Posted by Russ Lance on 09/26/05 16:32

Here is a brief from betanews: Doesn't look like WinMX will be up anytime
soon.

UPDATED The RIAA's latest attempt at curbing illegal peer-to-peer downloads
appears to be working. On September 15, the group sent out cease and desist
letters to seven undisclosed P2P networks. As of Thursday, it had appeared
that at least two of them have now closed their doors.

According to reports, WinMX has ceased operations, and its Web site,
winmx.com, has gone offline. The offices of another file sharing service,
eDonkey, were reported closed by Reuters, although its Web site remained
online Thursday and sources say the company known as MetaMachine simply
moved locations.


The same letters were also sent to other P2P operators such as BearShare and
Limewire, however both networks appeared to be operational Thursday morning.

The RIAA said at the time of the cease and desist letters that after the
Grokster ruling companies had "ample opportunity to do the right thing," and
continued to operate "at their own risk."

Since modern P2P networks often have no central location, it is near
impossible to completely them shut down. But in some P2P structures, by
removing a node that assists in indexing what is on the network, usually
called a "supernode," download capabilities can be severely crippled.

Industry insiders expect additional networks to shut their doors to shield
themselves from legal action. Others may opt to attempt to go legal, as
Grokster is apparently doing.

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Mashboxx was in talks with
the embattled P2P network over a possible purchase, a move that could be
seen as an attempt to keep the service alive.

Mashboxx CEO Wayne Rosso declined to confirm to BetaNews whether or not
talks with Grokster had indeed taken place. "But we at Mashboxx are very
happy to private label our application to any company that meets our
criteria," Rosso acknowledged.

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