Slashdot Mirror
eDonkey Pays the Recording Industry $30M
ColinPL writes, "MetaMachine Inc., the firm behind online file-sharing software eDonkey, has agreed to pay $30 million to avoid potential copyright infringement lawsuits from the recording industry. The company also agreed to take measures to prevent file sharing by people using previously downloaded versions of the eDonkey software. The eDonkey application now displays the message, 'The eDonkey2000 Network is no longer available. Please see eDonkey.com for more details.' After that message is displayed the uninstaller is launched automatically." If you visit edonkey.com, it logs your IP address. How much will the demise of eDonkey matter, given that most who access that P2P network do so using the open-source eMule?
So, eDonkey wants to stay legit, good on them.
They want to put in place controls to limit copying, good on them.
They then give all their money to the bullys, bad move.
Paying of the artists might seem like a prudent course of action, but once you pay of one group, what about the next?
Theres the RIAA, MPAA and the BSA.
The guitar tab people and the knitting pattern folks and all the other American groups.
Thats not including all the individual software companies who want a piece of the pie, nor does it include all the groups from other countries (like FACT(Federation Against Copyright Theft) or CAAST(Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft)).
What happens when I find software from my company is available on limewire, where do I get my piece of the pie from, or is mine not big enough and is simply enough to get it added to the list of banned searches without any financial payback?
What makes my company different to the RIAA groups?
Let the copyright owners prove blatant infringement, let them show the service is doing illegal things and let the service fix itself.
Don't give into threats.
liqbase
Good thing they paid up. Uncle RIAA thought it would be a shame if "something should happen to their nice office building".
For some reason you got modded down, but really, I have to wonder about the legality of this...
"eDonkey, has agreed to pay $30 million to avoid potential copyright infringement lawsuits from the recording industry". Not damages awarded by a court, not even to settle a pending suit - To avoid a potential lawsuit!
If that doesn't meet the textbook definition of extortion, I don't know what would.
It also logs the page you requested, when you requested it, and your browser. Everyday, they also rotate their logs and compress them for further statistical tracking at a future point!
historically speaking, eMule comes from eDonkey (eStallion) and eHorse (eMare)... Plus is sterile, RIAA likes that
I had another sig before, but this one is better
now when I want to know my IP address, I can get a free threatening message with it! awesome.