January 5, 2005 4:00 AM PST
A new hope for BitTorrent?
- Related Stories
-
LokiTorrent fights MPAA legal attack
December 30, 2004 -
BitTorrent file-swapping networks face crisis
December 20, 2004 -
MPAA targets core BitTorrent, eDonkey users
December 14, 2004
(continued from previous page)
SuprNova site. It's "Kazaa and BitTorrent all together."
However, Sloncek's announcement has raised as many new questions as it has answered.
The program itself is being developed by an anonymous company that contacted him several months ago, the SuprNova administrator said. He's now officially working for that company as its representative, he added.
Some hints may be given by the Exeem.com domain name, which is registered to a Swarm Systems. The listed address for that company is in the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts & Nevis, at the local office of IFG Trust Services, a company that helps set up and administer offshore companies.
A telephone number provided along with the domain name information appeared to be incomplete or out of service. An IFG representative did not return calls seeking comment.
Older file-swapping companies have tried to incorporate themselves outside the reach of traditional legal or tax authorities. Sharman Networks, Kazaa's parent company, is based in Australia but incorporated on the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, for example. That hasn't prevented the company from being sued in courts in the United States and Australia, however.
The Exeem technology could find itself in some of the same difficulties faced by other file-swapping networks.
Much of BitTorrent's popularity has come both because of the speed of downloads and the assurance that files were real instead of the decoys or damaged content often found on other file-swapping networks. Indeed, a recent academic study attributed much of BitTorrent's strength to the influence of moderators at the SuprNova Web site, who hand-checked files to ensure they were genuine.
What's Hot
Discussions
Shared
-
Browser choice: A thing of the past?
103 comments
-
Here comes Yahoo's own Web browser -- Axis
98 comments
-
Why Apple needs to settle its e-book suits
90 comments
-
FBI quietly forms secretive Net-surveillance unit
89 comments
-
Facebook, Zuckerberg sued over IPO
85 comments
RSS Feeds
Add headlines from CNET News to your homepage or feedreader.
RSS
Subscribemy Yahoo
Add this FeedGoogle
Add this FeedMSN
Add this Feed