Kazaa changes its End User License Agreement to block RIAA


This news item has been lingering in our news submits for some time now since we were not sure if the news was really accurate. A few days ago DrJ used our news submit to tell us that Kazaa has changed its End User License Agreement (EULA) to block organizations like the RIAA from collecting personal information on its users:

Sharman Networks has changed its EULA to block third parties from abusing its network. In the new EULA the following is found:

2 What you can't do under this Licence You agree not to use the Software to:

2.11 Monitor traffic or make search requests in order to accumulate information about individual users;[..]
2.14 Collect or store personal data about other users.

Also found in the idemnification part is found that:

12.1 YOU AGREE TO INDENTIFY, HOLD HARMLESS AND DEFEND SHARMAN, AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, OFFICERS, AGENTS, CO-BRANDERS OR OTHER PARTNERS, AND EMPLOYEES, AT YOUR EXPENSE, AGAINST ANY AND ALL THIRD PARTY CLAIMS OR DEMANDS, ACTIONS, PROCEEDINGS AND SUITS AND ALL RELATED LIABILITIES, DAMAGES, SETTLEMENTS, PENALTIES, FINES COSTS AND EXPENSES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, REASONABLE ATTORNEY"S FEES AND OTHER DISPUTE RESOLUTION EXPENSES) INCURRED BY SHARMAN, DUE TO OR ARISING OUT OF DATA YOU SUBMIT, POST TO, TRANSMIT OR COMMUNICATE THROUGH THE SOFTWARE, YOUR USE OR MISUSE OF THE SOFTWARE, YOUR CONNECTION TO OTHER USERS, YOUR VIOLATION OF THE LICENSE, OR YOUR VIOLATION OF ANY RIGHTS OF ANOTHER

Meaning that when you get sued, you're also obligated to help stop further lawsuits from happening against Sharman Networks. Hopefully this will stop the bogus files from entering the Kazaa network and users can once again safely download the correct files without any errors.

It of course remains to be seen if changing the EULA
has any effect on future lawsuits. There are always older Kazaa versions
available to which this new EULA does not apply and I think a judge would simply
reject the changed EULA in case of a lawsuit. On the other hand it's
interesting to see that Sharman is trying to block organizations such as the
RIAA.

Source: CD Freaks

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