Any News About Soulseek?

[spstn]

By now all that use Slsk know that the server it's been down for a day, but the reason I'm requesting any info, is because I can't access the forum either.

I'm greeted with a "Forbidden" notice, and that was the only source of info available.

I'm all ears.

[napho]

Only down temporarily for maintenance.

http://www.dachboden-wg.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1621

[spstn]

Thanks Napho.

I noticed that the date of the thread is January 31st.

That down time came and went, and the client was back up.

However, in the forum, no one had any idea what was the reason for going down yesterday, and now the forum is also off limits.

Let's hope it's just a "deep" maintenance job.

[Eagle]

as far as i can soulseek is still down - as are quite a few p2p forums...hmm

[Dawn]

Glad this one's still up

[zombywoof]

Ah..Thats what happened. I figured it was some firewall setting of mine being I reformatted and reinstalled most of my software recently. Thanks for info.

[JackSpratts]

it's been a few days for me too, and my list of "must get cool tunes" is pretty backlogged. the store is calling out to me like a lonely zombie.

how can i resist.

i can feel the pressure building.

- js.

[naz]

i've got ten albums waiting on queue for fucks sake! I'm half tempted to open imesh

[JackSpratts]

i don't want to start any blasphemous...

nir, or someone posing as nir posted a notice on a german board saying he was shutting down to avoid the riaa. more serious obviously than just taking it down for maintenance as reported on several other sites. whether true or not (and it’s certainly plausible), i think that the post is the source of much of the rumors.


Re: SOULSEEK VOM NETZ
NIR | E-Mail | 05.02.2003, 17.57 Uhr

"Just want you guys to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Soul Seek is down, and will stay down for some time. Just like they shut down NAPSTER they got an injunction to shut me down. It was an easy trail to follow as I did work there. The RAII has kept tabs on former NAPSTER programmers. I plan on moving the server back to my native country. There I hope to be out of the reach of the RIAA.

NIR"

- js.

[spstn]

"Proteus93 schrieb am 05.02.2003 um 16:56: - lösche
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For the sake of individuals who are still unsure of the current status - Nir has spoken, not only with Steve at the Napjunk forum, but with others when he has had the time. The server is simply being switched to a new host, and needs to be set up once again. He has estimated that this would take roughly three days, if all goes well.

I will not put words in Mr. Arbel's mouth, but I believe any of those who have followed the man's work or taken time to speak to him will know that he is a spontaneous individual. If he feels like something is a great idea at the time, he follows through. As reasonable and fair as he is, we must not forget that the service being provided is, in fact, a privilege. It is not required to give notification when something is about to change, it is not a given 'right'.

The work being done requires effort, and time (which, I might add, is realistically quite reasonable). He is a busy individual, and I am hesitant to further disrupt his work. He has spoken and stated that the servers are being moved. I can assure you all that this is an accurate statement, and not a rumour in the least. There is no reason for panic or twisting of words over one, simple sentence. Your patience is, and has been appreciated and Soulseek will be operating again shortly. Thanks for your understanding.

Cheers,
~Sean Nelson/~*P93*~ "

http://slsk.mip.mikemth.de/slsk/inde...comments&id=15

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Verfasst am: Mi, 05. Feb 2003 09:44 Titel:

"Das hab ich heute gefunden:


alright, now here is some REAL info on the current status of soulseek:

[from http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=77]
For the last 24 hours, the popular Soulseek network and website has been unavailable to its wide userbase. Because their host cache uses the same IP address as their web server (Shareaza revisited), the network is not accessible. Information gathered by Napjunk.com reports that the lone operator of Soulseek, Nir, is simply switching web hosts. From Napjunk

steve says: Hey, I've had several users e-mail me and msg me on AIM/MSN asking if Soulseek was down, since a lot of users seem to be having problems connecting to the network. Was wondering if ya could tell me what’s up so i can have something to tell them other than "i don’t know, check back later to see if we find anything out"

Nir Says: Yeah, it's gonna be down for about three days. We're switching providers.
_________________
Sommerwind - Christiana "

http://www.dachboden-wg.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1721

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"Information on Soulseek
February 4, 2003
Thomas Mennecke

For the last 24 hours, the popular Soulseek network and website has been unavailable to its wide userbase. Because their host cache uses the same IP address as their web server (Shareaza revisited), the network is not accessible. Information gathered by Napjunk.com
( http://www.napjunk.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=874 ) reports that the lone operator of Soulseek, Nir, is simply switching web hosts. From Napjunk:

steve says: Hey, I've had several users e-mail me and msg me on AIM/MSN asking if Soulseek was down, since a lot of users seem to be having problems connecting to the network. Was wondering if ya could tell me what’s up so i can have something to tell them other than "i don’t know, check back later to see if we find anything out"

Nir Says: Yeah, it's gonna be down for about three days. We're switching providers.

News as to why Nir is switching web hosts remain unclear. There are unconfirmed ( http://www.filespree.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=921 ) threads stating that the RIAA has filed an injunction against Soulseek. If you read German, you can also find more information on this on the unofficial Soulseek forum: here ( http://www.soulseek.de.vu/ ). We have emailed Nir, and hope to provide resolution to this situation in the near future.

Soulseek has become wildly popular in the P2P world. Its fast, reliable network, coupled by a wide variety of dance, techno and house music, has made this community one of the best kept P2P secretes."


http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=77


Napjunk's Soulseek interview.
http://www.napjunk.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=712

You can discuss this article here
http://www.slyck.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=846

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Newsgroups: alt.music.mp3
Subject: Re: soulseek
From: Charmtrap <charmtrap@hotmail.com>
References: <luc0a.24474$Rc7.358393@news2.e.nsc.no>
Message-ID: <Xns93196DD3C8D8Bcharmtraphotmailcom@140.99.99.130>
User-Agent: Xnews/5.04.25
Lines: 48
X-Complaints-To: abuse@easynews.com
Organization: EasyNews, UseNet made Easy! - Test our service with our FREE trial at https://www.easynews.com/trial/trial.phtml
X-Complaints-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly.
Date: Wed, 05 Feb 2003 18:47:12 GMT


"DJ Magnicat" <magnicat@hotmail.comNOSPAM> wrote in news:luc0a.24474
$Rc7.358393@news2.e.nsc.no:

> soulseek down?
> their homepage http://www.slsk.org/ is---
>
> im addicted....poor leno---
>
>
>

Also see this page: http://z.cccp.at/soulseek:


A Mail from the slsk official forums moderator
(05.02.2003 15.45 GMT+1)

"hello, my nick is pudstah on slsk and i moderate the official forums
(which are down at the moment). a mate of mine who is an admin on
soulseek has been speaking with nir.

soulseek is in fact moving to a new host and will be back online within a
few days. this is due to delays between hosts.

the information provided by soulseek.de.vu is completely inaccurate and
the rumours surrounding RIAA injuctions are absurd, uneducated and
premature assumptions. there have also been postings by users
impersonating nir which state that the RIAA has shut down soulseek. this
is also quite ridiculous and ultimately false.

the official soulseek forums were shut down by jaren80's (owner of
remmelt.com where the forums are hosted) ISP due to excessive traffic.
this has been confirmed in an email he, himself, has sent to me. as he
has been away on holiday, the official forums will be back online later
this evening.

for ACCURATE information regarding the soulseek server status, users are
urged to visit #soulseek on EFnet (irc).

fellow p2p developer meth, who has been happily getting his XS client up
and running recently, is more than happy for people to continue sharing
and chatting via the XS beta client until the soulseek servers are back
online. the XS client, still in beta testing, can be downloaded from
www.methlabs.org"

--Charmtrap


http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...&output=gplain
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[Last Update: 05.02.2003 19:17 GMT+1 | questions, feedback? mailto: conspiracy@gmx.at]

Soulseek RIP?

Not at all. Forget about all the RIAA-rumours and news articles, from reliable sources we got informed that slsk is in fact moving to a new server and will be back online within a few days. Due to excessive load on the board the Official Slsk Forums are also down, but the board-site is reachable again after all.

If you want to stay in contact with the community during the offline-time, use IRC.


IRC-Chat
Download the mIRC-Client from mirc.com

Server: EFnet (any)
#soulseek (international)

Server: IRCnet (any)
#soulseek (international)
#soulseek.de (german)
#fastidis (italian)


General Slsk links
> slsk.org (main website, still offline)
> The Official Soulseek Forum
> Slsk Records
> Italian website about the soulseek troubles/rumours ( http://www.messyliferecords.com/fastidischatroom/ )
> Deutsches Soulseek Board ( http://www.soulseek.de.vu/ )
> soulseek - the unofficial FAQ
> August 25, 2002: Interview with soulseek creator Nir
> Jan 12, 2002: Another interview with Nir


Sites & discussion boards around Filesharing
> Slyck
> Napjunk Forums
> UniteTheCows


News articles (forget about them!)


05.02.2003 12.34 GMT+1 german de-bug.de Soulseek vom Netz. Vermutlich nur wieder ein Serverumzug ( http://www.de-bug.de/news/1381.html )
05.02.2003 11.36 GMT+1 german fm4.orf.at "For the near future SoulSeek will be down" ( http://fm4.orf.at/gerlinde/107294/main )
05.02.2003 11:21 GMT+1 german derstandard.at Soulseek macht vorerst dicht ( http://derstandard.at/standard.asp?id=1203176 )
05.02.2003 10:55 GMT+1 german heise.de P2P-Tauschbörse SoulSeek vorerst vom Netz ( http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/vza-05.02.03-000/ )
05.02.2003 german at-web.de Soulseek von RIAA zur Schliessung gedrängt ( http://www.at-web.de/p2p/soulseek.htm )
04.02.2003 english slyck.com Information on Soulseek ( http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=77 )


A Mail from the slsk official forums moderator
(05.02.2003 15.45 GMT+1)

"hello, my nick is pudstah on slsk and i moderate the official forums (which are down at the moment). a mate of mine who is an admin on soulseek has been speaking with nir.

soulseek is in fact moving to a new host and will be back online within a few days. this is due to delays between hosts.

the information provided by soulseek.de.vu is completely inaccurate and the rumours surrounding RIAA injuctions are absurd, uneducated and premature assumptions. there have also been postings by users impersonating nir which state that the RIAA has shut down soulseek. this is also quite ridiculous and ultimately false.

the official soulseek forums were shut down by jaren80's (owner of remmelt.com where the forums are hosted) ISP due to excessive traffic. this has been confirmed in an email he, himself, has sent to me. as he has been away on holiday, the official forums will be back online later this evening.

for ACCURATE information regarding the soulseek server status, users are urged to visit #soulseek on EFnet (irc).

fellow p2p developer meth, who has been happily getting his XS client up and running recently, is more than happy for people to continue sharing and chatting via the XS beta client until the soulseek servers are back online. the XS client, still in beta testing, can be downloaded from www.methlabs.org"

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[TankGirl]

From http://www.soulseekrecords.com/:


OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT - Re: Soulseek Status
Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2003 11:54 pm

This is to provide the official status of the Soulseek network as Friday, February 7th and onward. I have spoken to Nir and Rosalind Arbel on the matter over the course of this week and prior to this event taking place, and this notice is being offered on their behalf.

The artist calling herself Sapphirecut previously made a complaint towards Soulseek regarding the sharing of her material on the network. When she had contacted Soulseek regarding the matter, she failed to state which material was in question. There was no information provided, aside from her being "Sapphirecut". Therefore, acting on such, a global message was made to users not to share the artist's material, and a notice was made upon entering chat rooms of the same.

Unfortunately, this was not satisfactory, and the artist went on to file a complaint against Verio - Soulseek's server host, stating DMCA Copywrite Infringement. Verio, in return did not conduct a formal inquiry into the situation. Rather, they acted rather quickly, requiring the server, and site to be pulled. Thus, there was no warning that such was going to take place. This not only applied to the users of Soulseek, but to Nir himself. On sudden notice, he was required to seek out a new host for the server.

To calm the air of panic, this does NOT mean that Soulseek is down forever. The RIAA did NOT have an injunction against Nir, as rumours have stated. Soulseek WILL be returning shortly, and this unfortunate delay was not expected. A new potential host has been found, however they are working through the paperwork for such, and have not completed such as quickly as we would have expected. At this level, it is out of Nir's hands as they have to simply go through the process of completing it. That said, we apologize again for the delay and hope that it does not last a great deal longer.

It is important to note that Soulseek can not and will not condone any actions towards the artist that may cause her or her affiliated labels harm. Such actions would include defaming emails, defacing, or otherwise damaging her website or the site of her affiliates, and other further actions which may be damaging. Such actions will simply result in further problems for the network, as the artist will direct complaints towards Soulseek itself. Those wishing to show their support for Soulseek will best do so by simply NOT sharing any files by this artist. The files in question include:

1.Free Your Mind, Megan’s epic mix.

2.Free Your Mind, Sapphirecut's Original mix

3.Action-Reaction by Sapphirecut (in any form)

4.Any music that has Sapphirecut on it except the Illustrious track “I’d Say Yes”, which is a remix.

We thank you for your patience and support through this situation, and we look forward to seeing all users back on Soulseek shortly. Users who wish further information regarding the DMCA are directed to browse to http://www.chillingeffects.org. All information needed regarding the act can be read or studied there. Cheers.

On behalf of Nir and Rosalind Arbel,
Sean Nelson / Proteus93
Soulseek Administration

[assorted]

that sucks....

whois for SAPPHIRECUT.COM

Registrant:
Taylor, Megan (KBRCCEMOED)
621 Oxford Rd.
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
US

Domain Name: SAPPHIRECUT.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Taylor, Megan (FROYOOSTMI) soundfront@comcast.net

621 Oxford Rd.
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
US
610-617-0470

address and whois for twisted records (her label)

Twisted America Records / labels (T)
Profile: none yet
Contact Info: 250 E. Houston St., 9K
New York, NY 10002-1040
twistedamerica@hotmail.com
URLs: h**p://www.twistedamerica.com/


Registrant:
Newman, Steven (TWISTEDAMERICA4-DOM)
98 Bergen St. Apt. 1
Brooklyn, NY 11201
US

Domain Name: TWISTEDAMERICA.COM

Administrative Contact:
Newman, Steven (NTZWOXZEXI) moodyjive@aol.com

98 Bergen St. Apt. 1
Brooklyn, NY 11201
US
212.691.0141
Technical Contact:
VeriSign, Inc. (HOST-ORG) namehost@WORLDNIC.NET
VeriSign, Inc.
21355 Ridgetop Circle
Dulles, VA 20166
US
1-888-642-9675

(this is my last re-edit; hehe)

[TankGirl]

Yeah, it sucks....

This case is a good demonstration of the vulnerability of centralized p2p networks... with ISPs being jumpy about DMCA complaints a single hostile artist can cause a shutdown (even if temporary) of a popular service.

- tg

[assorted]

Originally posted by TankGirl
This case is a good demonstration of the vulnerability of centralized p2p networks... with ISPs being jumpy about DMCA complaints a single hostile artist can cause a shutdown (even if temporary) of a popular service.

everyone knew soulseek (like audiogalaxy before it) could get shut down anytime. it was just hoped it could stay quiet enough and go on for as long as possible.

personally, i doubt sapphirewhatever will be the end of this. i hope i'm wrong but i imagine if soulseek does come back up; it won't be for long.

[JackSpratts]

"excessive load"

avoiding the riaa by acquiescing to their demands is a loser’s game for a p2p. soulseek will remain closed unless as noted no other single artist files a complaint. it would be amazing if the riaa, the mpaa and the ifpi lets that happen but if somehow they just don’t bother getting around to it then the network may restart and we’ll have it back – until the next artist files. now if the server is in the netherlands that may buy some more time. in vanatu, more still.

but what’s really fantastic is that people actually believed the site was down "for maintenance".

- js.

[spstn]

"CharaFan
n00b


Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Posts: 1

Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2003 7:34 am Post subject: my email to saphirecut

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To: soundfront@comcast.net
Subject: Soulseek - why you just don't get it

Megan,

Before you hit delete, I'm not angry, and I'm not going to mailbomb you. Undoubtedly many others will, and they'll probably trash your website and send you viruses and make your life a living hell but such childish antics are not my style.

I don't know you and I don't know your music. And in all likelihood, I never will. I use SoulSeek to share music by my favorite artists who do not have distribution in the US or Europe.

Take Harry Nilsson for example. He's a talented guy who had major success in the 60s and 70s, but who unfortunately passed away 10 years ago. Since then his record labels have been very slow to re-release his material. Subsequently myself and other fans have begun sharing his bootlegged music and videos on SoulSeek (but never his current legit releases!) and I can proudly say that I've turned dozens if not hundreds of people onto the guy and his music. Thanks to file-sharing his fan base is actually growing on a daily basis, not dying off. Record labels like growing fan bases, and we now see definite plans are underway to remaster and release more and more of his back catalog in the coming years.

Or take Chara for example. She a contemporary Japanese artist. Huge in Japan! Signed to Sony Records. You could compare her to Madonna in terms of her popularity and her affect on pop culture there. Outside Japan, she's nobody and no record label will ever distribute her music outside Japan. I share some of her b-sides and videos and the odd re-mix single. Generally stuff you can't buy via mail order or couldn't get unless you actually lived in Japan. Other western fans really appreciate that.

Now, back to you. You should be so lucky that people will even be sharing your music when your dead, or for that matter, after you retire from music and move on to something else. I'm a musician too, and I've long since let go of that dream and moved on with my life (30's ish songwriters just don't seem to crack into the top 10 these days), though I still write music for my own amusement. Anyhow, it's great that you do have fans that buy your music, and you should feel so lucky to have fans around the globe who seek out your b-sides and alt-mixes. Those are the very same diehard fans who buy your CD the DAY it's released in the stores. And you should be so lucky that they like your CDs so much that they want to share with other people who might just become fans too.

Tell you what, I regularly download megabytes of MP3s of new and old artists and I end up listing to maybe only 5% of it a second time. If I downloaded your music and I didn't like it, who REALLY gets hurt? I hit delete and forget about it. Would you rather I BUY your CD and still not like it? I'd feel cheated and I sure as heck will get online and tell all my friends not to waste their money on it. Remember after you bought that Styx LP back in 1982 and it made you wretch? On the other hand, if I liked your CD, and I shared it with others, aren't these new fans going to request it at the clubs and on the radio? Of course they are. So it gets played in public and you now have even more fans and I'll bet they are going to eagerly anticipate your next release and buy it.

My last point, then I'm off. If you think ratting on SoulSeek will stop your music from being shared online, think again. There are more file share networks than anyone can keep track of. It's a moving target. People who like your music and want to share it will simply use other software. You will NEVER win this battle as long as you consider it to be a battle. I'm not threatening you, it's a simple fact. So accept it. Accept that people will always share your music and so appeal to your fans personally, the last thing you should do is piss them off. Use the net to keep in touch with your fan base. Offer them incentives and remixes and other merchandise and create a real virtual community. Capitalize on the fact that you have this fantastic opportunity to do so, don't keep yourself awake at night wondering if you are going to go bankrupt due to a handful of shared files.

Ok, I'm done. I'm not at all happy about what you did to SoulSeek. It's return is inevitable, and in that light, what you did seems very petty and ignorant. I hope that you find the path to inner peace and prosperity.

- Steve "


http://www.napjunk.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1910#1910

[LV15]

Hi all,
Nir and Roz here , co-creators and operators of Soulseek. First we want to thank you all for your support and understanding as we go through this rough spot. We both enjoyed reading your comments on this thread very much icon_smile.gif We wanted to write this to give you all a closer look at what's been going on recently, and how things are expected to turn out.

Exactly as Proetus93 said, the trouble started when Sapphirecut filed a DMCA copyright infringement claim about a week ago to Verio. He own claim was followed by ones from musicians Adam Freemer, Tom Stephan (Superchumbo), Marie Claire Cremers and Peter Baily, all claims virtually identical except for the artist and track names listed. Now here's the thing -- while we did receive our Internet access from Verio, we weren't directly working with them. We actually work with CIFNet, who in turn buys access from Verio. What Sapphirecut and the other artists did by filing the copyright infringement claim was the first step on the road to lawsuit. Ideally, if we had known at the time, we would have filed what's called a DMCA counterclaim, where we deny the accusations made in the original claims and explain why. This would have been very easy, because the DMCA has a provision called "safe haven" that basically means if your service doesn't store or traffick illegal materials, you, the service provider, are legally exempt. Soulseek actually goes much further than that, and leaves the process of file transfer negotiation and search request distribution to a decentralized network made entirely of soulseek clients. Anyway, a decent Internet service provider would've politely informed us of the claim, and let us know of the counterclaim option so as to give us a chance to defend ourselves before shutting us down. Not verio, who supposedly has a long track record of treating its customers like dirt. Instead, Verio contacted CIFNet and demanded that we be removed from their service, under threat of cutting CIFNet off entirely! As this would've killed CIFNet, they had no choice but to do as Verio asked.

Through all this, CIFNet kept very close contact with us to let us know exactly what was going on (Verio never contacted us directly), and have been working since last monday to move us to Cogent, another service provider CIFNet works with. Cogent says they usually take about three days to process an IP allocation request, but so far they're taking their sweet time. So we wait.

Anyway, what does all this mean? We can't be more than a few days before getting our new IP address, and as soon as that happens we'll restart the Soulseek service. There is very high likelihood that sapphirecut and co. would repeat the process with Cogent, but we already have a prepared counterclaim we'll fax Cogent *as soon* as that happens, and long before we get disconnected. Beyond that, once we do we open ourselves to lawsuit, but we've ascertained our legal options, and we're certain these guys have no real case.

Verio may not be an easy target like Sapphirecut is, but it's really the big villain here. When all this DMCA crap is behind us, I'm going to release a full public disclosure of the exchange between Verio and CIFNet, and try to get it exposed as well as I can to illustrate exactly just how unprofessional and unreliable they are.

In the meanwhile, thank you all for hanging in there! We promise we'll be back as soon as possible!

Yours, Nir and Roz

so that clears that one up then...it's definately the label that is behind this as superchumbo and sapphirecut are both on twisted america

[spstn]

The first face behind a self-immolation act: