P2P Company Not Going Anywhere

Found on Wired on Friday, 16 July 2004
Browse Filesharing

It seems logical that the headquarters of a file-sharing network would be located offshore, far from the reach of the long legal arm of the Recording Industry Association of America or Republican Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch.

But Jed McCaleb, founder and CTO of file-sharing network eDonkey, and Sam Yagan, president of the company, don't have to wonder whether the Hatch bill will affect their business.

Still, they plan to continue to be very public about the location of their New York City office -- on 14th Street between Fifth and Sixth, just west of the famed Union Square Greenmarket, in a brightly painted room that looks a whole lot like the nursery of a particularly geeky toddler.

"Then what will happen is networks will spring up in jurisdictions that don't recognize U.S. laws or judgments. My favorite example is Earthstation 5. Here's an excerpt from its website:

"'Please take notice: EarthstationV Ltd., a Palestinian corporation, does not accept any legal process via e-mail, nor will we accept any attachments via e-mail. For service of process, you must serve our legal department located at our offices in the Jenin refugee camp, Jenin, Palestine.'

If this law becomes reality, the development of P2P software will go down in the US. However, the Internet is a worldwide network, so the filesharing will move to networks created in other countries where US law doesn't impress anyone. Who knows, perhaps Hatch's next idea is to put every user of P2P software into jail.