The Newspaper Shop -- Wednesday edition

[TankGirl]

Thank you WT!

Originally posted by walktalker
Kazaa Taunts Record Biz: Catch Us
In a war with media conglomerates hoping to shut down its Kazaa file-trading service, Sharman Networks has flipped the familiar slogan, "think globally, act locally." Despite an ongoing American copyright-infringement lawsuit, the Australian company has so far evaded the international recording industry's attempts to shut down Kazaa by setting up operations around the globe. It has offices in the United States, the South Pacific island nation Vanuatu and the Netherlands. On Monday, Italian ISP Tiscali agreed to advertise its broadband services through Kazaa. The agreement could make the recording industry's attempts to shutter Kazaa that much more difficult because individual countries are responsible for regulating the Internet within their borders. Stronger ties between ISPs and file-trading companies could bolster Kazaa's defenses.
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0,1285,55356,00.html

The copyright nazis have scored a series of 'victories' with Napster, AudioGalaxy and Aimster. However, in the bigger picture they have just been losing - time, resources, consumer sympathy - while the p2p technology has kept advancing and the number of p2p users has grown hundred-fold from the times of Napster. Anyway, it is a pleasure to see Kazaa outsmarting them time after time... I wouldn't mind Kazaa being the first big case that they lose...

from the above story:

Even as the U.S. recording industry continues its global pursuit of Kazaa, it must also cope with the growing perception that peer-to-peer networks encourage broadband use in America.

Economists at the Brookings Institute estimated that widespread broadband would increase the gross domestic product by $500 billion, according to a study released by the U.S. Department of Commerce. But consumers have been slow to adopt costly high-speed access, citing its lack of relevance to their lives.

"A majority of consumers will sign up for broadband when value-adding applications and services are readily available, easily understood and offered at reasonable prices," the study reported.

Consumers cited telecommuting and online video games as two important factors in their decision to sign up for broadband access. But the most compelling service, the study found, is the ability to download movies and music.

So far, such services have only been available through the very file-trading networks the entertainment industry has tried to quash.

- tg