Kazaa foes fight piracy
Two former adversaries who squared off in a bitter legal battle over Kazaa ? Michael Speck and Kevin Bermeister - have joined forces to invent new technology that they say will eliminate the illegal sharing of pirated content over peer-to-peer networks.
The pair have developed an application designed to run on existing internet service provider networks that enables the "instantaneous conversion of infringing activity into legitimate content transactions".
When an ISP's customers use a file sharing program such as LimeWire to, for example, search for a pirated music track, they are instead presented with a list of search results containing legitimate versions of the song and are given the opportunity to buy it instantly. The legal version of the file is delivered by the ISP, which receives a cut of the revenue, and the charge is added to the customer's monthly internet bill.
Speck said the company had already completed technical trials and would launch a live trial with an as-yet-unnamed Australian ISP within a month. There was also keen interest from ISPs, law enforcement agencies and film and music publishers in the US and Europe.
Two former adversaries who squared off in a bitter legal battle over Kazaa ? Michael Speck and Kevin Bermeister - have joined forces to invent new technology that they say will eliminate the illegal sharing of pirated content over peer-to-peer networks.
The pair have developed an application designed to run on existing internet service provider networks that enables the "instantaneous conversion of infringing activity into legitimate content transactions".
When an ISP's customers use a file sharing program such as LimeWire to, for example, search for a pirated music track, they are instead presented with a list of search results containing legitimate versions of the song and are given the opportunity to buy it instantly. The legal version of the file is delivered by the ISP, which receives a cut of the revenue, and the charge is added to the customer's monthly internet bill.
Speck said the company had already completed technical trials and would launch a live trial with an as-yet-unnamed Australian ISP within a month. There was also keen interest from ISPs, law enforcement agencies and film and music publishers in the US and Europe.
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