by Pete Capra 14:50, 21 Oct 2004 (EST)
Up until recently, Kazaa was the most used P2P file sharing program on the internet. Designed and developed by two Scandinavians Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, Kazaa was released in March 2001 by Dutch company Consumer Empowerment (CE). This happened at the height of Napster’s success, so competition was tough by Kazaa and its network FastTrack slowly became recognized in the file-sharing community, mostly through the client Morpheus.
In late 2001, CE were taken to court by a Dutch publishing company and ordered to take preventative steps to stop copyright infringement. CE reacted by selling Kazaa to an Australian company – Sharman Networks. In March 2002, the court decision was reversed – the court ruled that Kazaa was not responsible for user’s actions. However, this was just the beginning of a long line of lawsuits. Later that year, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued several Kazaa users for sharing copyrighted files, which were settled with small payments. In turn, Sharman Networks filed a lawsuit against RIAA stating that unauthorised client software such as Kazaa Lite had been used to track down file sharers.
FastTrack had been chosen as the network for the client software Morpheus after switching from their web-based client. After Morpheus’ owners StreamCast did not pay services using FastTrack, Kazaa creators blocked out all Morpheus users in an automatic update of the software. This move left many file sharers stranded, so many Morpheus users transferred to Kazaa, despite StreamCast’s warnings against Kazaa because they used Spyware and Adware. A StreamCast spokesperson stated that “we believe it to have the ability to access your computer at will and change registry settings.�
It turned out that StreamCast’s allegations of Kazaa using Spyware were correct. The installation file not only installed the Kazaa Media Desktop, but several other programs which monitored computer user’s web surfing habits and sent them to third party companies. Kazaa actions were not illegal (there was a clause in the terms and conditions that the user agreed unconsciously to on installation), but were highly unethical – Kazaa users were outraged.
Soon after the discovery of the Spyware and Adware, cloned programs of the Kazaa client began to appear such as Kazaa Lite (K-Lite) and Diet K. These programs boasted all the features of the official Kazaa client (as well as some others) without the Spyware and Adware. This meant that users could still access the FastTrack network and other Kazaa user’s files without the inconvenience and privacy violation. Sharman Networks said in a press release that Kazaa and FastTrack would be updated so that these unofficial clients would be unable to access the network, but the update has yet to come. Currently over 50% of the users accessing the FastTrack do so through these unofficial clients.
Kazaa (2004) “About Ad-Supported Kazaa� retrieved October 16, 2004 from http://www.kazaa.com/us/index.htm
Wikipedia (2004) “Kazaa� retrieved October 1, 2004 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazaa
ZeroPaid (2004) “Kazaa� retrieved October 9, 2004 from http://www.zeropaid.com/kazaa/
Sharman Networks (2004) “Peer-to-Peer software ruled legal in the US� retrieved October 19, 2004 from http://www.sharmannetworks.com/content/view/full/301
Hewlett Packard Labs (2003) “Usability and privacy: a study of Kazaa P2P file-sharing� retrieved October 18, 2004 from http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/idl/papers/kazaa/KazaaUsability.pdf
News.Com (2004) “Kazaa loses P2P crown� retrieved October 18, 2004 from http://news.com.com/Kazaa+loses+P2P+crown/2100-1038_3-5406278.html
P2P File Sharing Networks
Napster
Gnutella
Morpheus
BearShare
Pete Capra 11:33, 21 Oct 2004 (EST)
