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The Porn Of Napster 257

Posted by timothy from the internet's-driving-force dept.
Thomas M Hughes writes "Well, Napster is breathing its last breath. Filing for chapter 7 and slowly dying. Who better than to try and bring it back to life than a porn company? The article claims that the company wishes to use the Napster name to distribute free pornography across the Internet."
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The Porn Of Napster More

The Porn Of Napster

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  • Free? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Of course, it will probably all be copyrighted porn, so they'll get sued by all the pornographers now too.

    Getting sued by the RIAA vs. getting sued by pornographers... which is worst?
    • They wont be sued by pornographers, the RIAA will just spawn the PAA in an attempt to get even more money from file swapping services.

    • Re:Free? (Score:3, Funny)

      by marko123 ( 131635 )
      I want to be punished by pornographers, if it means being tied to a post and tickled with feathers by big-breasted blondes. Compare this with being bent over by the RIAA, and having all the CD's I copied for fair use jammed blunt-ways up my butt.
    • Isn't this already a problem with usenet? Say, for instance, scans of various magazines, or copies of "legitimate" porn sites .jpgs get distributed on usenet (as happens regularly...so I've been told :) ). These images are all copyrighted. So what difference does p2p make, if it's all just file sharing, anyway?

      • Re:Free? (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Qrlx ( 258924 )
        Isn't this already a problem with usenet?

        Problem? Yeah, there's lots of porn on usenet. That's a problem?

    • Re:Free? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Vireo ( 190514 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @01:00AM (#4259778)
      Read the article. Private wants to use its own copyrighted material as a base.

      [i]Private Media claims to own the largest library of adult-oriented content in the world, with global copyrights to the content.

      "Along with Hollywood and the recording industry, we have become increasingly concerned about the level of copyright infringement inherent in the free peer-to-peer file swapping services," Prast said.[/i]

  • Why do that want Napster... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by EvanED ( 569694 ) <evaned@NOspAM.gmail.com> on Saturday September 14, 2002 @11:54PM (#4259545)
    "'Along with Hollywood and the recording industry, we have become increasingly concerned about the level of copyright infringement inherent in the free peer-to-peer file swapping services,' Prast said."

    If this is true, why would they want to use a brand name that was almost entirely devoted to copyright violation?
    • Because there's no such thing as bad publicity? Even your mother knows what Napster is (was).
      • Because there's no such thing as bad publicity? Even your mother knows what Napster is (was).

        They are making a stock offer for the assets of a company in chapter 7. I can't recall a case in which a bankrupcy court accepted a stock offer for assets of a chapter 7 company. On top of that the stock is not listed so the it is impossible to judge what value the creditors would receive.

        Bascially this is a pure publicity play. There is virtually no chance that the offer would be accepted.

        I don't quite see the pay off, if napster was public and on the verge then an offer of a buyout could cause the stock to rise, allowing someone to dump stock or options at a profit. But with napster in its current situation that can't be the motive. I don't see what publicity for an anonymous holding company does either.

        This could simply be a brainless exec on an ego trip. Or they could be planning to go public themselves.

    • Why would [Private Media] want to use a brand name that was almost entirely devoted to copyright violation?

      Probably for the same reason Bertelsman got involved: brand recognition.

      Alternate theory: PM doesn't want Napster, they want press.

      ps. I think I sampled the statement better yesterday [slashdot.org] -- who's Prast again? :p

    • If this is true, why would they want to use a brand name that was almost entirely devoted to copyright violation?

      There were plenty of people who didn't know they were violating copyrights and simply thought of napster was synonymous with "extremely easy to find exactly what you are looking for"

      On a side note, i have recieved lots of porn spam in my day, and i have recieved some from this "Napster Porn". I didn't dare try downloading the software for fear of some automatic dialer (not to mention that the software doesn't run on macs anyway, and i don't understand russian...)

      So this is nothing new. they have been using the name "Napster Porn" for over a year without actually owning the name Napster. here is a mail [redhat.com] that showed up on the redhat mailing list in august of 2001. now either this guy that is tring to buy napster is the same guy, or he saw the russian guys and got inspired.
    • because they can leverage an infrastructure for distribution thats pre-existing. and for the most part - they see anyone who has napster to be a potential client. and as the other poster pointed out napster is practically a household band name now.

      how better to bring fine hot college sluts the want your DICK NOW!! to the masses.

  • New meaning... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Eric_Cartman_South_P ( 594330 ) on Saturday September 14, 2002 @11:57PM (#4259554)
    P2P. So what exactly does the P stand for again? It ain't "peer" anymore, thats for sure!

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Napster is dead (Score:2, Insightful)

      by messiertom ( 590151 )

      Ironically, I find that Napster was the only P2P that worked reliably for me.

      With the new ones, I can only connect to a few search servers, and even when I do, half of what I search for ends up just being pr0n with "kraftwerk" in its filename.

  • I wonder if they are responsible for Pornster? [pornster.com]

  • i wonder (Score:2, Funny)

    by mrpuffypants ( 444598 )
    what the logo will look like now....

    • Re:i wonder (Score:2, Funny)

      by GigsVT ( 208848 )
      what the logo will look like now....

      It will have a little pussy on it.
    • > i wonder what the logo will look like now....

      "Ded pussy?" (eeeewwww!)

      "Wet kitty?" (much nicer!)

      I just hope the graphics are better than that tombstone the Napster guys did.

      If you'd known about this during trading hours on the 12th (and sold your stock on the 13th!) it would have been a nice trade, but IMHO a look at PRVT's one-year [infospace.com] stock chart still says "Fucked Company".

      There's plenty of ways to blow a wad of cash in this market. I'd think hard before going long here.

  • Napster for p0rn should be interesting. Regulated p0rn distribution. Wait, that sounds like an oxymoron. :-) None the less though, I wonder what will the new Napster look like...

  • It's still copyright infringement... unless.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by tweakt ( 325224 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @12:01AM (#4259574) Homepage
    The porn is free...

    ...and more importantly, open-source :)

  • Won't Last Long (Score:1, Redundant)

    by idiotnot ( 302133 )
    P2P with centralized servers with lists of content, whether pr0n or music, will inevitably end up trading "intellectual property." This could range from pics that are owned by a magazine (ever hit the alt.binaries groups and see the # of posts looking for a recent playboy spread), or the 31337 k1dd13z learning that if you append .mpeg to the end of your Metallica tune, it'll look just like pr0n on the servers. Then the RIAA comes after them again.

    As for the videos that could possibly be traded.....Is there such thing as an MPPAA? :-D
  • as it prepared to go into Chapter 7 liquidation

    a.k.a the "money shot"

  • Interesting...Private Media's Stock Soared (Score:3, Interesting)

    by chip2000 ( 513030 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @12:04AM (#4259584) Homepage
    Anyone notice that in the article it mentions a 2.41 stock value and the quote at the foot of the article mentions a ~22% gain (.55)? It's no surprise I suppose considering that the porn industry is a multi-billion dollar one, but still kind of astounding. Another half million for Napster if they accept..
    • Hard to see where the gain comes from. Their stock has underpeformed [yahoo.com] the NASDAQ and the S&P by something on the order of 45% in the past year and is off nearly 70% from a year ago.

      I think there's a lot of money changing hands in the porn industry, but I can't believe that outside of a few niche players (Playboy, Hustler, Penthouse, some video companies) that there's this massive, platinum-plated industry out there. I think there's a lot of places just breaking even, and an awful lot of organized crime skimming going on.

  • Man, it's like the editors of Slashdot are posting this story as bait for every troll to come out and post a goatse.cx link.

    Or the hordes of people posting the old adage of "All advances in technology are driving by a desire for easier access to pornography."

    So be warned, any link that a post in this thread links to could conceivably redirect you to a dreaded goatse.cx link. Click on things at your own risk.
    • So be warned, any link that a post in this thread links to could conceivably redirect you to a dreaded goatse.cx link.

      If you are logged in, there is a setting you can adjust in preferences under the comments tab. If you scroll all the way down, You'll see this radio button:

      Display Link Domains? (shows the actual domain of any link in brackets)

      If you choose "Always show link domains", you always will.

  • More Stories (Score:3, Informative)

    by leibnizme ( 264472 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @12:07AM (#4259600)
    Additional coverage:

    CNN [cnn.com]

    SiliconValley [siliconvalley.com]

    Yahoo [yahoo.com]

  • Wow! (Score:5, Funny)

    by istartedi ( 132515 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @12:15AM (#4259634) Journal

    Free porn? Wow! This is just what the Internet needs! coughUSENETcough.

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @12:23AM (#4259660)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • They'll probably have to change the name to "Lapster".

  • Fate... (Score:2, Funny)

    by BlindSpot ( 512363 )
    Napster anagrams to "panters", so it must be fate!

    ("Pantser" works too...)

  • Couple important bits (Score:5, Informative)

    by Roadmaster ( 96317 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @12:29AM (#4259679) Homepage Journal
    A lot of people seem to have missed these two quotes from the article:

    "Along with Hollywood and the recording industry, we have become increasingly concerned about the level of copyright infringement inherent in the free peer-to-peer file swapping services,"

    and

    "Private Media claims to own the largest library of adult-oriented content in the world, with global copyrights to the content."

    Assuming they stick to charging users for access to their network and making sure only their content gets "shared", it doesn't look like they'll be shut down by the RIAA, MPAA or sued into the ground for trading content without the adequate rights. Plus, it's not like the MPAA would be too concerned by porn flicks being traded on the service...

    • Re:Couple important bits (Score:5, Funny)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @12:56AM (#4259761) Journal
      "Private Media claims to own the largest library of adult-oriented content in the world, with global copyrights to the content."

      Somebody at the copyright office has a really cool job.
  • Simply for the reason that the top exec's at Napster want to keep their names "clean". If they sell out to a porn company, regardless of their (lack of) future involvement, it will limit their opportunities in the future. It's really sad that this is how it works, but true nonetheless.

    Selling WOULD be the best business decision, Napster is a dead name otherwise -- and this is a way to bring in some cash (to pay creditors, employees, whatever). Too bad the CEO's wont soil their names to prevent bankrupcy...
    • ultimately, the owners/lenders/board members get to decide whom, what, and how much of Napster gets sold, and what the price is. Its the money people that have the final say, not the CEO, unless he is a majority owner. Those people are all for recovering as much as their losses as possible, and they are not going to be too worried about sullying the image of Napster, 'cuz its dead.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Well, considering that they only have to deal with the hosting fees of the central servers, paying them for entrance onto the network (something similar to adultcheck or something) means that they will probably very low expenses. All the bandwidth for the data would be provided by the members, and they would just have to seed out the high quality stuff, and let it trickle down to the rest of the users.

      Could make it a lot easier than trying to download porn movies off of kazaa or something like that.

    • Duh (Score:3, Informative)

      by autopr0n ( 534291 )
      So one guy/gal buys the "top quality" stuff and then trades it to the rest of the Pornster users for free. How, exactly, does one make money this way?

      Bit rate and file size limitations....

      Was it really that hard to figure out?

      They can also lock out specific files by hash code or something, so unless people downloaded and then reencoded their stuff, it wouldn't be an issue. Of course, people would do this, but that's what the bitrate/filesize limits are for.
  • Think about it for a second. There definitely are copyright issues, and it seems though there always has been and always will be newsgroups for getting this stuff (as well as music, movies, and all sorts of warez). But if this company can make a business model that increases sales for the pr0n they market (however they plan to do it), maybe the RIAA and MPAA will wake up and realize they can use this technology instead of trying to kill it off.

    Though, even if this new "Napster" is successful, I doubt **AA organizations will try to get the consumers of their products what they want. They seem to be kinda dense in that respect.
  • Check this box to filter out anything with Ron Jeremy or goatse.

    It can be tough mentioning goatse and staying on topic you know.
  • I can forsee trouble ahead here. There's actually no such thing as public domain porn.

    The penalties for illegal transfer of copyrighted porn are harsh, and in my experience, such litigation events are open-close-pay-lots-of-money to them affairs

  • I signed up for this service that promised to let me grab porn from other members' machines.

    However, it keeps coming back with nothing but their MS-Word documents.

  • This is silly (Score:2, Insightful)

    by gedanken ( 24390 )
    Why pay for the naptser brand name? Yeah free publicity... but seriously if their service is at all usuable it will spread by word of mouth about as fast as word of a porn only napster would.

  • May prove Napster model (Score:5, Insightful)

    by fermion ( 181285 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @01:18AM (#4259824) Homepage Journal
    It seems to me that this may validate Napster type services as a valid marketing tool. Napster was unable to do this with musics because the RIAA is unwilling to compete in the open market place. They, like sports teams, MS, and other monopolists, know that is often more efficient to purchase lawmakers than actually compete for market share.

    OTOH, the porn industry, which may find it more difficult find (openly) sympathetic legislators, and has a much lower cost of entry, tends to compete vigorously. The porn industry does look for innovative methods to gain market share, to distinguish themselves from the other 600 business card size ads in Hustler. Sometimes this competition leads to Spam, other times it leads to extensive free content in newsgroups, or aggressively priced introductory offers.

    Which means that Private Media Group may actually have the experience, motivation, and cash to make Napster work. This may provide a way to differentiate their product form their competitors. If they are successfull, it will be harder to argue that Napster's only use is for pirating, and further increase evidence that content monopolies are primarily concerned about loss of control.

    • Yooo-hooo, where are your morals people? What's all this BS about business models and market share? We're talking about porn. It's the next best thing to slavery that's still legal. We don't want to promote it as freedom or one of the good things free markets can do for you.

      No one wants to be a whore! It's vile exploitation and porn is it's ultimate extension. People pose for those pictures when they have run out of hope and self respect. Think about this hapening to your mother, sister or daughter.

      The internet was not designed for this. It was designed to share computing resources and information, not to sell crap. Those who look at this as a good thing smear all the other causes they are associated with.

      • Not all people do it because they've run out of hope. Some of the big pornstars are millionaires - they could stop anytime they wanted to. Some people like being pornstars.
      • I wish I had mod points. You really deserve a +5, Funny.
        Keep up the good work >:)
    • Huh ? How does RIAA objecting to the distribution of copyrighted material for free consitute unwillingness to "compete in the open market place" ? If (say) Richard Stallman raises an objection to (say) commercial distribution sans source of (say) GPL'ed software like GNU Emacs, does this constitute unwillingness to compete in the open market place ?
      And how would this 'prove' the Napster model anyways ? This company's model is COMPLETELY different than Napsters - they plan to make available content owned and copyrighted by THEMSELVES. Napster was built around making trading available of content owned and copyrighted BY SOMEONE ELSE. BIG difference.

  • So, as I predicted... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Mandoric ( 55703 ) <mandoric@sover.net> on Sunday September 15, 2002 @01:49AM (#4259885) Homepage
    ... They've finally created Fapster. =D

    (reference to A!THL^WSexy Losers [sexylosers.com]...)
  • snatchster anyone?

    "napster bad!!!"
    (very bad, in a naughty kind of way, apparently)

  • Lameness (Score:5, Interesting)

    by autopr0n ( 534291 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @02:18AM (#4259963) Homepage Journal
    There are already a bunch of services claming to bhe the "napster of porn", supposedly trading passwords to porn sites. but in actually they're probably prearranged deals. Give out a 'psudopassword' and let people resubscribe for a higher rate.

    This would probably end up being the same kind of thing. I know this is a bit hypocritical to say, but the online porn world is full of some of the sleaziest people out there. I mean, how much spam is for porn sites? These people will use any deceptive marketing tactics they can to make money, or as they would say '$$'. I remember reading some supposed how-to guide for starting up a porn site, and it explained how to scam search engines. The acted like there was nothing wrong with doing that at all. And of course, these are the people who invented the popup window.

    The most discussing thing, though, is the way they'll put copy up on their sites that totally degrades women, you know, "This fucking bitch wants the cock so bad," etc. Its just, well as I said, discussing.

    I suppose I could theorize that the people who end up going into porn are already willing to throw off morality for profit, (but don't want the legal exposure of, say, being a drug kingpin)

    But anyway, if these guys succeed in buying napster, it'll be a sad day for napster. Not that napster was really that great, but these guys probably don't have any intention of even letting people trade files, but rather simply using the napster trademark some kind of supped-up pay site. (and yeah, the stuff won't be free.)

    One of the things I'd like to do, if autopr0n [autopr0n.com] ever became a big thing, is try to create a place where people can find pornography without all the ridiculous bullshit, Spam, etc. I think porno can be profitable without being incredibly demeaning to the customers and the women who appear in it.

    • Re:Lameness (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Rufus211 ( 221883 )
      not to knock your site, I love it cuz it usually has the best links, but I've found that http://pichunter.com/ usually has a *lot* more links. True they're not quite as good, but the quantity balances out. Or just have the best of both worlds and check both =)

      • heh (Score:4, Interesting)

        by autopr0n ( 534291 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @04:18AM (#4260176) Homepage Journal
        Heh, well I don't really want to spend my whole life, or even really that much time looking at random porn on the internet.

        One of the reasons that autopr0n doesn't have as many links as some of the other TGPs is that rather then just a simple 5-7 word description, we actually go a bit more in-depth usually. Also, mods need to mark down the properties the image falls under (like Asian, lesbian, etc) so people can search for stuff.

        It takes me like an hour or two to post just 32 links, which is what I try to go for when I'm on the ball.

        (btw, if you're wondering what I mean by "we", I'm talking about myself and the other volunteer moderators for the site. There are like 30 or something, but only about 7 or 8 really active ones.)

        Also, I do try to have a life. I'd like for AP to have a higher volume, though. If you'd like to help out you could sign up as a mod (just email me). And if you're just interested in links, you can look through the thousands that I have sitting in the queue :P

    • Re:Lameness (Score:3, Insightful)

      by dr00g911 ( 531736 )
      Not to knock you (or your site, which has an Asian slant *almost* surpassing my own ;)...

      I think you're missing the point.

      We've already established that pr0n is one of the few ways to make a dependable buck on the net. So I'm taking that as granted.

      (Bear with me...)

      We've already established that Napster's BRAND is capable of pulling in publicity absolutely freaking everywhere... much to the chagrin of those of us who prefered our l337 undergr0und lynx, well... underground.

      What is being purchased and marketed here is a brand. Plain and simple. It may be a way for a corp. to think that they're "legitimizing" the business by buying the brand name, but that's it.

      They're marketing to the same people who have 4 different versions of Gator, Morpheus and other ad/spy/scum/ware loaded because they don't know any better.

      Sheep, all of them. Controlled by the US media and news outlets... (which were both the windfall and downfall of P2P and the "real" Napster, if you guys remember your recent history...)

      These are the same people who use Win because "everyone does," and don't know how to do a bloody thing besides surf the Web and play solitare.

      It's also the largest market on the Web. In the US at least.

      Read up on your PT Barnum quotes.

      I think it's a brilliant marketing move, but a sad epitaph for a service that started out so promisingly, but made the mainstream far before its time.

      --dr00gy
      • Well, yeah. People are stupid, and it's easy to take there money. That dosn't mean that you should or that it's some how a good idea to do it.

        The other problem is that it creates a situation where everyone tries to pander to the lowest common denominator. Just look at the sorry-ass state of 'portals' before google came along. Google just gave us what we wanted and no bullshit, and now they serve up 97% of the links out there. (google is kind of my inspiration for ap. I figure the 'net pr0n world is so full of crap that if I just provide a non-pandering, bullshit-light site most people would prefer it)

        But yeah, those other BS portals still make money, but they are still bullshit and they waste peoples time and they contribute nothing to the world at all.

        Will this new napster make money? yeah, probably. Porn always makes money :P. Will it contribute to the world? Will it actually let people find good pr0n quickly? I really doubt it. Instead they'll be mislead, by more 'controlled media' to buy crap from this company.
  • The Private Media Group's ticker symbol says it all: PRVT.

    (I stole this post from Fuckedcompany [fuckedcompany.com].)

  • Full text of press release (Score:5, Informative)

    by jesser ( 77961 ) on Sunday September 15, 2002 @03:26AM (#4260118) Homepage Journal
    I downloaded this in PDF format by following links from www.prvt.com [prvt.com]. Italics as in original, bold mine.

    Private Media Group Announces Offer for Napster Trademark and napster.com URL

    Barcelona, September 12th, 2002/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Private Media Group Inc. (Nasdaq: PRVT) a worldwide leader in premium quality adult entertainment products, services and content, today announced that it has made an offer to Napster, Inc. to acquire the Napster trademark and napster.com domain name for one million shares of Private common stock.

    Private's offer, if accepted by Napster, is subject to customary terms and conditions, including approval by the court having jurisdiction over Napster, Inc.'s bankruptcy proceeding.

    With the Napster trademark, Private plans to create a unique peer-to-peer (P2P) environment that would offer the tens of millions of adult consumers worldwide the opportunity to share adult content for free as well as access top quality adult content at a reasonable price.

    Napster is one of the most recognized names in P2P file-swapping services that allow users to trade and download files. At its height, Napster had 84 million users of its software and was the fastest-growing software application ever monitored by online tracking services.

    Charles Prast, President and CEO of Private Media Group stated: "Along with Hollywood and the recording industry, we have become increasingly concerned about the level of copyright infringement inherent in free peer-to-peer file swapping services. It is estimated that up to 35% of all content downloaded from P2P sites is of an adult nature, which raises significant issues both in terms of copyright infringement and lack of controls of access by minors. It is an industry that presently has over 150 million users.

    Mr. Prast continued: "At Private, we feel that there has been an excess of spamming, credit card fraud, abuse of consumer data, and price gouging among many on-line providers of adult content. We intend to use the strength of the Napster trademark to build a community for adults to share content provided by Private and our industry partners.

    "Private has high standards, both from a regulatory and financial perspective with a 37 year track record of legal compliance. Private owns the largest library of quality adult content in the world, global rights to all our content, and strong technological know-how. All of these factors make Private uniquely suited to manage a viable and legal P2P network for consumers of adult content", said Mr. Prast.

    Private Media Group is a leading global adult entertainment company that distributes its content over a wide range of media platforms, including narrow and broadband Internet, DVD and video, magazines, broadcasting and wireless technologies. Private owns the worldwide rights to the largest archive of high quality adult content in the world, which it distributes digitally worldwide and physically in over 35 countries.

    This release contains, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which reflect the Company's current judgments of those issues. However, because those statements are forward-looking and apply to future events, they are subject to such risks and uncertainties, which could lead to results materially different than anticipated by the Company.

    For further information about Private Media Group, please contact in Barcelona, Spain:

    PRIVATE MEDIA GROUP
    André F. Ribeiro
    Phone: +34 679 983 772
    E-mail: andre@private.com
    URL: www.prvt.com

    GRUPO ALBIÓN
    Alejandra Moore Mayorga
    Phone: +34 91 531 23 88
    Mobile: +34 670 799 33
    E-mail: amoore@grupoalbion.com

    Please visit our Download Zone, where you can find relevant information relating to this announcement in PDF format: http://www.tresddb.com/gadz/private.html [tresddb.com].

  • If this catches on, you could soon find porn all over the Internet.

  • Oh yeah, great plan. Centralized download management, virtually no verification of the legality of the content. It would be easier just to drop all your computer equipment off at the local FBI [fbi.gov] office.

  • freedom (Score:2, Funny)

    by racerx509 ( 204322 )
    porn wants to be free
  • We've all heard the adage on /. that a standard won't be adopted unless it's an order of magnitude improvement over the existing system.

    Ever since the original Napster crashed and burned in mid-2000, several other P2P filesharing systems came up. Among college students (a fairly heavy market for porn), KaZaA is definitely the drug of choice.

    Systems like KaZaA already have porn on them. *I* am certainly not one to download two programs to do what one already does well.

    Napster fought the good fight, but now it's gone. It's lost all its mind-share.

    R.I.P., Napster...
  • I was at the Lapdance 2000 party put on at the Sundance festival by CRAPTV, the producers of such great movies as "Cannibal, the Musical," and "Orgasmo."

    Matt Stone and Trey Parker had invited my friend Mark Pesce (the inventor of VRML) to host a panel discussion entitled "What is this whole Internet thing, anyway?"

    To illustrate the huge force that peer-to-peer networks would become within the media industry, Mark jokingly announced the IPO of his new company, Pornster (I came up with the logo, the P in Pornster was a penis with a cockring through it ;-) He used the idea of peer-to-peer porn sharing to illustrate the huge threat/opportunity the industry was about to face.

    This was at Sundance, mind you, where every third person is someone big in the entertainment industry. Amazing how clueless most of these media folks were, even in 2000. The presentation really made folks look at their roles as 'gatekeepers of entertainment.'

    What place have the gatekeepers, when all the walls are gone?

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