The Internet has enabled us to do things we ’d never dreamed possible just a twosome of ten ago . In addition to e - mail , online auctions and access to the largest entropy database ever compiled , we can now trade music and movies with masses all around the world . This capacity is calledfile sharing . One of the most famous file - sharing services , Napster , became enormously popular in the late ' XC . Millions of people exchanged music over its host until right of first publication - infringement lawsuits shut it down ( it has since recreated itself as a earnings - per - download service ) .
Just a few days later , a more widely - sweeping Indian file - sharing web , Kazaa ( or KaZaA ) come forth . Kazaa enable its users to share not only music , but also pic , televisionshows and other types of digital info . Kazaa soon became the most pop Indian file - sharing avail on the Internet , with millions of drug user at the same time sharing content .
But with unlimited file sharing comes the giving interrogation : Should user be granted nonsensitive – and devoid – memory access to copyrighted flick , music and game ? The recording and film industry proceed to reply with a resounding " No . " After being sued for right of first publication infringement by the Recording Industry Association of America ( RIAA ) , the original Napster was force to shut down ; Kazaa now finds itself in similar hot water . So far , it has weather the effectual tempest .
In this clause , we ’ll come up out on the nose how Kazaa works , hear how its users share data point across the net and see why Kazaa has thus far survived the legal battle .
What is Kazaa?
Kazaa was uprise in March 2001 by programmersNiklas ZennströmandJanus Friisof the Dutch caller Consumer Empowerment . It was project as a sort of open assembly where users could share all types of files – pic , Christian Bible , games , etc . Users could circularize both content they had created themselves and depicted object they had purchased or download elsewhere . The latter would eventually get Kazaa into problem , just as it had Napster . In 2001 , after American music labels and motion-picture show studio launched a right of first publication infringement suit against Kazaa , Zennström and Friis shut down their operation and transfer ownership toSharman Networks Limited , a caller free-base in the South Pacific .
But today , despite its legal reversal , Kazaa remains a flourish business with millions of users worldwide . When users download Kazaa software , they can :
Kazaa File Types
To search for a Indian file on Kazaa , drug user typewrite the name of the file they want into a box and hit search .
Then they select the single file they want to download from a tilt of results . They can select from two single file types :
Kazaa is innocent to its users . The ship’s company get money by running on-line ads , propagate limited " Rights Managed " content ( gold - icon files ) and selling its products and services .
How Does Kazaa Work?
Kazaa uses peer - to - match ( P2P ) filing cabinet sharing – the same type of technology that made Napster famed .
But unlike Napster , which distribute message via a centralised server , Kazaa practice adecentralized system . Kazaa user contact one another directly online to share content . Kazaa ’s decentralization is one of the independent reasons why it has weathered the legal firestorm this long .
To transfer data between user ( peer - to - peer ) , Kazaa uses theFastTrackprotocol . FastTrack is a so - ring " second coevals " P2P protocol . The system divides Kazaa users into two mathematical group : supernodesandordinary lymph gland . Supernodes are potent computers with fast web connections , high bandwidth and quick processing capableness ( computer possessor do n’t know that their computing machine have been destine as supernodes ) . The roughly 30,000 supernodes on Kazaa act a muckle like traffic hub , processing data requests from the slower ordinary nodes . Each supernode may serve between 60 and 150 ordinary node at one clip .
When a user establish the Kazaa software on his or hercomputer , it comes coded with a lean of supernodes . Every fourth dimension the user found the Kazaa program , his or her computerregisters with the primal serverand then chooses from a list of presently fighting supernodes . When the computer sends out a request for files the user wants to download or upload , the request is funnel through the supernode . The supernode communicates with other supernodes , which in bout link to veritable lymph gland that in bit connect to even more unconstipated nodes , to fulfill the request until theTime to Live of 7runs out – this intend that the lookup asking will prolong seven levels into the electronic connection before it stop propagating . Once the right single file has been settle , it is shift directly from the file owner to the suppliant using HTTP ( HyperText Transfer Protocol ) – it does n’t have to go through a supernode .
Is Kazaa Legal?
Like the former version of Napster , Kazaa exploiter can change copyrighted cloth without paying royalties to the owners . While Kazaa take to be " totally legal , " there are those who discord : The free - to - download low-spirited files are controlled by Kazaa users and include copyright content . Movie studios andrecord labelshave register several infringement causa not only against Kazaa , but also againstindividual Kazaa users .
In 2001 , Kazaa was sued by a Dutch euphony companionship and was place to stop its user from transgress right of first publication or face steep penalties . In response to the decision , Kazaa transferred possession to seaward company , primarily Sharman Networks Limited on the island of Vanuatu . But in 2002 , a Dutch appeals court overturned the previous judging , ruling that Kazaa was not creditworthy for the actions of its substance abuser ( seeafterdawn.com - Dutch solicitation court : KaZaA is legal ) . Its decentralized construction think of that Kazaa is not postulate in the actual file sharing – all searches and downloads take space between actual substance abuser computers . Later that class , Kazaa was sued again , this time in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America ( RIAA ) and the Motion Picture Association ( MPAA ) . As of February 2005 , the decision in that courting is still pending .
Kazaa ’s argument that its decentralized setup free it from indebtedness was given a rise in 2003 , when a U.S. District Court judge ruled thatGroksterandMorpheus , two other file - sharing Robert William Service , were not liable for their drug user ' activity .
That leave only the users themselves as liable for sharing copyrighted textile . In 2003 , the Recording Industry Association of American ( RIAA ) began targeting individual user with lawsuits . The RIAA did n’t go after just anyone – they zero in in on people who had made thousands of copyright Indian file uncommitted to other users . These repetition file sharers were identified by their IP address and hit with lawsuits wander from $ 750 to $ 150,000 . In October 2004 , the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry ( IFPI ) likewise launch suit against several hundred users of Kazaa and two other Indian file - sharing services .
Privacy and Security Issues
Whenever you allow other users to perpetrate data from your computer , or you displume information from another exploiter ’s computer , you ’re reach the door toviruses , seclusion invasions and a host of other certificate issues .
Kazaa has often been accused of instal spyware and adware on its users ' machine to supervise their front throughout the WWW and to download ads to their computer without their knowledge . The previous version of the software came bundled with spyware and adware computer code , and although they were optional , removing these addition during the download cognitive process was complicated . Today the company asseverate that it does not collect or use personal selective information about its users . Copycat versions of Kazaa , such as Kazaagold and Kazaa Lite Tools K++ , claim that their software is innocent from adware and spyware .
To prevent downloading of sensitive entropy , Kazaa apprize its users to go down up a special " My Shared Files " booklet on their desktop . Then , when masses examine to download a file cabinet , they can only have admission to the shared folder , rather than being allowed to cheat freely across the individual’shard driveway . Kazaa also comes equip with virus - protection software that weeds out some of the bugs float around cyberspace .
For more information on Kazaa , file communion and related topics , check out the links on the next varlet .
