion.


Now I cant remember what your question was but I hope my answer clears it up for you...

Re:How Exactly Does This Work?

[LordLucless]

Kazaa is centralized; all Kazaa queries go through the Kazaa network. So no, the original inventors of the FTP protocol aren't going to be busted - unless they coincidentally happen to be running an illegal warez FTP.

That's what's happening with Sharman. They're not being busted for creating a client that other people use illegally, they're being told to implement blocks on certain traffic that passes through their network. They didn't do the blocks, so instead they pulled access from Australia in order to comply.

Re:"More" legal?

[mcrbids]

You can't legally import a CD for resale in the U.S. if the exclusive U.S. distribution rights to that CD have been purchased by/granted to a company.

That's correct - except that AllofMP3 isn't importing anything. They're exporting from Russia. Importing anything into the USA requires a legal entity here, in the States!

I can legally buy something from a mail-order catalog from Brazil and have them ship it directly to my house, if I desire it, for personal use. They aren't breaking any laws, and neither am I.

So, AllofMP3 isn't importing anything at all, they're selling items over the Internet to whomever wants to buy it under Russian law, apparently in full compliance with the letter of Russian law. What's more, US copyright law specifically allows imports of copyrighted materials from oversees when purchased for personal use, when such materials are sold in compliance with the foreign jurisdiction, even when foreign laws conflict with US law!

IANAL, but it seems pretty bullet-resistant to me. And, it's damned convenient...