p2pnet - rss feed: Kazaa survives. For now
p2p news / p2pnet: Yesterday was meant to be the day the Australian recording industry shut Kazaa down.
They said so.
Stephen Peach, the ARIA ceo, said it would happen. It was to be the punishment for Kazaa breaching Wilcox J’s Order 5, which talked about filtering 3,000 key words from the Kazaa system. So I went to the Federal Court of Australia building with the expectation that this would happen and history would be made.
I looked around for Mr Peach. But he wasn’t there.
I looked for other record company execs. They weren’t there either.
Did I have the wrong court room?
In the end the ARIA and Mr Peach didn’t get their promised shutdown. Instead the contempt they’re alleging against Kazaa will be heard on January 30, 2006.
This means Kazaa continues to operate as is at least until then, and probably at least until appeal, set for February next year.
No doubt the record companies will talk about imprisonment and other nastinesses, but Wilcox J in giving his judgement said he’s never sent anyone to gaol for contempt. In any event none of that will arise till next year.
The record companies also failed in their attempt to obtain an order from Wilcox J for a mandatory key word filter.
In seeking the order, there was no mention by the record companies of the longer term Audible Magic solution, which suggests they want the focus to remain firmly on the less effective key word filtering.
I guess it’s better to push the solution which is the less effective in solving the problem, and causes the most inconvenience for your sworn enemies, especially if you want to destroy your enemies.
So what will happen on January 30?
The debate will centre on the implementation of Order 4 from the September judgement versus the implementation Order 5 from the September judgement.
Kazaa owner Sharman Networks Kazaa is saying it followed Order 4 by ceasing distribution of the Kazaa application in Australia before midnight on 5 December 2005, and by using geo-targeting technology and warnings, stopped existing users from using the application.
The record companies say Order 5 was breached because Kazaa didn’t implement the key word filtering required under that Order.
Order 4 of the 5 September Judgment said, “The infringing respondents be restrained, by themselves, their servants or agents, from authorising Kazaa users to do in Australia any of the infringing acts, in relation to anymsound recording of which any of the applicants is the copyright owner, without the licence of the relevant copyright owner.”
Happy Christmas, Kazaa.
Anonymous in Oz - p2pnet
December 15th, 2005 at 5:24 am
Somehow I see no mention of the failure of the ARIA technical staff to ensure that the goals would be met. Without benefit of that guidance, how can Kaaza reasonably meet the intent of the judge’s rulings?
Instead it looks like the ARIA wants to have its cake and eat it too. Kaaza plainly said that they could handle a 3000 word filter. Somehow the ARIA missed that till the next court date to update the progress. All of a sudden 3000 words, that seemed adequate at the first meeting, was never mentioned in the second meeting that was to have happened and didn’t, was suddenly no longer meeting the goals. Instead what never occured to the ARIA in pressing this case was that the judge might recognise that Kaaza was a business, that he would be reluctant to close a business that attempted to meet the requirements of his ruling, and the only way they could throw a wrench in the plans was by making sure that Kaaza had no guidance in how to fulfill the judges rulings so that the results would be guarenteed to be unsatisfactory. Ergo, the remaining option then would be to shut down Kaaza.
Only the ARIA hasn’t met its part of the bargain to see that Kaaza at least had the chance to resolve the issue properly. They can’t get the whole thing without doing their part. I don’t see the judge ruling to shutdown Kaaza on the basis of this as long as Kaaza was showing it was trying to the best of its abilities to do as the ruling require. The failure of the ARIA to supply the needed parts to make sure the copywrite holders were satisfied has somehow been left out of this mess. Somehow I don’t think the judge will be satisfied with the ARIA’s performance in this.
December 15th, 2005 at 5:31 am
Hey Nikki , there’s no right way to do the wrong thing. Your lust for money, power and significance have corrupted you. Your word is worthless. You Sold Out and you get everything, everything that goes with that. The shear fact that they (refer to Zdnet coverage) are talking about a prison sentence for you and dodgy Kev is massive feedback from your Universe that you are offtrack. And you Created Promoted and Allowed the lot. You use to refer to yourself as “a wise women, enjoying her journey” well the first chapter in the Book of Wisdom is Honesty. You Nikki have majored in dishonesty. Only you can set things right and make amends for what you have done, and it is not going to get any easier.
December 15th, 2005 at 8:00 am
To the second poster, when you say “they are talking about a prison sentence”, you mean “you” don’t you? Or do you think reference to the Book of Wisdom will move you faster along the road to a G&T partnership?
December 15th, 2005 at 5:00 pm
This sounds like someone with an irrational grudge against Kazaa.
Maybe you should be considering the ramifications, if any, that might come about from this trial. I know the US doesn’t take precedents from foreign courts but the RIAA will try and push for the same anyway. I feel that in the end, the Music Cartel will be forced to accept a filtering system which will be legal but ineffective. As long as the p2p industry is trying to improve or at least implement a filtering system no court will shut them down, which is actually what the cartel wants. If the judge determines that the cartel are not approaching the judgement as directed, the cartel just might have whatever basic filtering Kazaa offers thrusted upon them by the court. Maybe at some point the almost sheer impossibility of totally filtering all cartel content will seep into the brains of these courts and maybe then we can fall back on infringing use percentage being reduced enough through filtering so maybe a sort of betamax compromise can be reached.