P2P group proposes royalties, code of conduct

Reuters reported yesterday that a voluntary code of practice has been adopted by an association of companies that facilitate peer-to-peer file-sharing. "P2P United members -- Lime Wire, Grokster, Blubster, BearShare, Morpheus and eDonkey 2000 -- said they would help law enforcers track down child pornographers, would make it easier for users to protect sensitive material on their hard drives, and would not secretly install spyware on users' computers. The group also said it would encourage users to learn about copyright laws but would not install filters or otherwise limit users' ability to trade copyrighted material... Kazaa, the music file-sharing service that is the most widely used peer-to-peer network, is not a member of the group. P2P United invited the recording companies to sit down and negotiate a method so they could be paid for the copies users make of their materials..."