Updated 17/1/2007
The Venice Project, now named Joost, which is neither a file-sharing application nor a video download service, is one to watch. According to Pinsent Masons legal information bulletin:
"The Scandinavian entrepreneurs behind the wildly-popular services Kazaa and Skype are about to launch an internet television service. The advertising-supported service will comply with copyright laws, the pair said."
"Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström say that the new business, which is codenamed The Venice Project, will be based on a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, like Kazaa. Kazaa was a file-sharing network widely used to pass unlicensed copies of music tracks around the internet, but Venice will only distribute licensed content, the founders said."
As an aside, the project's Privacy Policy had this slightly disquieting clause:
"Using Your Personal Information in Other Countries
Your country's privacy laws may require your consent before your personal information can be exported to countries with weaker privacy laws. Since it is important to our quality of service to maintain operations within many countries, the Terms of Service requires your consent to this practice. No matter where your information is processed, this privacy policy will remain in effect."
See also Venice Project would break many users' ISP connections, from The Register.
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