RSSeDonkey Firm to Pay RIAA $30 Million
By Nate Mook | Published September 12, 2006, 4:32 PM
MetaMachine, the company behind the popular file sharing software eDonkey, has agreed to pay the Recording Industry Association of America $30 million to settle claims it facilitated mass copyright infringement.
"With this new settlement, another domino falls, and we have further strengthened the footing of the legal marketplace," said RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol. The RIAA previously settled with the operators of BearShare, i2Hub, WinMX, and Grokster.
As part of the settlement, MetaMachine has agreed to cease distributing eDonkey, eDonkey 2000, Overnet and other variants of the peer-to-peer software. However, the company previously announced its intention to throw in the towel last year, after the Supreme Court ruled file sharing networks could be liable for the actions of their users.
MetaMachine CEO Sam Yagan explained at the time that his company will, "convert eDonkey's user base to an online content retailer operating in a closed P2P environment," and said he expects "such a transaction to take place as soon as we can reach a settlement with the RIAA."
Still, it's unlikely that Tuesday's settlement will have any impact on the eDonkey file sharing network itself, which exists without a centralized server that can be shut down. An open source iteration of the software, known as eMule, continues to be developed and is now in use by the vast majority of eDonkey downloaders.
eDonkey's Web site was left with an ominous warning Tuesday, noting that, "Courts around the world -- including the United States Supreme Court -- have ruled that businesses and individuals can be prosecuted for illegal downloading."
"You are not anonymous when you illegally download copyrighted material," the site adds, "Respect the music, download legally."
The RIAA is continuing its legal efforts against those P2P networks still standing, including LimeWire, Soulseek and Warez P2P. The industry sued LimeWire in August, accusing the company of facilitating the trade of illegal music files between its users. The labels are seeking damages, including $150,000 per occurrence of an illegally traded file.
...
"Where does eDonkey
company get enough
money to pay the $30M ?"
...
They ~don't~, of course. It's just a way of
insuring they never see the light of day !
...
The Computer Rodent
...
"Share a file /
Go to jail !"
...
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|Where does eDonkey company get enough money to pay the $30M ?
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|How can the supreme court rule "Supreme Court ruled file sharing networks could be liable for the actions of their users."
This is outragous and highlights the couruption in the system.
Questions:
Is my ISP liable for my downloads?
Is my OS liable for my downloads?
Are the road builders responsible for road deaths? What about the council?
Is a murderer(or movie) responsible for copycats?
This list could go on forever.
If only we had the same clout with the court system, perhaps we could SUE the RIAA companies for the things the songs and movies make us do.
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|Spot on.
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|So if I commit a murder or rob a bank, and you drive the get away car.................
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|Aiding and abbetting. So if you apply your idea to his that would mean that those parties are responsible.
It's a grey area, judgment would suggest that this is slightly over the line of being fair (as in it is a fair judgement) to me, but since we're human and there is no standard rule that can be applied you have to take your gut feeling.
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|"$150,000 per occurrence of an illegally traded file."
No wonder music is so expensive. They certainly think it's worth a lot of money.
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|It's greed, my friend. Remember when CD's came out and were supposed to be cheaper then tapes because the manufacturing process would be faster and cheaper? But it never happened - why should they lower the prices when consumers are already paying full price?
Now they wonder why people steal music - they are charging too much for the crap they are putting out there!!
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|Does anyone use this crappy P2P anymore?
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|This is one of the best file sharing services. You can find evrything in it. It has more files and data from ALL torrent trackers all round the world x2!!! Searches are instant and you have a lot of filters to define what you need. Download have been inproved and speeds are fine most of the time!
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|I don't get the purpose of payable P2P systems. Why on earth would i share MY bandwidth for some other companies profit? I doubt they offer stuff any cheaper because of this...
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|At least now they're saying "Download legally", instead of "Downloading is illegal".
The Beast is apparently capable of learning...
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|"Your IP address... has been logged."
Sounds like I should start locking my windows and doors at night.
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|No, my proxy's IP has been logged.
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|LMAO -- though be careful; Tor is up in the air now, too...
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|I still dont get it how do they have enough money to pay $30 mil for their violation. Also do they have to pay one shot or they get couple years to come up with the money
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