Various P2P apps going down today?

I saw an interesting little note in the Digital Music News newsletter this morning:

WinMX Goes Dark, Signs Point to RIAA Response

Popular P2P file-sharing application WinMX appears to have gone dark,
potentially a response to a recent RIAA cease-and-desist letter. Details are
very light at press time, though the WinMX site is unreachable at this
point, and calls to the office of controlling company Frontcode Technologies
have so far gone unanswered. Meanwhile, sources point to a possible
relocation by the company from Toronto, Canada to Port Vila, Vanuatu, which
mirrors an earlier location shift by Kazaa. The winmx.com domain is
currently registered by a "WinMX Technology Associates," located at "PO Box
50, Port Vila, VU."

Elsewhere, a Reuters report noted that the New York headquarters of eDonkey
"appeared to be closed," though so far that site remains live, at least at
the time of publication. The company, owned by software development firm
MetaMachine, has recently been ranked as the top P2P search engine. The
company also received a cease-and-desist from the RIAA, which contained
threats of heavy penalties for continuing its service. If either firm
officially closed its doors, the RIAA is likely to make an announcement on
the matter.

I don't use either of these services, but if the RIAA has managed to shut down two of the largest file-sharing apps, that is very big news indeed.

Technorati Tags: music p2p RIAA WinMX eDonkey Kazaa technology

Posted by Mark Allen on Thursday, September 22, 2005 Comments (0)