James Delahunty
6 Dec 2005 11:22
The Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) has accused Kazaa owner, Sharman Networks, of ignoring a court order to implement filters to block copyright infringement by December 5th. ARIA's Stephen Peach said that Kazaa completely ignored an order to implement a non-optional 3,000 word filter to its software (that was provided by the ARIA). However, Sharman Networks doesn't see it that way; the company believes it has gone one step further than filtering.
Yesterday Australian Internet users were redirected from the Kazaa homepage to a page explaining that they cannot use the Kazaa software anymore. "We have put in measures more stringent than the keyword filter - we have shut it down," a Sharman spokeswoman said. "We were told that if we comply with the court order by December we would get our appeal heard in February so that is what we've done."
Mr Peach doesn't see blocking Australian users as complying with the order however. "They cannot be trusted to even take the simplest steps towards complying with the court's orders and again have shown they intend to do nothing about the illegal activities occurring on a massive scale on their system," he said. "They were given a chance to do the right thing and they've ruined it."
Peach also went on to say that downloading copyrighted material was still possible on the network regardless of what Sharman has done. "It is apparent that they never had any intention of applying filters, the bare minimum they needed to continue to operate the system," he said. "Their response is an insult to the court, the public and all artists whose work is being illegally traded on the system."
If Sharman is found to have ignored the court order, then it could lead to the shut down of Kazaa completely. Sharman's spokeswoman said the filtering required by Australian record companies was inconsistent with advice provided by their own experts and impossible to enforce.
Source:
The Age