Comments on: Grokster shuts down

Grokster shuts down

falconred — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:26:58 -0800

Grokster shuts down after their Supreme Court defeat [pdf] this summer, Grokster has chosen to settle its case with MGM et al., admit to wrongdoing, and stop distributing its software. Their website now displays the message: "There are legal services for downloading music and movies. This service is not one of them.". Another victoy for Hollywood in the intellectual property war. Who's next?

By: meehawl

meehawl — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:31:32 -0800

Because you know, if recent history has taught us anything, it is that closing down file sharing stops peer to peer trading DEAD.

By: about_time

about_time — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:38:42 -0800

Newsfilter: NYT front page.

By: Rothko

Rothko — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:39:16 -0800

The long-range view seems obvious: File traders start using anonymous, decentralized P2P networks on a large scale. Having more money and influence, media corporations buy enforcement of laws to make said anonymous use of the Internet illegal, which boils down to the government scanning network traffic at all routing points in the name of curtailing "terrorist activities", with the bonus of putting the profitable kibosh on piracy and seditious speech.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:39:30 -0800

Bummer, score another one for the greedheads in the ivory towers.

By: xmutex

xmutex — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:48:53 -0800

Does this ivory tower have any vacancies? I want in; it's awful dreary out here.

By: BobFrapples

BobFrapples — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:56:56 -0800

"Congratulations, Team America... you have stopped NOTHING!"

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:58:26 -0800

Thank God. I feel so much safer knowing that Ashley Simpson tracks will be slightly harder to aquire for a brief period of time. Anything to stop the spread of her music. Anything.

By: ori

ori — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:59:45 -0800

As long as a certain small, unnamed and indie-hipsterish P2P network continues to fly under their radar, I'm happy.

By: fenriq

fenriq — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 15:12:45 -0800

Joey, duuuuude, its Ashleeeeeeee Simpson. See, she's gotta be cool and go with the double E rather than the ey because that didn't make edgy enough for her target demographic. xmutex, yes, but the cost of entry is your soul. Still interested?

By: Civil_Disobedient

Civil_Disobedient — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 15:30:19 -0800

When was the last time anyone used Grokster, anyway? A++++ GREAT RULING! WOULD LITIGATE AGAIN!

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 15:41:40 -0800

Grokster should have shut itself down before now. It was crap.

By: spazzm

spazzm — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 15:44:47 -0800

Napster is down. Grokster is down. That just leaves SoulSeek, eDonkey, BitTorrent, Dexter, EarthStation 5, FileTopia, GNUnet, MUTE, Scour, Freenet, Gnutella, Kad, FastTrack and a heap of others. I guess the only practical outcome of this is that there will always be openings for enterprising young programmers with a fresh new P2P network idea.

By: slatternus

slatternus — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 16:25:21 -0800

I work at home, and my PC is my business. The few experiences I've had with Grokster and other sites were all bad. (Spyware, lousy compression etc.) It's mostly for safety/security reasons that I tend not to take a chance on downloads any more - certainly not because of the efforts of Captain Copyright and his Do-Gooder Army of correspondence school lawyers. Still, it's nice to know that if I really wanted to wait an hour for an insanely compressed torrent of a Battlestar Galactica episode, I could. Isn't that what freedom's all about?

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 16:25:49 -0800

And don't forget Limewire, spazzm. I know I don't. Oh, wait, does the FBI read this site?

By: jmccorm

jmccorm — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 16:59:19 -0800

"victoy" or dearth!

By: snsranch

snsranch — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 17:04:44 -0800

This is a great thread in which to ask, (thus saving me from using up my AskMeta for this week) where can I download audio books? None of my quasi-legal P2P sights provide this.

By: insomnia_lj

insomnia_lj — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 17:11:59 -0800

Plenty of audio books are available via bittorrent... or so I hear.

By: angry modem

angry modem — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 17:25:55 -0800

By: Sparx

Sparx — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 17:31:35 -0800

Plenty of audio books are available via bittorrent... or so I hear. Oh, rally? One could read a lot into that statement.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 17:41:14 -0800

Eh, I'd rather have someone with the vision of Rothko to keep an eye out on things like this than to have authorities get away with it because no one thought of it at the time.

By: lupus_yonderboy

lupus_yonderboy — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 18:29:51 -0800

Pardon me for not being the slighest bit sympathetic. Grokster's business model involved making money from the work of musicians and other artists without compensating them in the slightest. What did they expect to happen?

By: UseyurBrain

UseyurBrain — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 18:54:00 -0800

"What did they expect to happen?" How about that the record companies would at least give consumers a reach around as they bend us over without using any lube? Or are we supposed to just shut up and 'enjoy' the ride? And, no more whining about the artists. They are either getting raped just as bad or are part of the whole corrupt machine.

By: wakko

wakko — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 19:04:36 -0800

Wait. People used Grokster?

By: Mars Saxman

Mars Saxman — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 19:31:52 -0800

Grokster's business model involved making money from the work of musicians and other artists without compensating them in the slightest. Just like a record company! Grokster didn't get shut down for infringing copyright; they got shut down because they wouldn't collude with the music industry's price-fixing scheme.

By: Onanist

Onanist — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 20:26:32 -0800

Audiobooks: Usenet - check the audiobooks category at newzbin.com for a current listing. Grokster: who cares?

By: gd779

gd779 — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 20:39:30 -0800

Pardon me for not being the slighest bit sympathetic. Grokster's business model involved making money from the work of musicians and other artists without compensating them in the slightest. They're kind of like the RIAA in that way. Seriously, do some reading on the economics of the music industry, and then come back here and tell us how P2P (known in some circles as "the free advertising that drives attendance at my concerts, which is the only place I make any money") hurts actual musicians. Or were you trying to get us to shed a tear for the plight of the poor underpaid and underappreciated music executive?

By: gd779

gd779 — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 20:40:13 -0800

Damn, Mars beat me to the punch, didn't he?

By: ironisokratic

ironisokratic — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 20:54:35 -0800

The ruling is fine with me. I've already been to the "buffet table" a few too many times already.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 21:05:47 -0800

I'm just waiting for someone to bring a lawsuit against Microsoft for producing Outlook Express. You know, that piracy-enabling software that lets you obtain copyrighted materials from the Usenet network?

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 21:39:08 -0800

Man, I've tried using the Usenet, but I just can't figure out the damned thing. Odd file structures, where to subscribe... I know that there are mp3 communities out there, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to make them work. I had an easier time with them when they were BBSes. I just have to get friends to YSI stuff to me now, which means I get a broader shot of music, but I don't necessarily get what I want right away. There's enough music out there though, that I don't want for sounds...

By: signal

signal — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 14:06:27 -0800

One of the articles about this says: "the problem with decentralized networks is that they're impossible to shut down." The problem? that's the beauty of decentralized networks,

By: snsranch

snsranch — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 16:44:44 -0800

via bittorrent I found audible.com. I heard of it before on NPR but never put 2 and 2 together. Gracias.