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Censorship

Kazaa-lite Shut Down 634

atari2600 writes "Finally it has happened. Zeropaid is reporting that the Kazaalite K++ project has been shutdown by Sharman Networks. The project, which had been set up to block spy and ad ware within the Kazaa Media Desktop Program has achieved notoriety within the P2p world through its simplistic approach and success in reverse engineering the Kazaa application."
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Kazaa-lite Shut Down

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  • by Zed2K ( 313037 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:11PM (#7653485)
    Well I guess thats one way to stop P2P usage. Destroy the only good kazaa client.
    • Re:thats one way (Score:5, Informative)

      by 42forty-two42 ( 532340 ) <bdonlan.gmail@com> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:24PM (#7653572) Homepage Journal
      What about giFT-fasttrack [berlios.de]?
      • Re:DietK (Score:5, Interesting)

        by p0rnking ( 255997 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:31PM (#7653609) Homepage
        At the bottom of one of the articles about K++'s shutdown, is a link for Diet K (http://www.dietk.com/).
        Since the site doesn't really say too much about it, has anyone ever used it?
        • by Afromelonhead ( 730368 ) <`moc.liamg' `ta' `smada.ttocs.nayr'> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:17PM (#7653880)
          There's a new Kazaa spyware-free client out called Fat-Free Decaffinated K!
          • Re:In other news... (Score:5, Informative)

            by dalutong ( 260603 ) <djtansey AT gmail DOT com> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @02:55PM (#7654432)
            I assume that your comment is meant call gift-fasttrack "yet another kazza clone." It is not. What it IS is very worth your consideration.

            GIFT (http://gift.sf.net) is now a wonderful program that connects to Fasttrack (kazaa,) the old fasttrack network (openfasttrack), the opennapster network (old napster), and gnutella. When you do a search in one of the gift frontends you do a search in all of those protocols.

            The interfaces could use some polishing (i like giFTcurs the best), but I think gift has a tremendous amount of potential.
            • Re:In other news... (Score:5, Informative)

              by alpharoid ( 623463 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @05:50PM (#7655341)
              You are forgetting the crucial network supported by giFT: OpenFT. The old fasttrack network is long gone, dead ever since Sharman Networks dumped it for the new version. OpenFT is being developed exactly because it's tough to depend on proprietary software that chooses which platforms to support and leaves everybody else in the dark.

              We should benefit a lot from OpenFT as it matures. So far, it's the best offering we have for a non-centralized, Kazaa-style network.
            • by Snaller ( 147050 )
              The interfaces could use some polishing (i like giFTcurs the best), but I think gift has a tremendous amount of potential.

              The potential being a fine from the RIAA.
        • Re:DietK (Score:5, Informative)

          by joe_bruin ( 266648 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @04:41PM (#7654963) Homepage Journal
          diet kazaa is an interesting product.
          it modifies the kazaa client at runtime, and therefore is not in dmca-trouble (the authors are rather careful about it).
          it suppresses ads, paid search results, and kazaa spyware. it also allows more than the limited number of searches, automatic re-searching for files, and other nifty things.
          the only problem with it, is that you need a full kazaa install, and therefore must install the kazaa spyware (which is then removed by dietk).
          i would recommend it.
        • Re:DietK (Score:3, Interesting)

          by JThundley ( 631154 )
          I've used DietK before I used Kazaa Lite, and it is very awesome. It achieves the same effect as Kazaa Lite, but instead goes on top of regular Kazaa. Give it a spin!

          I do however, still recommend GiFT and Apollon for P2P, it's simply the best.
      • Poisoned (Score:3, Informative)

        by useosx ( 693652 )
        Who says Macs don't have good P2P? Poisoned [poisonedproject.com] is an excellent giFT [sf.net] front end for OS X. Open source and everything. Supports OpenFT, Fasttrack, Gnutella, with OpenNapster and eDonkey on the way.
    • by gnu-generation-one ( 717590 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:03PM (#7653804) Homepage
      "Well I guess thats one way to stop P2P usage. Destroy the only good kazaa client."

      Of course, you can still get the kazzaalite application from any of the P2P networks, including Kazaa.

      -1: ironic.
      • Can't Kazaa now just change the protocol for the initial handshaking, thereby breaking the old versions of kazaa lite?
      • Re:thats one way (Score:3, Insightful)

        by limekiller4 ( 451497 )
        gnu-generation-one writes:
        "Of course, you can still get the kazzaalite application from any of the P2P networks, including Kazaa."

        That will work until Kazaa does something to the protocol or client that makes K++ no longer work. This will happen within a week, I predict.
    • Re:thats one way (Score:4, Informative)

      by red_gnom ( 545555 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @01:58PM (#7654134)

      Download k-lite 2.4.1 from:
      Kazaa Lite [tripod.com]

    • hide you IP number . Very easy for them to bill you.

      Use anonymous P2P. [guardian.co.uk]

  • GiFT (Score:5, Informative)

    by marcelC ( 592689 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:13PM (#7653498) Homepage
    Who cares, there ae enough GiFT frontends for both linux and windows available which will give you the same functionality.
  • by Wigfield ( 730339 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:13PM (#7653499) Journal
    Sharman shutting down K++ for copyright infringement? Isn't that what the RIAA is trying to do to Sharman... I know, I know, sharman doesn't actually host illegal files on their site, but it seems their entire business model revolves around copying music illegally.
    • by Anonymous Coward
      But Kazaa Lite IS copyright infringement. It's like somebody taking the linux kernel, modifying it, and posting it without source. Not everything shared on kazaa is illegal.
    • by mcc ( 14761 ) <amcclure@purdue.edu> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @02:10PM (#7654207) Homepage
      When you watch a pirate movie, everyone's a criminal, and technically everyone's a "bad" guy, but still within the logic of the movie there are distinct people you come to think of as "good guys" and "bad guys".

      Napster is the crazy, "bad but cool", immoral and greedy but gallant and kind pirate. His death scene is dramatic and gets you all pissed off at whoever it was who took him down. Afterward his crew scatters and his ship is sold off to some random merchant group.

      Gnutella is the romantic, moral, and heroic pirate who fails either because of incompetence but because his own lack of cruelty (or, depending on how you look at it, his softness) is in the end exploited as a weakness.

      Sharman Networks is the band of pirates which is just plain EVIL. They don't care about anything, they have no positive qualities, and despite the whole pirates-are-cool mentality of the movie, I mean, come on, they're just *evil*. Their leader, Kazaa, is bloodthirsty and cruel, and he killed his gallant and kind first mate Morpheus-- who is played by Orlando Bloom and who most of the audience had fallen in love with at that point-- in cold blood, out of pure envy and greed.

      The RIAA, of course, is the stock British Navy captain, because even though he technically represents "good", and technically one supposes his job is to go around and save lives and stuff, you root against him anyway, because he's a slimeball, he's blatantly corrupt, and everyone who works for him was cruelly and forcibly conscripted into a hellish life of prison-like service to the navy during raids on passing ships which are not really (when you think about it) much different from the raids performed by the pirates.
  • And already /.'ed. Doesn't anyone have a mirror?
  • The K++ Network (Score:2, Informative)

    by SYSS Mouse ( 694626 )
    I ran K++ today, and it is still running.

    Well, it is a decentralized network, so it cannot be shut down. Nut there will be no more updates, I suppose.

    • Re:The K++ Network (Score:5, Informative)

      by cyberfunk2 ( 656339 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:15PM (#7653520)
      Uhm.. They shutdown K++ , the CLIENT, not the fasttrackk network...
    • Re:The K++ Network (Score:3, Informative)

      by p0rnking ( 255997 )
      K, it's one thing not to read the original article, and another to not read what was posted on /.
      "... that the Kazaalite K++ project has been shutdown by Sharman Networks. The project, which had been ..."
      Kazaalite is just a "hacked" up version on Kazaa ... it runs on the same network. What Sharman Networks has done, is shutdown the project (K++).
    • Re:The K++ Network (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:25PM (#7653576)
      Not only has Sharman Networks succeeded in eliminating nearly every major resource of Kazaa Lite K++, they are systematically forcing it off the network.

      How you ask?

      Recent upgrades to Kazaa clients (2.5 and higher) make them less tolerant with outdated or non official clients such as Kazaa Lite K++. Kazaa Lite is based on a version prior to 2.5, therefore a current supernode will not accept its shares. Although this will cause network headaches in terms of traffic, the client will not be able to participate or download off the main FastTrack network. This will effectively cluster and isolate all modified Kazaa clients from FastTrack.


      from http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=339
  • by UltraSkuzzi ( 682384 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:14PM (#7653504) Homepage
    I think Sharman will be in for a surprise once the find out that 75% of its 'users' were on the bootleged client. It's pretty obvious, those users aren't coming back either. The RIAA has already turned that network to shit with their corrupted songs. I guess we call all move on up to BitTorrent :D
  • So what? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Pig Hogger ( 10379 ) <(moc.liamg) (ta) (reggoh.gip)> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:14PM (#7653508) Journal
    The binary will be alive forever in hacker circles...

    And someone will strip-out the spyware.

    And, pray tell, how can something out of the reach of the RIAA's long legal arm can have things done????

  • Don't worry (Score:3, Funny)

    by einer ( 459199 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:16PM (#7653522) Journal
    You can still find it on Kazaa. Oh the irony.
  • the story at slyck (Score:5, Informative)

    by real_smiff ( 611054 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:16PM (#7653526)
    Zeropaid /.'ed. Alternative article [slyck.com]. Probably the original anyway.. zeropaid has a habit of ahem 'stealing' news.
  • by tinrobot ( 314936 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:16PM (#7653528)
    My Kazaa Lite still works... I don't feel the need to upgrade anytime soon, so it's not going to make a huge difference to me. Heck, I'm still using Word 97.

    Even if the Kazaa Lite website goes away, what's to prevent people from trading the old version of Kazaa Lite on Kazaa?
    • by jo_ham ( 604554 ) <joham999 AT gmail DOT com> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:23PM (#7653557)
      I think the problem will stem when Sharman networks changes the protocol slightly for "security" or "usability enhancement" to shut out the K++ client, much like the IM providers do to keep all the decent 3rd party clients guessing.

      No doubt it will be reverse engineered again, but it will be harder to distribute and publicise that fix without a central website. It will still get out though - word of mouth will spread it.

      I think I'll stick to the iTMS (well, when it's finally available for the UK).
  • Obligatory mirroring (Score:5, Informative)

    by JayBlalock ( 635935 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:18PM (#7653540)
    Speaking with RatFaced, one of the Kazaa Lite forum moderators today and our contact at K-Lite, I have uncovered news that the Kazaa Lite K++ project has been shut down by Sharman Networks on grounds of copyright infringement.

    The project, which had been set up to block spy and ad ware within the Kazaa Media Desktop Program has achieved notoriety within the P2p world through its simplistic approach and success in reverse engineering the Kazaa application.

    However, the program infringed on the copyright of Sharman Networks, the company that now own and program the Kazaa Media Desktop application, after the purchase of the code and copyright in 2002. The FastTrack (Kazaa) network is financed through advertising systems, which Kazaa Lite K++ does not include, and so was seen as a threat by the owners.

    Sharman have threatened legal action, and ordered that the offending content be removed from the official Kazaa Lite sites, including http://www.kazaalite.tk/ which now contains no reference to the existance of the application.

    RatFaced said that the decision was ?Ironic, that Kazaa is complaining about copyright issues, especially as K-Lite ++ stands for everything that Kazaa CLAIMS to stand for... but fails to deliver.?

    We will perhaps never see Kazaa Lite again, but we can hope that users will remain aware of the spyware that is hidden inside the Kazaa application, which is used to finance the creation of the software.

    eMule and WinMX offer spyware-free alternatives to Kazaa.

  • by Nemus ( 639101 ) <astarchman@hotmail.com> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:26PM (#7653581) Journal
    Well, I'm using the program right now, but I've noticed its running reeeeaaaaallllyyyy slow, so maybe a bunch of people are on like the last days of Napster, downloading like crazy. I, however, am in a slight fix.


    See, I live in a dorm, and we're unable to connect to Kazaa here, the network flat out won't let us, with no (legal) way around it. For some reason though, K-Lite still connects. Can someone reccomend a good program to me for all file types? I predominantly download movies, the occasional game to demo it, and sometimes music. And please don't reccomend iMesh. I don't know if I could have intentionally installed that much spyware on my computer. I strongly doubt they have anything of the GNU variety blocked, but there are so many GNU P2P programs I don;t know which one to get. Noobish question I'm sure, but any advice is appreciated.

  • Hmmmm curious... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MoeMoe ( 659154 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:38PM (#7653656)
    I just took a look at the Kazaa Lite homepage and found a new app on the list I haven't seen since my last check a few weeks ago.... It seems "Soul Seek" (that name bothers me) is the replacement they are now offering... One catch, IT'S A CENTRAL SERVER! So why hasn't the RIAA ran after this?

    <conspiracy mode=1>

    Maybe the RIAA has paid off the makers of K++ and made this new "app" as a honeypot for people to use instead so to collect data on users who request songs that are copyrighted... What kept K++ anonymous was its decentralized system, why would the RIAA not go after something that is directly hosting copyrighted files? Unless some news about the RIAA going after Soul Seek comes up, I am gonna steer clear of it...

    <conspiracy mode=0>
  • by joel8x ( 324102 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:44PM (#7653678) Homepage
    You can always download it here: OldVersion [oldversion.com]
  • by Yi Ding ( 635572 ) <yiNO@SPAMstudentindebt.com> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:50PM (#7653711)

    The main thing that people may not be getting is that not only is Sharman shutting down the Kazaa Lite download sites (which in it of itself would not be so much of a problem since it can be distributed over P2P), it's also making the new client (2.5) not let K-Lite (or any Kazaa under 2.4 for that matter) participate in its shares, basically banning it from the mainstream Kazaa network. If we factor in the fact that K-Lite users generally disable becoming a supernode, this becomes a real problem.

    However, the article also mentions that there is DietK [dietk.com] which strips all of the adware off of Kazaa (although it doesn't have all of the other nice features of K-Lite), and other clients which are still compatible with the fast track network.

  • by mutewinter ( 688449 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:51PM (#7653720)
    Alot of people don't seem to care about Kazaalite. To some degree I don't either; it certainly doesn't effect me. This does, however, set a very bad legal precident.

    Alot of the spyware out there is destructive. It can and does slow your computer down, mess with your system settings, and in some cases completely disable your computer. Perhaps if Kazaalite was making money off this (i think they might have been..maybe it was diet kazaa) it would be a slightly different matter. Regardless, users of their own computers should have the right to disable software which causes their computer to do things which they don't want it to. Hell, forget doing it for a profit. A car manufacturer can't prevent me from buying a modified or refurbished car from a private dealer.

    Alot of people out there want to pass consumer rights laws to combat the DMCA and other intrusive laws. This is not a good solution -- its only an eternal game of cat and mouse. These laws need to be repealed. Sure, let microsoft use copy-protection and other schemes for their xbox, but don't stop me, as the owner of that piece of equipment, from modifying it so that it does what *I* want it too.
  • I predict... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mgcsinc ( 681597 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @12:53PM (#7653730)
    I predict that the only consequences that this could have for Sherman's network are negative ones. Honestly, have the sharers with fast connections been using the proper, sherman client? Simply, NO! Can one really expect, after so long sans spyware, these advanced, high-speed users to begin to use their spyware-filled client? Simply, NO! These users will maintain the status quo by continuing to use their existing Kazaa-lite clients, or they won't share on the Kazaa network at all; either way, how does this help you, Sherman?
  • by santos_douglas ( 633335 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @02:13PM (#7654231) Journal
    The excellent old version archive site OldVersion.com [oldversion.com] has old versions of the K-lite client, plus many other 'out of print' apps. It is unclear if the 'legit' Kazaa will be able to block access even by existing K-lite installs, anyone more knowledgeable care to comment?

    I could care less, I stopped downloading from it some time ago. Another /.er recommended iRate, [sourceforge.net] which is quite good.

  • SIMPLE SOLUTION!!! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Eric_Cartman_South_P ( 594330 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @02:24PM (#7654278)
    Use VMware to run the P2P client in. After downloading the file, ftp it to the main box. No shared drives, and with sw firewall on main box AND inside the VMware session, the main box is clean from whatever nastyness is happening inside VMware. RAM is cheap. Get 2 gigs of it. It'll change your life.

    I could care less what a program wants to "spy" on when it's on a VMware os with a bare bones WinXP Pro install. Shut down VMware, don't save the changes, and I start VMware every time with a fresh, uh... virgin :) os and my P2P app.

    www.vmware.com

    Here's a tip, make one VMware session that has all the known P2P apps outthere. Let the spyware install! Horray! Bwcause there is nothing to spy on. Inside the dedicated "P2P machine" I keep all the P2P's in the startup and hide all desktop icons and even the taskbar is set to autohide. Start the machine, download stuff, then just ftp to main box. Then shut down vmware without saving. Simple.

    Open source equivs to VMware? There are some I think. Know of any?

  • internet radio (Score:5, Informative)

    by adamruck ( 638131 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @02:53PM (#7654424)
    Ever since I started to listen to internet radio I never used a p2p network again, and I havent looked back. Go to www.shoutcast.com. They have all types of music, for free, at decent quality. You can use winamp to play streaming audio for windows, or xmms to play streams on linux. No more dicking around with dcc or kazaa networks. Oh yeah.. unlike normal radio there are no commercials either.
  • Shut down? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Zone-MR ( 631588 ) <slashdot AT zone-mr DOT net> on Sunday December 07, 2003 @06:26PM (#7655563) Homepage
    So they have shut down the SITE used to distribute new k-lite builds. Now if only the authors could find some new way to distribute programs. Prefferably something decentralised and difficult to stop... hmmm... I know, how about the fasttrack network? ;)
  • by Kjella ( 173770 ) on Sunday December 07, 2003 @06:29PM (#7655574) Homepage
    ...when we'll see the first network (that I'd know of anyway) that'll use "friends" that'll route the content. Basicly, you send out requests looking for a friend of a friends of a friend that has what you seek, and it'll get routed through them.

    Yes, it would slow the network speed to about 1/nth, where n is the average number of people you have to route through. However, n needn't be very large in practice. As has been shown with the socalled "small world" network theory, each person needs few outside links to make n small. And online, that is easier than ever.

    Basicly, I'd think it would be most useful if each node kept a small search database (e.g. the share lists of all their direct friends), and if not found, pass the request on. Would make for a bit more transfers, but a (zipped) metadata file is trivially small compared to an mp3 or divx rip. Think it'd be more efficient than searching local node only. It would also give you a good list of files you could browse where transfers should be fast (direct P2P), which is always nice.

    The advantages would be great: No central point of attack. No way to "scan" the network. Your identity is only revealed to your friends, who already know you. Because I know many people do not appriciate opening up their files to the entire Internet. However, they'd have no problem sharing with friends and family.

    Also, your bandwidth goes to someone "close" to you. (Priority should probably be given to closer friends, both because of less links involved (more efficient) and because they're friends per se).

    I think that'd be a welcome addition to the current crop of P2P nets, not to replace the current P2P nets but rather to replace the direct IRC/ICQ/MSN/FTP/whatever transfers. I definately think there's a market here for all those that have been scared off more traditional P2P nets.

    Kjella

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