p2pnet - rss feed: The Altnet Kazaa alliance
p2pnet.net News:- Kazaa owner Sharman Networks’ defense in the Big Music cartel court case in Australia largely echoes the decision in Grokster vs MGM to the effect, We’re not responsible for what users do with our software.
Sharman partners Brilliant Digital Entertainment and ‘copyright protection’ wannabe Altnet are also in the firing line and it now looks as if confidential Altnet documents might scupper Altnet’s claims of squeaky cleanliness.
As p2pnet revealed for the first time, Altnet recently distinguished itself with a typically shabby sales ploy under which it’s trying to mug p2p operators into ‘licensing’ the lame TrueNames DRM technology it, in turn, licenses from Ron Lachman.
Altnet’s defense in Oz is, “we’ve got nothing to do with Sharman, we’re legit, we have licensed content,” says APC Mag in its Kazaagate series.
But a hitherto confidential briefing document, says otherwise, states the story, going on:
“Altnet admits: ‘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’.
“The document goes further to outline that Developmental Integration processes will involve both companies writing specifications for future features and enhancements to KMD, with either company having the ability to [have] ‘entire specifications to be rewritten or junked’ if they don’t like what they see.”
Boiled down, “this has got to rate as the most explosive document revealed,” says APC.
“It makes it damn near impossible to maintain the separation theory that Sharman and Altnet currently rely on in terms of business independence and technical infrastructure. The control they exercise over the system is complete.
“There are two networks because they designed two networks to avoid the potential problems arising from having just one. Legal and illegal files arise from the same search query, and are served from servers controlled by both Altnet and Sharman.
“Both companies know what is downloaded and by whom and when, as well as where they need to be redirected to give them the files they asked for.”
We’re going through the Altnet document for a separate report later.
Stay tuned.
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
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See:-
Grokster vs MGM - CNET on p2p vs Hollywood, p2pnet, January 30, 2005
p2p operators - Altnet trying to ‘mug’ companies, p2pnet, January 13, 2005
lame TrueNames - Altnet tries TrueNames on p2p ops, p2pnet, January 10, 2005
we’re legit - Kazaagate Day 15: part 4, APC Magazine, February 7, 2005
February 7th, 2005 at 7:56 pm
but they won’t have a list of downloads for kazaalite users. Will they? I mean, kazaalite had the spyware removed. There is not topsearch dll on kazaalite….
February 7th, 2005 at 8:56 pm
Kazaa Lite was nothing to do with Kazaa.
Cheers!
February 7th, 2005 at 9:00 pm
Wait this doesn’t seem to be that big a deal for one they were talking about developing the procedures. They never stated that they have this control with current software. Although I do not know what the standard for liability Is in australia. This limd of kind liability was discussed abd rejected in us betamax case
February 8th, 2005 at 4:36 am
Even sharman doesnt have the throughput to track all the millions of people logged on at once, let alone their individual transfers, which are at least 10 fold that.
The NSA isnt even capable of monitoring the entire internet at once, and they have massive multibillion dollar facilities.
The claim is optimistic at best, conjecture or downright lie at worst. Being an internal document, it’s most likely spun in order to preserve an image of viability.
February 8th, 2005 at 4:56 am
If this “has to be the most explosive document” to surface, and it is just a proposal (that was not even implemented), then the MIPI lawyers must be getting preetttttty desperate to be feeding APCMag with this.
In any event, Altnet distributes legal stuff that copyright owners have paid to be distributed over P2P, so Altnet can do as they please: they can distribute it over centralised servers, they can put it onto Kazaa or any other P2P platform. What’s the point being made? That someone at Altnet sent an email to someone at Sharman, and then the Sharman people did not implement the proposal???
Explosive?? - negatory.
Damp squid - yep.
February 8th, 2005 at 5:03 am
APCMag (MIPI publicity dept) write:
“Legal and illegal files arise from the same search query, and are served from servers controlled by both Altnet and Sharman.”
Umm - isn’t this exactly what happens when you do a Google search? That illegal and legal files arise from the same search query? Is RIAA going to sue Google for distributing illegal content too? Hhaha
February 8th, 2005 at 9:33 am
Have a close look at Kazaagate - the author is being spoon fed the record industry line. Do you think he went to court and paid the money to get a copy of documents, or do you think he was given the documents by the recording industry to disseminate to the world? Funny how he was the only one to carry it initially. Funny how he has never targeted the cartel. Funny how he has never attacked the ARIA CEO or directors for not attending court once. Funny how he has never attacked IFPI for attending - which they have done because as ARIA’s masters they pull the strings. Really funny … well actually not funny at all.
February 8th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
altnet’s and kazaa’s strategy is to give copyright owners control of their own work on the kazaa network. why is this offensive to anyone
February 8th, 2005 at 8:38 pm
Its pretty nteresting that most of these posts more or less side with Altnet which introduced spyware to the internet
February 11th, 2005 at 7:53 am
It is just plain fantasy to suggest that any one of these so called p2p outfits can”t track or be tracked. The Kazaa trial in Sydney proved that.
February 11th, 2005 at 7:55 am
written like someone hoping the tooth fairy and santa aint a lie. Alternatively come back when kazaa are found liable or maybe just don’t make statements like this until we’ve all had a chance to read the evidence.
February 11th, 2005 at 8:00 am
Of course he’s targetted the cartel dude, just not the one you wanted. In case you missed the irony etc he’s giving it to those Kazaa mystery people.
I think this anonymous post is a really dangerous trend. You’ve got a journalist here digging (for once) and having a go at the evidence and not the press releases all these people put out>
The freedom of the press is a really important thing and the only people in the Kazaa trial who wanted to gag the media were the Kazaa people who made more than one application to do so…funny that…well actually not
Whoever this guy is…..if you read us……call it as you see it when yhou get the evidence! (that’s your job)
February 11th, 2005 at 8:02 am
Actually no it isn’t but people still peddle it in the hope of Santa Claus and the tooth fairy being true.
I wonder is this writer will come back and admitt he was wrong when Kazaa go down?
February 15th, 2005 at 10:32 am
Man, you seem pretty hepped up on Kazaa goofballs. Are you Kazaa’s PR machine? Hi Alex.