P2P services going 'legit'

The end of an era is upon us - the "Wild West" of file-sharing, its decline spurred on, of course, by the US Supreme Court's decision last June (see 7/1/05). "At least five online file-sharing companies have started trying to reach an accord with the music industry to convert the free trading of copyrighted music on their networks to paid services," the New York Times reports, citing Grokster (which had the title role in the Supreme Court case), eDonkey, Morpheus, LimeWire, and iMesh. Grokster, furthest along in discussions, has agreed in principle to be acquired by MashBoxx. The latter, which is backed by Sony and says it'll be up and running by the end of the year, will use technology developed by Shawn Fanning (founder of the original Napster) - a "system of digital fingerprinting to track songs," USATODAY reports. Here's the Los Angeles Times's coverage.

In another anti-piracy development, six major film studios have formed a joint-venture to develop "new technologies to stop the unauthorised distribution of films, particularly via the Internet," the BBC report. Called Motion Picture Laboratories, or Movielabs, it'll be L.A.-based.