Ares P2P filesharing software

A landmark ruling by U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood, for the Southern District of NY, could see filesharing service LimeWire being sued for millions of dollars. The decision was made against the service’s founder Mark Gorton, and claimed that he “committed copyright infringement, engaged in unfair competition, and induced copyright infringement. The RIAA are claiming the maximum damages for the copyright infringement: $150,000 per work. Of course there are millions of downloads taking place every day on filesharing services, so the final bill could well run into the millions.

This may be a move that puts the whole filesharing industry into turmoil. Other services like Ares may be adversely affected by the ruling, and it may be that such services make quick moves to distance themselves from what may be now potentially illegal activity. Will the courts – and the RIAA – go after other services like Ares, or will they be satisfied with the possibly fatal blow they have struck here?

It is interesting that RIAA have now made a breakthrough against what they see as the source of the problem. For so many years they went after the users and got nowhere. They’ve changed tack and have made that long awaited move against one of the industry’s major players.

Google will soon be in the courts again… this time of their own volition. The Search Engine giant is going back to court for a final resolution after a case against it (by Blue Destiny) was dropped in March.

Blue Destiny were claiming that in linking to material on filesharing sites like Rapidshare, Mininova and The Pirate Bay, Google was in itself infringing many copyrights. Google’s argument was that no one could expect it to play international policeman over what is on the web. In so many ways, we have to agree.

This is besides the arguments that filesharing may or may not be legal; that is a different discussion for a different day.

The move by Google to restart the argument may surprise some, but this must be an ideal time for it to go on the offensive; arguably Blue Destiny must have considered their changes slim if they pulled out of the case so convincingly. Either way, Google will be looking for some closure on this issue which has been hanging over them like a sword of Damocles for such a long time.

It’s a story worth following, in any case, so stay tuned and let’s see what the courts have to say.

The flooding disaster in Nashville has clearly struck a chord with some of the country’s most prominent – and richest – musicians.

Musicians and stars including Vince Gill hosted the telethon, and Keith Urban, Alison Krauss and Darius Rucker joined Swift in giving to a charity cause that promises to help the residents of Nashville. Many, like Swift, have personal connections with the City. In this case, Swift was at her house when the flooding started. Many of her personal friends and family have been directly hit by the disaster.

Many other musicians have reported losing homes and precious equipment and instruments to the floods. It is no wonder that those more fortunate have seen fit to send over some of their hard-earned money to help. And good for them.

Swift’s donation over half a million US dollars occurred at a NCC commissioned telethon.

Whilst the action is, of course, utterly commendable, we must just question why these super-stars with their billions of dollars don’t help more often. Nashville’s flooding is, let’s be honest, on the lower end of the scale of recent international disasters. But if such a relatively minor event can garner such impressive support, why can’t the huge tragedies such as Haiti get more of these generous people on board?

My son wanted to download a software program from a website which lets you get millions of files free. You use their software, and it is also free. So I am really wondering whether this is legal or illegal. The subject of music file sharing is touchy and I really am not sure what I should let him do on my computer, I do not want any trouble. What is Ares? It is the name of the software program which you use to share files, and can be called peer to peer, or file sharing. The media is usually music, games, or movies, and I am really confused about it all.

File sharing and the ramifications

Okay, you want to download a file sharing software program. It will allow you to share your files with others, and them with you. You have to be sure that what you are sharing or getting is not copyrighted. Of course most will be, and though the software program is not illegal, everyone had doubts as to whether the sharing of music files is a rip off to the artist or label companies. What is Ares? Well that is one of many music and media utilities which will help you search and find the music you want. As for the rest of it, you be the judge.