An Australian court issued a ruling yesterday that could spell doom for Kazaa, long time haven of those who can't be bothered paying four-fucking-dollars a month to see punk-rock boobies. And file-sharing.

Thirty record companies, including major international labels Universal, EMI, Sony BMG and Warner, had sued Kazaa's Sydney-based developer and distributor Sharman Networks.

They claimed the Kazaa software, which allows users to download music for free over the internet, facilitated copyright infringement on an unprecedented scale.

The court heard Kazaa was downloaded by 317 million people worldwide and used for 79 per cent of peer to peer file-sharing activities, with artists such as Coldplay, Radiohead, Madonna, The Beatles and Powderfinger affected by copyright breaches.

Justice Murray Wilcox found the majority of Kazaa's music files were "shared without the approval of the relevant copyright owner".

The ruling will mean future versions of Kazaa will need to include filters to prevent the trading of copyrighted music works.

Which, if I might make a wild speculation, will lead to the effective death of Kazaa post-haste.

Outside the court, Music Industry Piracy Investigations spokesman Michael Speck said it was a "resounding victory for the music industry".

"This judgment is one of the most important achievements in the fight against music piracy anywhere," Mr Speck said.

"This judgment explodes the myth that illegal file sharing is simply part of the 'internet revolution'.

"It is nothing of the sort and the court's ruling confirms that people who misuse technology should not be able to profit from the creative work of others."

John Kennedy, the chief executive of IFPI, which represents the international music industry, described the ruling as a "milestone in the fight against Internet piracy worldwide".

I doubt that. The constantly growing plethora of file-sharing software has so far proven itself to be something akin to a hydra. At best I suspect the fall of Kazaa will lead to a veritable plague of teenage lowlifes upon the more sophisticated file-sharing networks.

Gwendolyn

SUICIDEGIRL

Indiana, USA

SEP 09, 2005 03:11 PM

Do people really still use Kazaa?

I'm all about torrents and LimeWire.

And when they get rid of LimeWire, well... there will be another file-sharing program for me to use.

steaky

United Kingdom

May 2004

SEP 09, 2005 03:15 PM

this is a great verdict for the music industry. however its just going to do the same as what the fall of napster did, spawn more of these sites, each as unstable as the next.

xLusTx

Madison, WI

August 2005

SEP 09, 2005 03:16 PM

I'm all for file-sharing. P2P is a great idea and has really helped quite a few bands get their product out to the public. What's the loss of a couple million dollars to an artist (such as Madonna) who can pull in eight million for a thirty second TV commercial? It's a drop of water in an ocean. Fuck greedy celebrities.

As far as I can see, they'll never stop file-sharing without breaching our rights to privacy... Unless they tweak the Constitution a bit...