Sci/Tech
Australian Court Rules P2P Operator Kazaa Illegal
By Wire Services
Sep 5, 2005, 16:21

The Federal Court of Australia on Monday ruled that Kazaa is an illegitimate business that deliberately profited from mass-scale copyright infringement, a ruling welcomed by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA).

The judgment, coming 10 weeks to the day after the unanimous United States Supreme Court ruling against the file-swapping operator Grokster, is one of the most significant court actions against Internet piracy since the shutdown of the original Napster in 2001 and helps to lay down the law for the new generation of unauthorised peer-to-peer operators.

CRIA President Graham Henderson said, "Today's court decision is a wake-up call to Canadians who continue to engage in illegitimate downloading and should also send an important message to Parliamentarians in Ottawa debating new copyright rules."

Kazaa is one of the largest and most widely known Internet piracy operations, with millions of users worldwide. Today's judgement against Kazaa follows successful actions around the world against operators of servers hosting other leading peer-to-peer services, including eDonkey, BitTorrent and Direct Connect.

Henderson added, "Illegitimate file-swapping services are on the run worldwide. The message to Internet pirates is simple: 'You can run but you can't hide. Go legitimate or face the consequences," even though Canada continues to have the highest per capita rate of unauthorized file-swapping in the world and has been reported as having the second highest level of broadband penetration in the world.

Legislation introduced by the Canadian federal government this spring and scheduled for debate this fall will have an effect on this, notes Henderson, but only if the law that finally makes it onto the books is robust.

Some legal experts who have reviewed the draft Canadian legislation have indicated that provisions intended to shield Internet service producers (ISPs) and Internet search engines from liability are so broadly drafted that they may unintentionally immunize file-swapping services such as Kazaa and Grokster from liability in Canada which Henderson warns will, "run the danger of perpetuating our status as a piracy haven, a modern day digital Barbary Coast, unless Parliamentarians step in."

The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) promotes the interests of Canadian record companies and their partners, the artists. CRIA represents more than 95 per cent of all records produced and sold in Canada.


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