Grokster Downloading Service Shuts Down

[RedEarth]

WASHINGTON - Grokster Ltd., a leading developer of Internet file-sharing software popular for stealing songs and movies online, agreed Monday to shut down operations to settle a landmark piracy case filed by Hollywood and the music industry, The Associated Press has learned.



The surprise settlement permanently bans Grokster from participating directly or indirectly in the theft of copyrighted files and requires the company to stop giving away its software, according to people familiar with the agreement. They spoke on condition of anonymity because settlement details were to be disclosed to a federal judge later in the day in Los Angeles.

Grokster's Web site was changed to display a message that its file-sharing service was illegal and no longer available. "There are legal services for downloading music and movies," the message said. "This service is not one of them."

The Supreme Court ruled in June the entertainment industry can file piracy lawsuits against technology companies caught encouraging customers to steal music and movies over the Internet. The decision, which gave a green light for the federal case in Los Angeles, significantly weakened lawsuit protections for companies that had blamed illegal behavior on their own customers rather than the technology that made it possible.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051107/ap_on_hi_te/downloading_music;_ylt=ArcvXq.ZKTlIgHAst.C1Gyms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

[merwin]

1. "popular for stealing songs and movies online"

Very interesting wording

[fshrink]

2. Yeah. My lungs are also popular for stealing oxygen. nt

[William Seger]

5. Weird analogy...

... putting songs and movies in the same category as the waste product of plants. I'm betting you don't produce any songs or movies, do ya?

[merwin]

9. I don't want to get into this fight again...

But if you want to support musicians, don't buy their CD's. Go to their concerts. Bands get 100% of concert profits, in comparison with the < 1% profits from CD sales.

http://www.negativland.com/albini.html

We get angry here about oil companies ripping us off and raking in billions of dollars while screwing the little guy, but somehow a record company doing the exact same thing is OK?

[thebigidea]

11. "copyright infringement is your best entertainment value."

gotta love Negativland. They are spot on with all these fair use issues.

[William Seger]

12. "Exact same thing?"

Even if I overlook the fact that I don't need music to get to work or movies to avoid freezing to death this winter, and that those bands voluntarily signed contracts with those recording companies instead of giving music away on the internet to promote their concerts, your argument would seem to be that since oil companies rip off the little guy, it's okay to fill up and drive off?

I hardly ever buy CDs, anyway, because I think they're too expensive. The part I'm having a problem with is the idea that that gives me the right to download the music, anyway.

Okay, so you guys don't like RIAA -- so what's your rationalzation for stealing movies?

[merwin]

21. If I filled up and drove off, the gas station would be losing the money.

Not the oil companies, which are the ones who are screwing everyone.

99% of the time, the artists don't know what they're getting into. They're promised the world and that they will make a ton of money, etc, and unless they become popular outside of their own city (which is slim to none considering all of the competition), they end up owing the record companies money. Good deal, huh? :-)

The RIAA and MPAA operate in much the same fashion, in terms of how they screw the consumers... except the MPAA goes about it by trying to limit 'fair use'. Let's say I buy a DVD of my favorite movie from Blockbuster for $29.99... I have the right to make a backup of it and shelve the original so when (not if) my kid destroys the disc, I don't have to pay another $29.99. However, it is now illegal to do that, due to lobbyists pushing bills to make it illegal. So I can potentially be arrested because I don't like the idea of paying twice for something I own?

[Zodiak]

17. Wow...

just...wow.

I am now SOOO happy that I did not sign with the A&R guy (actually a hot , but older gal) back in 1991 because it all sounded fishy to me, and I was in college. Her story was too good (promise the moon) and I wasn't convinced that they would deliver to a bunch of Texas yokel nimrods who happened to play well.

My band kicked me out the next day, got a crappy bass player that "looked" better than me, and never got another offer. They broke up less than 6 months later.

Good times.

[thebigidea]

10. I do, and I could care less about some schmoes trading stuff online

free publicity... and I don't buy the RIAA line that each download is somehow a lost sale.

[William Seger]

13. So, where I can download one of your movies?

(I'll assume you meant you couldn't care less.) If you want to produce music and give it away on the internet to promote your band, that's your right. But how, precisely, does that give you the right to steal stuff from people who don't share your enlightened attitude?

[thebigidea]

14. bittorrent sites, kaaza, my own website.

I'm not stealing anything, I just don't get worked up about people copying my stuff.

the only thing I download are old, out of print things or british television. I tend to like packaging, liner notes, and throwing a few bucks to artists I respect.

Sure, it was kind of annoying seeing bootleg dvds of my first feature for sale on ebay, but only because I was tremendously embarassed about it and wished I used a pseudonym. Bootlegging is a fact of life, you can't shame it out of existence. The only people who buy that kind of stuff are crazy fans anyway, and crazy fans are good PR.

[William Seger]

16. You didn't answer my question

"But how, precisely, does that give you the right to steal stuff from people who don't share your enlightened attitude?"

[thebigidea]

19. strawman - I didn't claim the right to steal stuff.

just that its a fact of life and its pointless to get worked up about it.

You might want to have this argument with someone who is actually using this argument.

[Deja Q]

20. Uh-huh. Gun stores should shut down because only murderers and rapists use

their services too.

Same damn analogy.

Except killing is nowhere near as hurtful as taking a song...

Do some research and you'll find how the artists are treated by the record labels. Damn straight they'd rather become independent... and don't forget how the RIAA takes a nickel off of every blank CD-R sold too.

The world is full of thieves.

As usual, capitalism is a good thing - until you realize you've been capitalized.

[William Seger]

24. You win...

... the prize for the most bizarre post in this thread. :P

So tell me, how were artists treated by Grokster?

[Solon]

25. Not the point...

p2p networks is just a technology and program that allows people to share files, THATS it. Those files could be anything, from commercial movies, or your own homemade videos, the latest best selling book or even the Canterbury Tales. The problem is that both the RIAA and MPAA seem to want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, these organizations seem to have no concept of fair use or that some things are truly Public Domain. Think about it like this, this post I"m writing right now, I could add a few more paragraphs, not even bother putting the (c) at the bottom and you can't copy it for the rest of my lifetime plus 70 years, unless I release the copyright to public domain or you hand over a license fee(50 bucks per BTW :)). That means that this writing has to be untouched by anyone outside of general comment or satire(law may change in time) until about the year 2130-2140+(I'm hoping to be a centenarian :)). That seems insane to me, and I'm a writer.

[YDogg]

6. Think Yahoo has an ax to grind?

That wording was interesting. Not that I really am in favor of what Grokster facilitated, but come on now.

[slay]

8. Sounds like this article was written, produced, and directed by the RIAA

Stealing??? From who? Corporate fat cats who control what reaches our ears and what doesn't? Sorry RIAA, you'll get no sympathy from me, especially when reporters so BLATANTLY tow the company line. :mad:

[bornagainhuman]

3. Lets shut down the internet its popular for stealing peoples ideas

[catmandu57]

4. One by one

I had some computer problems earlier this year, I lost my music files and while my drive was messed up I couldn't download. When I got everything sorted out I tried to find winmx to start rebuilding, I didn't know they had shut down.
Winmx, Grokster, who's next?

[AlCzervik]

7. Am i the only one thats never heard of Grokster? Do i use and don't even

know it?

[leQ]

15. ever heard of napster?

they're the ones who first got the bullets from RIAA. it's a filesharing program, p2p if you will.

[Chovexani]

27. Grokster was just a shit knockoff of Kazaa

Using the same lame-ass network, FastTrack...or as the P2P community likes to call it, FastCrap.

Though, along with Kazaa it was good for one thing: keeping morons off the good networks. :P

[Endangered Specie]

18. Don't worry, there are plenty of other programs out there

:)

[merwin]

23. For every service they shut down, two more start up

[Massacure]

22. The genie is out of the bottle.

There is nothing that can be done about it anymore.

[Chovexani]

26. Grokster sucked anyway

No one will miss it, no one with more than two brain cells to run together is still using FastCrap.