Kazaa goes legit and pays for it dearly

P2P (peer to peer) networking will never be the same again. Like Napster, Kazaa has buckled under the onslaught of RIAA lawyers and legal fees.

Australian owned Sharman Networks has agreed to pay a hefty $115 million. In return it has given its scout’s honour to “go legal”, but so did Grokster, Scour and others, and nothing much has come of that.

Apparently the RIAA claims that each song transmitted via P2P networks is worth up to $150,000 (that’s called fuzzy math folks). Here is some of what they’ve made from P2P settlements so far:

If you’ve been reading me for very long you should know my position on all this nonsense. Is anyone else up for boycotting the RIAA?

Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis (the brains behind Kazaa as well as VoIP upstart Skype that was recently sold to eBay for $2.6 billion) are pursuing a new venture that is focused on internet-based video and TV distribution.

Ouch! That’s nice coin for starting a new venture and letting someone else take the heat. It puts a whole new meaning on the term ‘take the money and run’ don’t you think.