Status update and blog back online!

I decided to put the blog back online, so any news we got will be posted here.
The recent happenings are also included in this post below.

Now, I just heard that BREIN is not demanded to start a standard procedure within 6 months. They seem to be happy with the decision, although what they really hoped and said is that we are breaching copyrights. So at this point we don’t know if they are planning this procedure at all in the future. If this doesn’t happen, it means we will never have the chance again to change the outcome and therefor ShareConnector should have to remain offline. Unless we go for an appeal, which is exactly what we did since that would be our last chance to make a difference.

The judge had a weak point so things are still not clear at all and that’s what we have been fighting for all these years, to finally have clearance of what is so illegal about indexing. Now that we have come so far, it would be a shame to stop just here while the end is near.
Since we are not sure if BREIN dares to go on with the standard procedure, there is little to say about what will be next so we will just have to wait and see.
As always stay tuned and watch this page for news.

UPdate 24-01-2008: Today, the judge ruled that ShareConnector is not breaching copyrights, although she concluded it’s a wrongful act.
This confirms my doubts about her misunderstanding of this whole subject. Therefor, we are going for an appeal.
BREIN is demanded to start a standard procedure within 6 months. Nonetheless, it’s a dissapointing outcome and it’s clear this fight is gonna take a while longer.
Also, I’m not condemned to pay €28.625,34, which are the lawyer and TNO-research costs, but “just” the regular procedure costs.
At this moment I have not much else to say, because I haven’t seriously talked with my lawyer yet. So I need to clear my mind and think what to do next. Stay tuned, more news will follow soon!

UPdate 11-01-2008: Yesterday was the worlds first civil trial regarding the legality of hashcodes (eD2k links) and I’m not sure what to think. The ICT professor who helped us explain the role of ShareConnector in a presentation did a great job, although I doubt it was completely clear in the eyes of the judge. The whole point is that ShareConnector solely indexes hashcodes (identification) of files that are already available on the eD2k network. Hashcodes are just a bunch of keywords that are initiated as a search in the eMule client when you click on them. The same files can easily be found by copy pasting the filename from legal sites like NFOrce.nl and performing the search in the eMule client/Google/etc. and get the same results. If that is illegal, than all indexing sites like Google should be shutdown as well and that would certainly kill the internet. It would also mean that keywords can be illegal and that is an extreme form of censorship. Google provides direct links to download locations with the HTTP protocol, while we just index keywords, which are posted by the users solely for the eD2k protocol. So it is clear that Google and likes go a step further and are still perfectly legal.

There is a loud debate in Sweden about decriminalization of all non-commercial file sharing. Quote: “Decriminalizing all non-commercial file sharing and forcing the market to adapt is not just the best solution, but the only solution, unless we want an even more extensive control of what citizens do on the Internet.” The entertainment industry is trying to force people in a certain direction, instead of embracing the technology and coming with new radical business plans. They still haven’t come with good alternatives but rather continue trying to milk the consumer, which resulted in P2P networks going mainstream. Napster set the example and showed the big hole in the market, although the industry didn’t want to learn lessons and adapt to consumer needs.

In any case, finally the legality of the hashcodes is being judged and the outcome should be known on the 24th of january. Based on this outcome I will see what to do next because this is a serious principle matter for me. If hashcodes were illegal in the first place, I would never have started such site, so it’s obvious I want my point proven correct.

I end this post with a quote to think about: “Our ignorance of history makes us libel to our own times” – Gustave Flaubert.

UPdate 26-11-2007: Typically being BREIN, they decided to go on with this civil case afterall. If I still sign their agreement which also states that ShareConnector is illegal, they will drop this case. In other words, they are blackmailing me to agree to something which has never been ruled illegal by a judge. Even then, they will start a standard procedure to demand an unknown sum of the time that ShareConnector was online. They are again desperately trying just like they did in the criminal court, which was just a test case and probably the same thing we should see with this civil test case(s).
The case is planned for 10th of january 2008.

12-11-2007: Last Monday the guys from BREIN visited me at home to convince me to close ShareConnector or else they will start a civil proceeding with a claim. Of course, this does not mean I agree with their point of view, it’s just that I can’t afford taking any risks.

As of today, November 12, 2007 I decided to close down. If there is anything new to report, you will be informed.

Thank you for all your support and understanding.