Limewire: History reP2Ped ?

Issue:
The blog speaks about how Limewire was sued last month by major record labels like Sony-BMG and Virgin Records, suing the developers of the LimeWire P2P file sharing software.

Background:
LimeWire, started in 2000, is the largest exclusive P2P developer for the Gnutella P2P network. Gnutella was the first popular P2P network after the original Napster was shut down and popularized a distributed architecture that used no central server. LimeWire has been downloaded by hundreds of millions of users. It is regularly one of the top weekly downloads at download.com, which reports 20 million total downloads. LimeWire is noted for having both Windows and Mac versions and opening up its source code to other developers.


Implication:
This blog tells that Limewire, one of the largest P2P networks providing free music files over the internet, was sued by major record labels in August. The company had been in discussions with RIAA to install filtering software in its software, last year. And although the version released in June, earlier this year, had a new option to filter unlicensed content, the system did not verify the authenticity of licenses, allowing filesharers to spoof legal licenses.

While it is illegal to share unlicensed content, allowances should be made in existing copyright laws to allow sharing of appropriate content across P2P networks. P2P networks need to seen as a radical advance in networking technology, as it reduces burden on a few central servers and shares resources to increase efficiency and robustness. The Napster case (2000), did not deter P2P service providers, and the focus of RIAA and other authorities should ben formulate a plan to include interests of artists, labels and millions of users to offer improved services at lower costs, and recover revenues through bulk increase in licenses or advertising. The advent of email in today's world can be considered a good analogy.

Source:
From the blog: http://www.limewire.org/blog/?p=203