iCommune to released mid Feb — 31 Jan 2003

According to an article in wired.com, Speth, author of the original iCommune plug-in, hopes to release the new version around mid February. For its defense, Speth describes the software "as the digital equivalent of letting friends or family borrow a CD [..] more like a small community of people who want to share things with each other. Making a copy of a CD that I own and giving it to you is not illegal. Sharing with friends is legal, as far as I know." A line of defense that hasn't been successful in court as yet. Wired note also that "At Macworld in July 2002, Apple showed off something very similar to iCommune: a Rendezvous-enabled version of iTunes that shared play lists between computers connected wirelessly. However, the company has yet to release the software. Whether it was killed by Apple's legal counsel, or is still being developed, the company isn't saying. The company didn't respond to requests for comment." The Electronic Frontier Foundation's, senior staff attorney Fred von Lohmann also notes that "iCommune may also have a strategic advantage. The way iCommune works resembles the file trading on instant messaging channels, which are the only file-sharing medium not to have been targeted by the entertainment industry. He added it's probably because IM doesn't have a global search utility, like Napster or Kazaa. The only way to download Eminem's latest single is by finding and setting up a connection with someone who has the file." Let's wait and see .. Previous Macinblog posts on iCommune.