P2P-Zone - View Single Post - Sharman uses DMCA to censor Kazaa Lite out of Google

TankGirl · 01-09-03, 11:37 PM

Sharman has also made a similar DMCA attack against Slyck:

This week Sharman Networks contacted Slyck giving notice of the launch of an advert free version of Kazaa. At the same time Slyck received a DMCA violation notice to remove references to Kazaa Lite. Slyck was not alone as Sharman embarked on a campaign against free speech in an underhand method to promote Kazaa Plus.

It is now known that these DMCA violation notices were filed against Google, Slyck, Zeropaid and other websites.

The DMCA against Google ordered it to remove references to 15 websites that contain information related to kazaa lite. Google have complied but have linked to the notice (on an EFF site) at the bottom of searches related to this violation. One of the websites Sharman asked Google to remove was zeropaid while conducting a search for 'kazaa'. Zeropaid contains 100's of pages articles and discussion related to kazaa, which were previously returned with Google results for this term. They have now all been removed and have been replaced with 1 ZP webpage that links to kazaa.com. The removal of webpages that simply contained comments seems a certain breach of freedom of speech.

In relation to Slyck we were served with this notice ordering the removal of links to 2 kazaa Lite related websites namely http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/mirro...klitekpp210b2e and http://doa2.host.sk/ . Slyck have complied with the notice. Ray Hoffman, the Website Administrator of Slyck issued this statement in relation to the notice:

"Slyck has recently been issued a DMCA complaint by Sharman Networks, the company that makes the Kazaa Media Desktop software. The complaint states that we are to remove the links to certain pages that are infringing on their copyrights. We were supplied no proof that these pages actually have been found by legal means to be guilty of infringement. We have decided to remove these links while we seek legal council as to this matter. We are saddened that a company that used to be friendly to the P2P world has grown too large and greedy and now seeks to manipulate any avenue to gain it's monetary goals. Slyck.com feels that actions taken on behalf of Sharman Networks are directly opposed to the benefit of the P2P community and we can no longer support the Kazaa Media Desktop. "

Sharman has often been criticised for being too far removed from the p2p community and for having a lack of user contact. This sad episode only enforces this opinion and indicates the lows to which Sharman have stooped in order to promote their new add free kazaa. It also certainly seems rich that Sharman are issuing notices related to alleged copyright violations.

The ironic thing is that links from Google, Slyck and others to the DMCA notice which in turn contain information on these sites may only drive traffic to these Kazaa Lite related websites.

Sharman sucks big time, and FastTrack deserves to die. Yikes.

- tg

01-09-03, 11:37 PM	#6
TankGirl Madame Comrade Join Date: May 2000 Location: Area 25 Posts: 5,587	Sharman has also made a similar DMCA attack against Slyck: This week Sharman Networks contacted Slyck giving notice of the launch of an advert free version of Kazaa. At the same time Slyck received a DMCA violation notice to remove references to Kazaa Lite. Slyck was not alone as Sharman embarked on a campaign against free speech in an underhand method to promote Kazaa Plus. It is now known that these DMCA violation notices were filed against Google, Slyck, Zeropaid and other websites. The DMCA against Google ordered it to remove references to 15 websites that contain information related to kazaa lite. Google have complied but have linked to the notice (on an EFF site) at the bottom of searches related to this violation. One of the websites Sharman asked Google to remove was zeropaid while conducting a search for 'kazaa'. Zeropaid contains 100's of pages articles and discussion related to kazaa, which were previously returned with Google results for this term. They have now all been removed and have been replaced with 1 ZP webpage that links to kazaa.com. The removal of webpages that simply contained comments seems a certain breach of freedom of speech. In relation to Slyck we were served with this notice ordering the removal of links to 2 kazaa Lite related websites namely http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/mirro...klitekpp210b2e and http://doa2.host.sk/ . Slyck have complied with the notice. Ray Hoffman, the Website Administrator of Slyck issued this statement in relation to the notice: "Slyck has recently been issued a DMCA complaint by Sharman Networks, the company that makes the Kazaa Media Desktop software. The complaint states that we are to remove the links to certain pages that are infringing on their copyrights. We were supplied no proof that these pages actually have been found by legal means to be guilty of infringement. We have decided to remove these links while we seek legal council as to this matter. We are saddened that a company that used to be friendly to the P2P world has grown too large and greedy and now seeks to manipulate any avenue to gain it's monetary goals. Slyck.com feels that actions taken on behalf of Sharman Networks are directly opposed to the benefit of the P2P community and we can no longer support the Kazaa Media Desktop. " Sharman has often been criticised for being too far removed from the p2p community and for having a lack of user contact. This sad episode only enforces this opinion and indicates the lows to which Sharman have stooped in order to promote their new add free kazaa. It also certainly seems rich that Sharman are issuing notices related to alleged copyright violations. The ironic thing is that links from Google, Slyck and others to the DMCA notice which in turn contain information on these sites may only drive traffic to these Kazaa Lite related websites. Sharman sucks big time, and FastTrack deserves to die. Yikes. - tg