Kazaa heads to court for file-swap trial

[Tyler]

Several news source, including http://www.boycott-riaa.com/article/15060">boycott-riaa,  are buzzing about Kazaa going to court to defend itself against Australia's music labels.

The outcome of this trial may have huge implications in file sharing in the US.  For a couple reasons, one, Kazaa is still really big, and if becomes "illegal", it would definitely lose popularity which means lose files.  Two, our legal system loves to use precidents.  If the Australian court finds them guilty, it just opens the doors for American courts to make file-sharing software illegal.  Three, if the music industries succeed at closing the doors of Kazaa, the music industry (and I'm sure the movie industry as well) would try that much harder to bully the technology into submission.

Just my 2 (maybe 2.5) cents

[Jarod Neuner]

As much as I would love to see Sharmon Networks implode and vanish from sight, I wonder how far reaching the consequences will become. There are obvious 'next targets' - Limewire, WinMX, and (God willing) that Aeris thing.

Nonetheless, you cant underestimate how stupid and far reaching the consequences will be. Considering Sharmon is using the Betamax defense, a ruling against Sharmon may make it illegal to ignore file sharing of any type. File Sharing and it's definition have begun to look a lot like other commonplace protocols (FTP) - wouldn't it be just super if FTP programs had to have DRM authentication mechanisms?

At the same time, what will happen to that old Betamax ruling? Right now, it is legal to record programs from TV and make copies of your DVD collection to prevent them from getting damaged.  Will it reach that far?