p2p news / p2pnet:- Interesting times, in the Confucian sense, are upon the independant p2p industry.

In the latest revelation, Sharman Networks has been given a large, and very badly needed, leg up with the news that eDonkey has signed up for its [Sharman’s] DCIA (Distributed Computing Industry Association).

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal said corporate download company Mashboxx and Grokster may soon be one.

Ex-Grokster-and-now-Mashboxx boss Wayne Rosso was in meetings until late yesterday and, “Although I can’t comment on any negotiations that may or may not have taken place in the past, present, and for good luck let’s throw in the future as well, ” he told p2pnet, “we’re always looking for strategic acquisitions that make sense.”

Echoing loudly as these various machinations occur is the US Supreme Court’s recent Grokster vs MGM decision for which, “We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by the clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties,” wrote Justice David H. Souter.

LimeWire went to ground almost immediately afterwards and is still keeping its head down with the company refusing to answer inquiries as to what its plans are, now that it’s effectively removed itself from the front lines.

And the Australian federal court recently ruled that Sharman’s Kazaa induced users to infringe copyrights, to all intents and purposes burying the p2p application, already in an advanced stage of decomposition brought on by its prolonged use of spyware.

P2P Revenue Engine
Meanwhile, “Please warmly welcome MetaMachine,” says a DCIA post. “The company participated in the DCIA’s P2P Revenue Engine (P2PRE) project focused on providing solutions for major entertainment content rights holders to securely market their copyrighted works via the P2P distribution channel.”

eDonkey’s presence will lend respectability to the ‘trade’ organization, started by Sharman to help get Brilliant Digital entertainment and Altnet products off the ground; to bolster Kazaa; and, to present an air of respectability to the mainstream media and entertainment cartels.

While Sharman was trying to resurrect Kazaa, the company’s friends and associates, Brilliant and Altnet, spent millions of dollars in a bid to convince the major labels and movie studios that Altnet’s lame duck TrueNames DRM product was just what was needed to ‘protect’ copyrighted files, and that Kazaa was the ideal delivery vehicle.

The cartels didn’t want to know, however, and about the only entity with a hope of going anywhere was the DCIA, under the relentless stewardship of Marty Lafferty. And with eDonkey on board, the Sharman project will begin to come across as though it actually is a representative trade organization. And as such, it should be able to lure other companies into the fold, opening up new opportunities for Sharman in the process.

However, a hitherto confidential briefing document that came out during the Kazaa trial has Altnet admitting: ‘The technologies are so intertwined that they cannot be decoupled, except at the barest of technical levels. As well, the companies marketing strategies [are] similarly related, so much so that the future success of Sharman Networks and Altnet systems depend on one another’.”

It’s an interesting juxtaposition with eDonkey, once a strong supporter of the independant p2p community, becoming part and parcel of an organization which boasts of including DRM (Digital Restriction Management) technology in its inventory.

And not coincidentally, one of the DCIA’s favoured tools is the Hollywood-inspired DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act).

eDonkey, RIP.

Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win

- Mohandas Gandhi

See:-
soon be one - Mashboxx to swallow Grokster?, September 19, 2005
infringe copyright - Supreme court rules for MGM, June 27, 2005
infringe copyrights - Big Music cartel nails Sharman, September 5, 2005

lame duck TrueNames - Altnet trying to ‘mug’ companies, January 13, 2005
briefing document - The Altnet Kazaa alliance, February 7, 2005
Hollywood-inspired - Sharman woos Hollywood, June 19, 2004

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 20th, 2005 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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