While AOL has disavowed itself from the project, the network has been tapped by two companies. The files are distributed using AOL servers. Justin Frankel developed Gnutella, a decentralized file-trading network that can't easily be shut down since its servers are located on millions of users' computers.
Ironically, the only file-trading service that has survived the legal onslaught while occasionally offering licensed content was developed by a rogue arm of AOL-Time Warner, one of the conglomerates constantly suing other sharing networks. After losing its domain name to AOL-Time Warner, Aimster's founder Johnny Deep declared bankruptcy due to ongoing litigation with the entertainment industry. EMI, one of the five major music labels, had 37,000 people download a Radiohead digital postcard that came with sound clips before the band's album Kid A was released, helping it debut at No.
The company, purchased out of bankruptcy court by Centerspan Communications, recently re-launched as a secure sharing network, offering select music tracks from Sony Music.Īimster, the little known trading service that ran through AOL's Instant Messenger, developed the most successful relationships. Still, Bermeister hopes to reach out to entertainment companies, creating a secure network that takes advantage of the tremendous distribution opportunity. That's not exactly the message entertainment companies around the world wanted to hear, which have referred to Sharman Networks in less than glowing terms. In April, Hemming announced Sharman was registered in Vanuatu, a group of 80 islands in the South Pacific that offers tax shelters to international businesses.
That task was made immeasurably more difficult because of Bermeister's ties with Sharman Networks, the Australian company running Kazaa which is headed by his old friend Nikki Hemming. Bermeister has to convince Hollywood, an international group of music labels and a worldwide consortium of video game makers to trust Altnet, which has a rather dubious affiliation with Kazaa, the file-trading network facing copyright infringement lawsuits in the Netherlands and the United States. The entertainment industry is historically protective of its movies, video games and music. But even if they had worked with other companies, Bermeister faces a special set of circumstances that could easily torpedo Altnet. The system will do little to assuage an industry loathe to work with peer-to-peer networks on any long-term basis since Napster hit the scene in 1998.
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