"Kazaa Media Desktop" (once colloquially capitalized as ""KaZaA"", but now usually left as ""Kazaa"") is a peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol; it is commonly used to exchange mp3 music files and is (as of 2003) the most popular application for this purpose. It is also increasingly being used to exchange movie files. It can be downloaded free and is financed by the spyware and adware installed as default with the main product. Kazaa and the FastTrack protocol are the brainchild of the Scandinavians Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis and were introduced in March 2001 by their Dutch company Consumer Empowerment. Today the rights to the Kazaa application are held by Sharman Networks.

Currently, the program is released only for the Windows operating system. It can be run on Linux, Mac OS X and other operating systems with emulation software like WINE and Virtual PC.

Advanced users may prefer the open source program giFT from www.giftproject.org for stability, flexibility, and performance reasons.

Kazaa is very similar to the programs Morpheus and Grokster, which use(d) the same protocol.

This decentralized peer-to-peer technology is similar to that of Gnutella.

Many consider Kazaa to be superior to other file sharing programs because of its file selection and fast transfer speeds. Some counter this by pointing to Kazaa's use of spyware and adware. While it is the application with the largest installed userbase, it is worth noting that the Kazaa client installs spyware onto the user's machine. Whether this offsets the features and benefits of the client software is a decision for each individual user to make, and reading about spyware and the related security and privacy risks can only help potential users make the best choice based upon their own needs. The "Altnet" software, also installed by default, is another problem as it allocates users' bandwidth to serve advertisements to others. However, Altnet also has a service which lets users download encrypted songs for money, thus providing a legal alternative to the exchanging of copyrighted music.

Kazaa uses a "participation level" system which rewards participants who share much material with fast downloads.

Variations of the program

In August 2003, "Kazaa Plus" was introduced by Sharman Networks; this is a paid-for premium version that doesn't have spyware and adware. "Kazaa Gold" is another commercial version, but it is not an acutal product of Sharman Networks, but a attempt by scammers to cash in on the Kazaa name. There are also "clean" versions of Kazaa clients which are basically verisons of the Kazaa Media Desktop with the Altnet spyware removed by programmers on the Internet, two such programs are "DietK" and "Clean KMD".

"Kazaa Lite" (also called "K-Lite") is a modified version of the Kazaa Media Desktop application which excludes adware and spyware and provides slightly extended functionality; it can be downloaded free. It connects to the same FastTrack network and thus allows to exchange files with all Kazaa users. It was created by third party programmers by modifying the binary of the original Kazaa application. Included with recent versions of Kazaa Lite is "K++", a memory patcher that removes search limit restrictions, multisource limits, and sets one's "participation level" to the maximum of 1000.

Sharman Networks considers K-Lite to be a copyright violation. On August 11, 2003, they sent a letter to Google requesting that all links to the application be removed from their database.

During December 2003 Sharman emailed the owners of all sites hosting a copy of K-Lite, threatening legal action if it was not removed. Because of this, the program is today no longer available from the official website and is difficult to find on the web, though still available from some sites. However, the program is widely available on the FastTrack network itself, where it can be downloaded with Kazaa or any other FastTrack client. There are rumours that new versions of Sharman's Kazaa will prevent K-Lite users from connecting to their supernodes, in an effort to shut these users out from the FastTrack network.

The confusion over the status of K-Lite was exploited by the owners of the deceptively titled website http://k-lite-legal.com/ to sell subscriptions to a music download service unrelated to the K-Lite application. KCeasy, like Kazaa Lite, also accessed the FastTrack network and was also served a DMCA notice.

After the shut down of K-Lite, a couple of diffrent programmers created their own verisions of K-Lite based on the orignal, two of these such programs are "Kazaa Lite Resurrection" and "Kazza Lite Tools K++"

Open Source Variation

See the FastTrack article on the technical details of the protocol and on the efforts to reverse engineer it, in an effort to let open source clients exchange files with Kazaa users.

Legal wranglings

Like the creators of many similar products, Kazaa's creators have been taken to court by music publishing bodies to restrict its use in the sharing of copyrighted material. Consumer Empowerment was taken to court in the Netherlands in 2001 by the Dutch music publishing body, Buma/Stemra.The court ordered Kazaa's owners to take steps to prevent its users from violating copyrights or else pay a heavy fine. The owners responded by selling the Kazaa application to the company Sharman Networks, headquartered in Australia and incorporated in Vanuatu. A court of appeal in late March 2002 reversed the earlier judgement, stating that Kazaa was not responsible for the actions of its users.

In 2002, Sharman was sued in Los Angeles by the RIAA and the MPAA. That lawsuit is still pending. Sharman responded with an antitrust countersuit, claiming that the major music labels had conspired to shut out Sharman's secure music distribution service based on Altnet. The suit was dismissed in July 2003. Sharman further claimed that it couldn't be sued in California as it lacked substantial contacts with the state; this claim was also dismissed in July 2003.

In September 2003, the RIAA filed suit in civil court against several private individuals who had shared large numbers of files with Kazaa; most of these suits were settled with small monetary payments. As a result, traffic on the FastTrack network has decreased about 10-15%. Sharman networks responded with a lawsuit against the RIAA, alleging that the terms of use of the network were violated and that unauthorized client software (such as Kazaa Lite, see above) was used in the investigation to track down the individual file sharers. An effort to throw out this suit was denied in January 2004.

In February 2004, the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) announced its own legal action against Kazaa, alleging massive copyright breaches. The organization's chief piracy investigator said "This is the largest copyright infringement case in Australia", "these people are the largest infringers of copyright in the world", and added that their operation is "based almost entirely on illegal traffic."

Popularity

The number of users connected to the Kazaa network at any given time fluctuates between 1 million and 5 million users, with the average usually being around 3 million. There are about 1,000 downloads every minute. [5] There are over 26 petabytes and over 1.5 billion files on the network.

Kazaa and allegations of spyware

Kazaa has, from early on, been accused of installing spyware and/or adware onto users' computers.Brilliant Digital, Kazaa's home company, has always denied that they did any such thing.However, their definition of spyware, and that of other people, differs.At one time, the part of the Kazaa code which was considered spyware by neutral observers was an uptional, though technically difficult to not install, part of the Kazaa installation.Since the allegations have surfaced, however, the code has been bundled into the main Kazaa software, and it is not possible not to install it.Also, spyware detection and removal software has frequently failed to delete the code without special actions taken by the PC user.

Spyware Kazaa installs, and what it does:

*New.Net - Filters all web address requests through the DNS servers of New.net.

*SaveNow - Monitors what sites the PC user visits and pops up sponsored "deals".

*Cydoor - Collects information on the PC's surfing habits and passes it on to the company which created Cydoor.

*B3D - an add-on which causes advertising popups if the PC accesses a website which triggers the B3D code.

When spyware removal software is run, Kazaa leaves 3 Windows Registry keys behind for Cydoor and one for SaveNow.

Compatible Kazaa / FastTrack Clients

*iMesh

*Poisoned

External links

*Official Website for Kazaa

*FastTrackMovies, a site to make Kazaa download real movies using Sig2Dat (KLite needed)

*Findhash.com is a huge movie and tv-show portal with filesharing links for Kazaa (Lite) and eDonkey

*Boardwatch Interview with Niklas Zennstrom, July 17, 2003

*Sharman's letter to Google requesting to take down K-lite links, August 11, 2003

*Discussion of Kazaa installation of spyware

*Allegations of Kazaa tampering with Windows system files

Category:File sharing

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html for details. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Kazaa.

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 Kazaa in the News
1. High-speed chase for customers - - The New Zealand Herald
Best News Website - Qantas Media Awards Sunday September 26 2004 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Search Technology News - Connect >> >> High-speed chase for customers 24 09 2004 By PAUL BRISLEN The world of high-speed internet access is to become

2. Review: Skype Free Internet Phone Service - 14 Sep 04 - ABC News
Product Review: If you've been waiting to try Internet telephony, wait no longer. Skype is worth trying out -- especially since it's free.

3. kazaa's own copyright in dispute - 17/03/2004 - BBC News
Romanian claims to have written the code for kazaa's infamous software in a twist to ongoing copyright battle.

4. Can money buy the Beatles' Apple love? - - dw.com.com
* * * * * * * * * Markets Investor Tools Managing Money Special Sections More Money Get a quote Your portfolio - Today s Top Money Stories · - 8 29 AM · - 10 55 AM · - 9 06 AM · - 8 44 AM · - 2 02 PM Can money buy the Beatles Apple love By

5. U.S. Cracks Down on Internet Crime - 26 Aug 04 - ABC News
U.S. Cracks Down on Internet Crime

6. Music site plea in 'piracy' case - 10/02/2004 - BBC News
The Australian owners of online music service kazaa ask for evidence to be ruled as "inadmissible".

7. Stone: Why Hostage Beheadings are on Web - - www.msnbc.msn.com
                              Web Search            Search MSNBC   NEWSLETTERS • • •   SUBSCRIPTIONS • •   EDUCATION Learning With Newsweek • •   MORE • Sponsored Feature • On Monday Zarqawi

8. Music Industry Sues 744 for File Sharing - 25 Aug 04 - ABC News
Music Industry Sues 744 for File Sharing

9. Record labels in 'piracy' raids - 06/02/2004 - BBC News
Australian record labels raid universities and internet firms to hunt for evidence of online music "piracy".

10. New Virus Alerts -8/17/04 - - phoenix.cox.net
Digital Extras from Cox Communications August 15 2004 W32 Mydoom s@MM is a Medium Risk mass-mailing worm that can give hackers remote access to your PC The worm arrives inside an attachment and downloads a backdoor component from two websites

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 Kazaa on the Web
1. kazaa
download for the kazaa Media Desktop (KMD) multimedia file sharing and jukebox.
http://www.kazaa.com/ Yahoo, MSN, Google, Alltheweb, Open Directory

2. Is kazaa Spyware?
explains why kazaa/BDE should be considered spyware.
http://www.imilly.com/kazaa.htm Yahoo Sites, Yahoo, MSN, Alltheweb

3. Wired 11.02: The Race to Kill kazaa
Wired News Wire service news & photos Animation Wired Magazine HotBot (the Web) Issue 11.02 : February 2003. The Race to Kill kazaa. The servers are in Denmark. The software is in Estonia. ... came crashing down on Niklas Zennström, cofounder of kazaa, the wildly popular file-sharing service ... judge pulled the plug. With kazaa, users trade files through thousands of ...
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/kazaa.html MSN, Yahoo, Google, Alltheweb

4. MusicCity
home for musical artists to share their music with the world on the Morpheus file sharing network.
http://www.musiccity.com/ Yahoo, MSN, Alltheweb

5. eDonkey2000 - Overnet
7.30.04: New Version. We have released a new version of the donkey. Overnet is now just bundled within the donkey. So there is just one client to choose.
http://www.edonkey.com/ Yahoo, MSN, Alltheweb

6. CNN.com - kazaa sneakware stirs inside PCs - May 7, 2002
AltNet's dormant programs awaken in May to seek your cash, storage space and system cycles. ... But wait, there's more: The increasingly popular kazaa file-sharing network will reap fees for ... but distinguishable from -- kazaa content on the kazaa Media Desktop, says Kevin ...
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/05/07/kazaa.software.idg Yahoo, MSN, Alltheweb

7. kazaa
Downloads: Search for and download music, movies, games, software, images and documents. Latest News: US courts affirm kazaa 100% legal! The 9th Circuit Appeal Court declared that p2p software does not infringe US copyright laws. ... Built-in BullGuard Virus Protection - Exclusive to kazaa! kazaa Virus Filter Blocks Suspect Files ...
http://www.kazaa.com/us/index.php Yahoo, MSN, Alltheweb

8. kazaa Plus
ad free version of kazaa Media Desktop.
http://www.kazaaplus.com/ Yahoo Sites, Yahoo, MSN

9. Diet K: Supercharging kazaa!
Diet K is the best FREE add-on for kazaa! Download Now! Diet Kaza removes all spyware from kazaa Media Desktop and is completely free! ... Disclaimer: Diet K is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sharman Networks' kazaa. ... and adds support for Windows 98/ME and 2003, as well as kazaa Media Desktop 2.62 ...
http://www.dietk.com/ MSN, Yahoo, Alltheweb

10. kazaa Lite - Download Unlimited Music MP3s and Movies!
Download Free Music Now. Search & Find MP3, Movies, Software & More. Unlimited Downloads, Burn CDs & DVDs.
http://www.klitesite.com/ Yahoo, MSN, Alltheweb

11. kazaa Download, kazaa Lite Download - kazaa Music Download Free
Free download of kazaa, kazaa Lite, kazaa Light, ... kazaa is a media community, where the community members can share their media files - audio, video, images and ... of our three products - kazaa.com (this web site), kazaa Media Desktop ...
http://www.btinternet.com/~chris.heaton/kazaa.htm Yahoo, Alltheweb

12. Wired News: kazaa Lite: No Spyware Aftertaste
Wired News Wire service news & photos Animations Wired Magazine HotBot (the Web) kazaa Lite: No Spyware Aftertaste. 02:00 AM Apr. 18, 2002 PT ... kazaa users, angered by the network's inclusion of secretly embedded spyware, can now connect to the peer-to ... version of the application called kazaa Lite. kazaa Lite is a software ...
http://www.wired.com/news/mp3/0%2C1285%2C51916%2C00.html Yahoo, MSN

13. [Customize.org] App. Skins > kazaa
... [5] kazaa. [21] ... Designer Notes: my first kazaa skin. i removed the ad bar and shop/tell a friend buttons ...
http://www.customize.org/list/kazaa Yahoo, Alltheweb

14. kazaa-skins.com
Offers a collection of free skins for kazaa, the P2P-client.
http://kazaa-skins.com/ Open Directory, Alltheweb

15. kazaa Lite
kazaa Lite is a FREE and clean version of kazaa Media Desktop. It contains absolutely no spyware, adware or other unwanted software. Our new K++ Edition even adds some cool extra functionality to the program: Unlimited searches, better multi-...
http://axelfresno.freewebservices.net/k/kazaalitetk Yahoo, Alltheweb

16. kazaa
Has Download.com Removed kazaa? -- details from MP3 Newswire ... quietly loaded on unsuspecting machines would ever download kazaa. This is especially true with ... Digital Entertainment scandal where loading kazaa automatically makes you a part of ...
http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2002/kazaaremoved.html Yahoo, Alltheweb

17. kazaa
kazaa Ignores Court Order to Shut Down -- details from MP3 Newswire ... kazaa Ignores Court Order to Shut Down ... district court ruled two weeks ago that the kazaa P2P program is acting unlawfully by making software available ...
http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2001/kazaa.html Yahoo, Alltheweb

18. Yahoo! Directory File Sharing > kazaa
Yahoo! reviewed these sites and found them related to File Sharing > kazaa ... File Sharing > kazaa. Directory > Computers and Internet > Internet > Peer-to-Peer File Sharing ... kazaa - download for the kazaa Media Desktop (KMD) multimedia file sharing and ...
http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/Peer_to_Peer_F... Yahoo, Alltheweb

19. http://doa2.host.sk/more hits from: http://doa2.host.sk/  -  1 KB kazaa Plus
kazaa Media Desktop is the World's Number 1 peer-to-peer application. kazaa Plus, an ad free version of kazaa Media Desktop, is now available offering more powerful searching, additional exclusive features only available with the official kazaa ... kazaa is the World's Number 1 peer-to-peer application. kazaa Plus, the premium, Ad Free version of kazaa, is now ...
http://doa2.host.sk/ Alltheweb, MSN

20. kazaa Download Accelerator - kazaa Speedup Software for kazaa Media Desktop / kazaa Lite ...
kazaa Download Accelerator(KDA) is a kazaa Media Desktop add-on application that automatically speeds up the download process and finds the files you want with far more power than regular kazaa searches, kazaa Download Accelerator also can ... is an add-on application for kazaa Media Desktop/kazaa Lite that automatically speeds up the ...
http://www.kazaa-download-accelerator.com/ Yahoo, Alltheweb