The EFF is calling upon the government to protect file-sharing and impose compulsory royalties to compensate rights holders.

SHARE WARS: OF FILE-SHARING AND SUIT-FILING

RIAA's Litigation Threats Trigger More Reaction, New P2P Anonymity, Press Releases
The war of words over online music continues to escalate, with no road map to peace in sight. But there are Palestinians in the mix.

Yep, Earthstation 5, a P2P application with an identity-concealing "stealth mode" has been rolled out—from Palestine. Promising to protect users’ anonymity from the "Evil Empire," its developers claim the app has been downloaded over 16.7 million times in its first 90 hours of existence.

"File-sharers worldwide are learning that our Earthstation 5 software hides the identities of its users so they can now freely share their music and movies online without the threat of a lawsuit from the RIAA," said company prez Ras Kabir. "Our motto is share... share... share to your heart's content because no one can stop you." We can only assume that some maniacal cackling followed.

Reports that RIAA prexy Cary Sherman will ask Ariel Sharon to carry out bombing raids against the software maker could not be confirmed as of this posting.

But there was more fallout today from the industry organization’s announcement that it planned to sue individual file-sharers:

"We do not condone copyright infringement, but we will not sit idly by and watch the recording industry trample on the rights and privacy of individuals," scoffed Michael Weiss, CEO of StreamCast Networks, developer of popular P2P application Morpheus. "While the recording industry calls file-sharers pirates, we have a much stronger name for them—VOTERS—and we will do whatever it takes to help them have their voices heard."

Interesting point, Michael. We here at HITS have "voted" to take your car.

StreamCast, which will roll out Morpheus 3.2 with—you guessed it—new privacy features next week, announced its support for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) initiative, "Let the Music Play." The campaign calls upon the government to protect file-sharing and impose compulsory royalties to compensate rights holders.

In a recent radio interview, RIAA SVP Matt Oppenheim dismissed the effort as an attempt to "socialize" music.

Meanwhile, even some legit services are under legal assault. RealNetworks and its acquisition Listen.com were served with papers by tech company Friskit, which alleges both Real’s RealOne Player Plus and Listen’s Rhapsody service violate its patents.

"We’ve spent years and millions of dollars developing and patenting the most convenient ways for consumers to find, personalize and play streaming media over networks," complained Friskit Chairman/CEO George Aposporos. "Most other patents cover pieces of solutions—not what’s fundamental to the beginning of a new industry."

"It is generally Listen.com's policy not to comment on lawsuits," responded Listen spokesperson Matt Graves. "This appears to be the last gasp of a struggling company, commandeering the press in an amateur effort to extort an unwarranted settlement. We will have no further comment."

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