AfterDawn: News

eDonkey settles for $30 million

MetaMachine Inc, the company that owns the eDonkey2000 software is to pay $30 million to settle a copyright infringement case brought against it by 6 record companies. The eDonkey2000 network accounted for almost a third of all Internet traffic last year. The advertising revenue and software sales were over $2 million a year. Recently Kazaa owner Sharman Networks also agreed to pay $100 million and provide a "legit" service.

The eDonkey2000 website has been taken down and a message has been left that says...




The eDonkey2000 Network is no longer available.

If you steal music or movies, you are breaking the law.

Courts around the world -- including the United States Supreme Court --
have ruled that businesses and individuals can be prosecuted for illegal
downloading.

You are not anonymous when you illegally download copyrighted material.

Your IP address is XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX and has been logged.

Respect the music, download legally.
The IP address logging is only a scare tactic, it is not at all illegal to attempt to visit the eDonkey website. MetaMachine has also agreed not to distribute its software anymore.

"With this new settlement, another domino falls, and we have further strengthened the footing of the legal marketplace," Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Of course, you can still use the open source eMule software to download and share files.

Source:
Arstechnica

Written by: James Delahunty @ 14 Sep 2006 7:38

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• 35 comments

• boneslave

  that is some serious BS. And yet another step has been taken that our poor little record copmanies income doesnt fall below 100 billion : P

  14.9.2006 08:04 #1

• sssharp

  We can just be the common (middle class) joe and listen to the radio, internet music, or just buy used cd's. There sales are rising each year but for some reason they love to go to court.

  14.9.2006 14:23 #2

• Lethal_B

  Quote:"With this new settlement, another domino falls, and we have further strengthened the footing of the legal marketplace," Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).Mitch, let's get real here, buddy. Closing eDonkey means the client is gone, not the network where the files are shared. Do you honestly think people are suddenly going to "go legal" because their fave filesharing app. is no longer working? Of course not.
  
  Closing a client helps legal downloading in what way? It's not a deterrent, it's just a reason to move on to a more advanced service. *sigh*
  Quote:If you steal music or movies, you are breaking the law.Isn't stealing anything against the law? *shakes head*

  14.9.2006 14:37 #3

• wasted05

  so if u visited the site what happens to ur ip??its been logged what does that mean

  14.9.2006 18:49 #4

• ZippyDSM

  a sad day indeed...

  14.9.2006 19:31 #5

• yuzu9386

  Pfft. Another money grubbing attempt by the RIAA... Losers

  15.9.2006 08:51 #6

• ZippyDSM

  wht are the better torrent search engines for finding rare ISOs and games?

  15.9.2006 11:53 #7

• Steve83

  Quote:Isn't stealing anything against the law?Not exactly. If you're a big corporation, you can steal all the rights you want, as long as you take them from the apathetic masses & not another big company.

  15.9.2006 15:52 #8

• max777

  MetaMachine, Inc. generated $2 million a year spreading spyware & viruses. They deserve to go to jail for life. The RIAA is making money off it too it looks like.

  15.9.2006 16:48 #9

• ZippyDSM

  max777
  You FAIL,the net has tons of spyware and virus its your own fault if you are not protected,Edonkey was a good place to find hard to find games and stuff things you just cant buy anymore because its not trendy for the man to sale them.
  

  15.9.2006 16:56 #10

• GZed

  eMule & Limewire are still going strong. isohunt.com and mininova.org are keeping the Bittorrent users happy. As someone else said, closing one file sharing client just drives everyone on to the next best thing, which is often better than what we'd been using. It is a pointless and fruitless exercise to continue to do what the RIAA is doing.
  
  e.g. Recording something on TV is not illegal in most countries, and yet the sale of DVD box sets of your favourite TV show is through the roof. Some people will always want high quality pre-prepared and packaged products, and will be willing to pay for them. Others won't This is nothing new, and there is not and will never be a damn thing anyone can do about it.

  15.9.2006 19:37 #11

• max777

  My point is that the real money being made with file sharing is thru ads which link to scams, spyware & viruses. The RIAA comes in and skims some off the top by threatening to sue. None of it has anything to do with people actually purchasing the media or software being shared.
  
  Who are the real bad guys here? RIAA is. They are the new mafia. File sharers aren't stealing money, scamming, planting spyware, and viruses on poor people's computers. File sharers don't bully people, harass them, and threaten to sue you for your life savings.

  15.9.2006 21:41 #12

• ZippyDSM

  max777
  I FAIL then,I didn't read beneath the underneath again darn it I will never be a good ninja ^_~
  
  Mm but I make a decent Pervert for some strange reason 0-o

  15.9.2006 22:41 #13

• fonzbear

  i can still connect to the edonkey network on shareaza so they haven't stopped us and never will stop us!!!

  16.9.2006 07:06 #14

• Jim355

  The real crooks here are the Lawyers. If you paid them enough they would go after the RIAA and scream crooks all the way to the courthouse.

  16.9.2006 10:40 #15

• Wesmosis

  Emule still rocks!
  btw, how many TONs and TONs of albums,movies..etc on Rapidshare ! ;) shut it down too lolz

  16.9.2006 10:44 #16

• gerbs

  I don't like to use the terms pirates or pirating when we share files. That implies rape and pilage. What we do is more like poaching--poaching the kings pheasants. Most of us do not re-sell. We just share. Like when a peasant takes one of the kings deers he shares it with with his friends and families. He wouldn't go out and buy a cow--he can't afford it! Why should the King have all the deer and pheasants? Have fun! You're a great bunch to share with!

  16.9.2006 16:53 #17

• wasted05

  wow i never thought of it that way
  

  http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e323/kool629/10062175_m.jpg
  [IMG]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e323/kool629/10062175_m.jpg[/IMG]

  16.9.2006 16:55 #18

• ZippyDSM

  gerbs
  nice analogy.
  
  
  

  
  
  I have a brain...I think......
  I fuzzy braind mew =0_o=
  FIGHT THE M.A.F.I.A.A.
  "Music And Film Industry Association of America.."
  "Hollywood the 4kids of comic moives."

  16.9.2006 18:42 #19

• ZippyDSM

  blasted thing I got one of thos random emails with unsubscribe at the top ><
  

  
  
  I have a brain...I think......
  I fuzzy braind mew =0_o=
  FIGHT THE M.A.F.I.A.A.
  "Music And Film Industry Association of America.."
  "Hollywood the 4kids of comic moives."

  16.9.2006 20:38 #20

• HVYSTEEL

  This whole thing is silly. So The RIAA profited from another take down. Yada yada yada....They logged your IP address...do ya think??.......LOL! They have always logged your IP address. Any where that you visit on the web they will log your IP address....((Oh No)) Im busted now many folks will say!! I had better watch out for the Edonkey police sent by the RIAA!! What a bunch of crap!!! Yes folks....Downloading copyright material is a crime and we all know this...no matter how stupid you may try to make your self seem. As for Edonkey....it is still working. Just some of the servers have been eliminated. I was one that thought....No biggey...so they made the edonkey users go else where to share files. After talking with a friend...I have found this to be false in many cases. To start Edonkey now....((Note....I did see this work myself)). He simply disabled the internet connection while he started Edonkey. This stopped the Popup about Edonkey being shut down and your IP address being logged. Once Edonkey was up and running he reconnected to the internet. Sure as &%$#...Edonkey started up and ran fine. The servers all showed like they had flat lined. Not true!! After a bit of run time... all of the available servers were showing true numbers again. They tried to convince you that the Edonkey network was dead...nope!! Just some of the servers have been closed. I am not trying to encourage downloading copyright files of any type, but this seemed a little strange to think that shutting down a server would kill a network. Edonkey helped to start a network that will be around for a long while. The P2P network will always find a way to hide and renew them selves. Killing the internet is about the only way to Kill P2P....or so it seems.
  
  Bottom Lines my friends.....Surf Safe & when trying to resolve a big problem......keep it simple stupid!!!

  16.9.2006 22:07 #21

• ChiefBrdy

  PeerGuardian PeerGuardian PeerGuardian

  17.9.2006 06:32 #22

• tekno5

  Sorry to hear about eDonkeys settlement,
  
  I hope Kazaa owner Sharman Networks
  can provide a clean service,
  no spyware and virus free without copyright infringement and with only legal porn
  and still make a profit from the P2Ps
  who do not want to pay.

  17.9.2006 12:05 #23

• ZippyDSM

  tekno5
  its that and more its like VIsta if its not copy protected its unplayable,IE if the copy right holder dosen't agree to it they cant have it on the network.
  
  

  17.9.2006 12:08 #24

• fonzbear

  actually, from what i read, kazaa is going to be a legal paid service like napster-i can't remember the details or where i read it though :$

  18.9.2006 08:57 #25

• ZippyDSM

  fonzbear
  thats what I said and they wont have anything on it without signed CP rights from the owner of said rights.

  18.9.2006 11:53 #26

• fonzbear

  oh zippy, a great site for bit torrent is www.isohunt.com it searches LOTS of torrent sites all within one search engine-plus, you don't have to register to download :)

  18.9.2006 15:49 #27

• ZippyDSM

  fonzbear
  its imperfect tho,dosent find soemthigns that are on the leser torrent sites.

  18.9.2006 15:56 #28

• ChiefBrdy

  torrentreactor.net has always been real reliable.

  18.9.2006 16:13 #29

• Bigperm88

  It will be a good day when all P2P networks and Torrents are shut down. Then maybe the scene will have some security again.
  
  This shut down in now way impacts releases, since releases donot start in p2p or torrent networks. P2P and torrent networks are for the masses, or people not in the know. Once they are shut down releases will no longer be in the spot light. And those in the know can continue to DL like we have been for the last 10, 15 years.
  
  

  21.9.2006 08:48 #30

• wlf

  EDONK lives-viva EDONK ! - 'in the know : ) '

  23.9.2006 12:23 #31

• pstamer

  Hello all. I just wanna say Shareaza and Emule all the way baby. Love you guys.

  23.9.2006 13:29 #32

• ZippyDSM

  Bigperm88
  I'd rather not...I remember the days of FTP on dail up long long long ago...you never could have anything to great....the FTP would dissapper in the middle of downloading something huge....
  uhg....
  

  
  
  I have a brain...I think......
  I fuzzy braind mew =0_o=
  FIGHT THE M.A.F.I.A.A.
  "Music And Film Industry Association of America.."
  "Hollywood the 4kids of comic moives."

  24.9.2006 16:16 #33

• strcruzer

  Since they (the RIAA) started this crap I have not purchased any music CD's or DL'd any MP3's from any pay service, This is how I protest their crap tactics. I'll keep my $$ and they can go broke.
  
  I'll listen to music on the radio if I need a fix, otherwise I'll continue to listen to my collection of CD's I bought (which doesn't have copy protection BTW) prior. Anyway most of the new stuff sux anyway, they are just recycling or peddling what they want us to buy.
  
  They need me more than I need them.
  
  Starcruiser

  25.9.2006 08:47 #34

• ZippyDSM

  strcruzer
  Just dont tell anyone ....if you say you do the same with DVDs muisc and games they treat you like some sort of natzi 0-o

  25.9.2006 09:19 #35