For a long time, LimeWire has been one of the most popular clients to connect to the decentralised P2P network Gnutella. It started off consisting of 3rd party adware ad-ons, but later on removed this 3rd party software to leave no more than its own internal ad-banner. Until now, LimeWire left it open to the user to what to share and just showed the odd nag screen against the sharing of copyrighted material and more recently the downloading of material without a license.
After the Supreme Court ruling against Grokster, the RIAA sent out cease and desist letters to the companies behind various P2P networks, which demands the company to prevent its P2P users from sharing copyrighted material or face legal action. Just recently, WinMX closed its doors and the company behind eDonkey closed its New York office.
Well, Limewire seems to be one that is following the RIAA's demand (assuming it received the letter) and has split its development into two branches. The first ensures that every file that a user shares has a license, otherwise the file will not be shared out. The 2nd allows work to be shared without a license through the use of a Creative Commons license in order to verify that the user has permission to distribute the content. Once the development is complete, these will later be integrated to the main LimeWire software. Thanks to DamnedIfIknow for using our news submit to let us know about the following news:
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However time passed and this seemingly imminent decree never came to fruition. LimeWire development plodded on, yet the LimeWire staff remained silent on much of the behind the scenes activity. Then, on September 13, 2005, the RIAA sent several letters to various P2P developers. The letter, which LimeWire is believed to have been a recipient of, demands that P2P developers prevent their users from infringing on copyrights or face litigation. It now appears that LimeWire might bow to this demand. Approximately 3 to 5 days ago, LimeWire developers began working on two new branches, cc_reverify_interval-branch and cc-publish-branch. The code in the first branch works to verify that every file shared has a license. If this is not the case, the file will not be shared. The second branch is for publishing one's own work without a license. According to the release notes, individuals can attach a Creative Commons license if the work is either their own or have permission to distribute the work. If an individual shares an unlicensed MP3 file, the LimeWire client will display the following message and prevent its distribution: "LimeWire can't determine if one or more files have been published under a suitable license. These files will not be shared." According to a LimeWire beta tester who informed Slyck of this news, this feature is nearing completion. Once completed, developers will simply wait for the signal to integrate these branches with the main branch, providing Mark Gorton, CEO of LimeWire, decides to go through with this. |
As the network LimeWire uses is decentralised, there is actually no way to stop users from sharing copyrighted content over it besides getting them to upgrade their client, unlike in the days of the defunct Napster where control was done at the server. This likely means that once LimeWire takes this anti-piracy technology on, chances are that users are not going to update their client. On the other hand, it is not clear if this technology prevents users of the new version from downloading content without a license.
DamnedIfIknow: Damn RIAA, they should crawl back under the rock they came out from.
Feel free to discuss about LimeWire and other file sharing clients and networks on our Music Download, Peer to Peer (P2P) & Legal Issues forum.
Source: Slyck News
