Limewire has had a eventful life, over the past ten years users have used the peer-to-peer network to share files – up until now the site has managed to stay operational despite numerous legal cases and requests from artists, directors, record labels and many other copyright owners to have the site taken down. It seems the day has finally come, Limewire has three weeks to live and will close its virtual doors on New Year’s Eve.
A LimeWire spokesperson said, “as a result of our current legal situation, we have no choice but to wind down LimeWire Store operations”. To be honest this hasn’t come as much of a shock, a court hearing in October ruled Limewire’s peer-to-peer network to be illegal, their network allows users to share music, movies, games and computer software without paying for it –a phenomena that has been the bain of the respective industries ever since the internet became mainstream.
The legal arm of the site, the Limewire store has closed to new users but will remain open to existing users until December 31st. Limewire isn’t the first site of this kind to fall foul of the law, Napster and the Pirate Bay have also been forced to close.
Do you think this will stop users swapping files or is the internet far too big to police?
