In the P2P community we see two parallel companies, Sharman and Altnet, attempting to bridge the worlds of piracy and legitimacy. It would be a grand feat if they could ever pull it off, however trying to convince 60 million Americans that "fee" is better than "free" may prove more difficult than discovering the Arc of the Covenant.

Sharman Networks, spearhead of the popular Kazaa client, have already made it obvious that they are a highly motivated commercial enterprise. One of their first moves to secure their commercial interests was to issue DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notices to websites such as Google and Slyck. The requests demanded that links to Kazaa Lite sites be removed. They have certainly made it clear that money, not the promotion of a democratically unified P2P community, is the main priority. While “unified” may be their ultimate goal, the methods used are akin to Napoleon’s idea to unifying Europe.

Sharman’s cohort on the FastTrack network, Altnet, a subdivision of Brilliant Digital, have also made it clear that it intends to become the leader of legitimate distribution over the Internet. In a move aimed to dominate the P2P market, Altnet has initiated a campaign to enforce its supposed copyright on hash codes. A hash code, a file verification method used on nearly every modern network, is the life-blood of many communities, such as eDonkey2000. Could you imagine eDonke2000 if it were forced to give up such a feature?

For as long as Kazaa has been in existence, the owners of this client have been trying to strike a deal with the music industry for legitimate distribution. In fact, if you remember their very first EULA (End User Licensing Agreement), the mp3 bitrate was limited to 128 kbs in an attempt to appease the music industry and give the very first hint of eventual "legitimacy."

Now, Sharman is making its biggest attempt, if not its' biggest gamble, to convince the P2P community that it should support its efforts to become legitimate. In addition, Sharman is making a very public plea to the music industry to utilize it sizable userbase. Sharman's upcoming "Print-ad Campaign" focuses on the following; a "call to action to peer to peer (software) users to communicate the message that, given the chance, users will pay a fair price for movies, music and games from P2P networks." In addition, Sharman states to the music industry that they are "missing a huge opportunity."