| Block RIAA file share jail plans |
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Or as the Gaim summary says, it's a "GTK2-based instant messenger application. It supports multiple protocols via modules, including AIM, ICQ, Yahoo!, MSN, Jabber, IRC, Napster, Gadu-Gadu and Zephyr. It has many common features found in other clients, as well as many other unique features. Gaim goes under a GNU General Public License (GPL) and works on all 32-bit MS Windows (95/98/NT/2000/XP), All BSD Platforms (FreeBSD/NetBSD/OpenBSD/Apple Mac OS X), All POSIX (Linux/BSD/UNIX-like OSes) and Linux operating systems. Now, Downhill Battle sees IM-integrated Gaim as a way to stop US p2p file sharers from landing in prison. They want to raise $500 to kick off a Gaim-Integrated Filesharing project. The money would be used to hire a skilled lead developer. "We're in a race to get this done," says a project web page. "Think about how you felt when they started suing people. Now think how you're going to feel when they send somebody to jail. We have to stop this from happening." We wondered if that meant Downhill Battle believes GAIM-Integrated Filesharing V1.0 will mean the end of 'traditional' file sharing. "No," DHB's Holmes Wilson told p2pnet, going on, "We totally see this as fitting into an ecosystem of other programs. It's a close distinction, but here's how I'd put it: the target audience for our client will be people who don't understand the technology too well. "If somebody understands the technology and the legal risk, and wants to use bittorrent or ed2k, then we've given them another tool to protect themselves. If somebody just wants a nice toy to get music with and isn't keeping up on the RIAA's machinations in Congress, we want them to switch to this client or something like MUTE or Ants that protects them. The thing that upset and infuriated us most when we were working on the Defense Fund were the number of people who had *no idea* the lawsuits were coming and got caught completely by surprise. Just in simple moral terms, we want to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen again except with jail sentences this time. And that non-savvy user is exactly who we'll be gearing the client to, in terms of both the UI design and the promotion. When this thing comes out, it's not just going to be some mathy project on a Sourceforge page; we're going to promote it in ways that will reach lots of kids, moms, and dads. Because they're the ones who run the biggest risk of being blindsided. "Another way to look at it is: the best thing about filesharing networks is being able to share everything you've got with friends. Lots of people aren't sharing on networks like FT and gnutella anymore. A client like this will give people a way to share altruistically, but be safe at the same time. "Another important point is that the protocol and the code will be open. So anybody who wants to can incorporate the code into their client. And any open source client can just use our code. "And there's another important way that other clients fit in. "If a law passes that creates penalties for sharing 1,000 copyrighted works in the US, every filesharing developer should make their new version cap shared items at 1,000 for US users by default, they should release that version as a *strongly recommended* update. It wouldn't affect the health of the networks in any huge way, and it would make sure that anybody who isn't paying attention to the law is partially covered. Of course, that wouldn't protect people from the risk of sharing pre-released stuff, and that's where secure clients like ours fit in." Nice one. ===================
See:-
DHB site - GAIM-Integrated Filesharing, Downhill Battle, November 12, 2004 Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites          Add your comment
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