WinMX & EDonkey P2P Networks Shutdown

Popular file-sharing site WinMX.com ceased operating and the New York office of another, eDonkey.com, appeared to be closed, in the continuing legal fallout among underworld peer-to-peer music services, industry sources and users said on Wednesday.

The turmoil among file-sharing networks follows the landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in June that held anyone who distributes a device used to infringe copyright is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by others. In the wake of the decision, the trade group Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) last week sent out "cease-and-desist" letters to seven file-sharing groups. A spokeswoman for the RIAA declined to name the targets. Popular file-sharing sites BearShare, eDonkey and WinMX were reportedly among the targets.

"There's certainly a big realignment of networks going on after the RIAA letters. Everyone is going to see a fallout since the ruling is making it tough for these companies to exist," said Marc Morgenstern, vice president for Loudeye, during the Digital Hollywood conference in Santa Monica. An eDonkey executive with a Boston phone number was not immediately available to comment. Industry sources said the phone in the New York office had been disconnected.
A spokesman for Frontcode Technologies, developers of the WinMX application, could not be located to comment. Users in both Europe and North America complained that the WinMX site (http://www.winmx.com)) was unavailable throughout the day on Wednesday. Free Peers Inc., backers of BearShare, did not respond to attempts to contact them via e-mail.