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Report: Broadband ISP Cox Also Throttling Peer-to-Peer Traffic

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 20, 2007 - 11:04am.

San Francisco - Following reports that Comcast, the nation's second-largest broadband provider, is using technology to inhibit some users from sharing files using peer-to-peer technology on its network, comes news that fellow broadband provider Cox is employing similar tactics with its customers, The Register reported.

tags: P2P | Comcast | eDonkey | Cox | Robb Topolski |

eDonkey File-Sharing Network Servers Raided in Germany

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 21, 2007 - 9:58am.

London - German authorities this week conducted raids to shut down seven servers utilized by the eDonkey peer-to-peer file-sharing network, following similar recent actions in the Netherlands and France. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) helped win German court injunctions against the DonkeyServer group in Germany. The group said its actions reduced the number of eDonkey users worldwide "by more than a million, knocking an estimated third of users off the network." Developers of the eDonkey file-sharing application last year agreed to cease distribution of the program and pay $30 million to the Recording Industry Association of America to ward off copyright litigation.

tags: Law | P2P | Piracy | Music | RIAA | Copyright | IFPI | eDonkey |

eDonkey File-Sharing Service to Shut Down, Pay Labels $30 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 12, 2006 - 6:51pm.
Los Angeles - MetaMachine, operator of the eDonkey peer-to-peer file-sharing service, has agreed to pay $30 million to avoid copyright infringement litigation from the major record labels, the Associated Press reported. New York-based MetaMachine also agreed to immediately cease distribution of its eDonkey, eDonkey 2000, Overnet and other file-sharing applications, as well as take steps to prevent current eDonkey users from trading files with one another. Since the 2005 landmark Supreme Court decision that found providers of file-sharing software liable for copyright infringement committed by users, the recording industry has threatened litigation against the remaining popular free file-sharing networks. To date, BearShare, i2Hub, WinMX and Grokster have reached settlements with the record labels and shut down their peer-to-peer services. Holdouts include Soulseek and LimeWire, which was served a copyright infringement lawsuit by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) last month.
tags: Law | Settlements | Tech | P2P | Music | Copyright | Closings | File-Sharing | eDonkey |

German Authorities to Prosecute 3,500 Music File-Swappers

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 23, 2006 - 7:33pm.
Cologne, Germany - German authorities have launched criminal proceedings against 3,500 music file-swappers on the eDonkey peer-to-peer network, according to a report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a record label trade group.
tags: Law | P2P | Piracy | Music | Germany | Law Enforcement | IFPI | eDonkey |

MPAA: Swiss, Belgian Authorities Shutter Large eDonkey Server

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 22, 2006 - 4:18am.
Los Angeles - One of the largest hubs on the eDonkey peer-to-peer file-sharing network has been shut down, in a joint operation carried out by police and prosecutors in Belgium and Switzerland, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said on Wednesday. The "Razorback2" network hosted over 170 million files, and counted an average of 1.3 million mostly European simultaneous users. According to the MPAA, Swiss authorities arrested the site's operator, while Belgian authorities shut down the site's servers in Brussels. In addition to movies, music, games and software, the MPAA said the Razorback2 network offered "child pornography, bomb-making instructions and terrorist training videos." "This is a major victory in our fight to cut off the supply of illegal materials being circulated on the Internet via peer-to-peer networks," said MPAA chairman and CEO Dan Glickman. "By shaving the illegal traffic of copyrighted works facilitated by Razorback2, we are depleting other illegal networks of their ability to supply Internet pirates with copyrighted works which is a positive step in our international effort to fight piracy." The MPAA claims that since November 2004, it has worked with authorities to close down all of the major eDonkey servers in the U.S. and Europe.
tags: MPAA | eDonkey | Server | Swiss | Belgian | Authoritie |

Peer-to-Peer Software Firm eDonkey Announces Plans to Go Legit

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 29, 2005 - 4:14am.
Washington - eDonkey, currently one of the most-popular file-sharing networks in the world, announced its intention at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on file-sharing Wednesday to convert to a legal for-pay service, in the wake of new litigation threats from the recording industry, InformationWeek reported. "Because we cannot afford to fight a lawsuit -- even one we think we would win -- we have instead prepared to convert eDonkey's user base to an online content retailer operating in a 'closed' P2P environment," said Sam Yagan, the president of eDonkey distributor MetaMachine, during his testimony at the hearing. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) recently sent cease-and-desist letters to a number of file-sharing firms, emboldened by the recent Supreme Court ruling that found P2P software providers liable for copyright infringement. The letters have also been credited with shutting down the distribution site of WinMX, another popular file-sharing service.
tags: eDonkey | Peer-to-Peer Software | Go Legit |

MPAA Says German eDonkey File-Sharing Hub Shut Down

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 7, 2005 - 5:27am.
Los Angeles -- The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) recently announced that a highly-trafficked German website that provided links to downloads on the eDonkey peer-to-peer file-sharing network has been shut down, the result of lawsuits filed against sites where copyrighted TV shows are being traded for free. The eDonkey site shutdown comes in the wake of a new study from U.K.-based CacheLogic, which found that eDonkey has recently overtaken BitTorrent as the most popular peer-to-peer file-sharing application worldwide. The MPAA said that a German regional court granted an injunction against the site -- The Realworld, which offered 900 TV shows; its operator, German resident Wulf Rajek; and the Swiss Web hosting firm that housed The Realworld. The defendants face copyright infringement damage claims and up to five years in prison under German criminal law.
tags: MPAA | eDonkey | German | Shut Down | File-Sharing Hub |

MPAA Targets eDonkey, BitTorrent P2P File-Sharing Server Operators

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 14, 2004 - 2:52am.
Los Angeles -- The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which represents the interests of Hollywood movie studios, plans to file lawsuits against operators of servers in the U.S. and Europe that aid in the sharing of movie files on peer-to-peer networks including BitTorrent and eDonkey. The studios' lawsuits will target over 100 operators of computers that "serve as traffic cops connecting those who want to steal movies with those who have a copy and want to provide it," said John Malcolm, director of worldwide antipiracy operations for the MPAA. Already, seven servers have been seized by French authorities, who are still seeking their operator, a French government representative told CNET News.com. Recently, the eDonkey file-sharing service recorded more average monthly users than the popular Kazaa network.
tags: P2P | MPAA | BitTorrent | eDonkey | File-Sharing Server Operators |

Report: File-Swappers on eDonkey Outnumbered Kazaa Users in September

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 12, 2004 - 3:23am.
Los Gatos, Calif. -- For the first time, users of the Kazaa file-sharing application were outnumbered in September by users of the rival eDonkey service, which can more easily handle larger files like video, according to a report from Los Gatos, Calif.-based BayTSP, a peer-to-peer tracking firm. During September, eDonkey averaged 2.54 million users per day, while Kazaa averaged 2.48 million users. Kazaa's position as the most popular file-sharing service has waned over the past year, since the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) first began suing its users in a very public anti-piracy campaign.
tags: Reports | eDonkey | Users | File-Swappers | Kazaa | Outnumbered |

Study: eDonkey File-Sharing Network Outpacing Kazaa in Europe, Israel

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 15, 2003 - 4:13am.
Waterloo, Ontario -- While the FastTrack peer-to-peer network, which the popular Kazaa and Grokster file-sharing programs use, is the most popular among North American users, a new study from Canadian network equipment manufacturer Sandvine shows that other services like eDonkey 2000 are more popular in Europe and elsewhere. The study found that Kazaa generates more than 76% of all P2P traffic in the U.S. and Canada, and maintains 59% of traffic in the U.K., but in both Germany and Israel the eDonkey file-sharing application accounts for 52% of P2P traffic. The study also found that use of Gnutella-based file-sharing applications had declined considerably from its tally of P2P network traffic. "If a wildly popular application like Gnutella can emerge and all but disappear in less than three years, it's certainly possible that FastTrack, too, could one day be headed for history's technology dustbin," said Sandvine's Chris Colman.
tags: Europe | eDonkey | Israel | Study | Kazaa | File-Sharing Network |