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Code from Kazaa is resurrected in nefarious scheme to block pirated content

Who remembers Kazaa? It was only a few years ago that Kazaa and Napster were running the Internet with peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Then things got crazy as the RIAA and others cracked down on file sharing networks, and life changed for all of us. Now the same people who helped create and share pirated content, are working on software that will block it, and the way it will be done might get you upset and thinking this has bullshit written all over it.

Global File Registry which is a subsidiary of Kazaa, has new software that is using Kazaa code that was part of the original file sharing network, to filter user search results from seeing pirated content. The basic concept is that someone can search for content (music, movies) on the Internet, let’s say using Google. Google may return a lot of results, and some may point you to pirated content. The new software will block those results, and then replace them with legitimate content.

The way that Global File Registry will be able to do this, and mind you they are already doing it in several countries already, is by working with Internet Service Providers (ISPs). When someone is using the Internet, they have to have a company provide the Internet to them - this could be a Verizon or a Comcast. By working with the ISPs, who will license this software, the ISPs will be the one filtering and replacing this content. You will never have a chance of getting pirated content, because it will be replaced before you have a chance to see it.

It Gets Worse
The new software is two-fold. It will not only block content, but it will replace search advertisements with their own. Let’s say we are using Google again to search, and a Google ad comes up on the search results page. Say goodbye, as that ad would be replaced with the ISP’s ad, in turn making their pockets fatter. Nice huh.

With the new software, you won’t have to worry about laws like SOPA because it’s being done through the ISP’s. Sounds familiar, right? Is it me or are ISP’s becoming too powerful? Not to mention this goes against everything that is Network Neutrality.

In an interview with Global File Registry, they break it down like this

[…] a database of Truenames identifying information is combined with the existing content-filtering capability of firewalls to intercept links to infringing content being returned in search results. The software, which is embedded in the ISP’s firewall, then modifies the data to remove and replace the link. ISPs already have equipment that can identify ‘bad data’, We’re only asking the machinery that operates the Internet to do one more thing after it identifies bad data—and that is to convert it to a positive response.