SoulSeek Outage News(?)

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Recently, everyone who has been using SoulSeek may have noticed that it does not work anymore and the forums disappeared. This has made the development I have been doing on the OS X client a little difficult, to say the least. It has also made a number of users (and developers) confused because this happened without any notice. Nobody knows why it went offline. There was no planned service outage, no official notice of termination, no cease and desist order, it just kind of disappeared. Of course, there has been all kinds of speculation and a number of conspiracy theories, but no real information. Today, I noticed a link to the following information posted on one of the developer lists. It states that it is an official announcement–take that with whatever grains of salt you desire (because, you know, I could post a crackpot theory on why it is shutdown and mark it as “official” and swear that it came directly from Nir or the RIAA or God or something).

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT – Re: Soulseek Status

This is to provide the official status of the Soulseek network as Friday, February 7th and onward. I have spoken to Nir and Rosalind Arbel on the matter over the course of this week and prior to this event taking place, and this notice is being offered on their behalf.

The artist calling herself Sapphirecut previously made a complaint towards Soulseek regarding the sharing of her material on the network. When she had contacted Soulseek regarding the matter, she failed to state which material was in question. There was no information provided, aside from her being “Sapphirecut”. Therefore, acting on such, a global message was made to users not to share the artist's material, and a notice was made upon entering chat rooms of the same.

Unfortunately, this was not satisfactory, and the artist went on to file a complaint against Verio – Soulseek's server host, stating DMCA Copywrite Infringement. Verio, in return did not conduct a formal inquiry into the situation. Rather, they acted rather quickly, requiring the server, and site to be pulled. Thus, there was no warning that such was going to take place. This not only applied to the users of Soulseek, but to Nir himself. On sudden notice, he was required to seek out a new host for the server.

To calm the air of panic, this does NOT mean that Soulseek is down forever. The RIAA did NOT have an injunction against Nir, as rumours have stated. Soulseek WILL be returning shortly, and this unfortunate delay was not expected. A new potential host has been found, however they are working through the paperwork for such, and have not completed such as quickly as we would have expected. At this level, it is out of Nir's hands as they have to simply go through the process of completing it. That said, we apologize again for the delay and hope that it does not last a great deal longer.

It is important to note that Soulseek can not and will not condone any actions towards the artist that may cause her or her affiliated label's harm. Such actions would include defaming emails, defacing, or otherwise damaging her website or the site of her affiliates, and other further actions which may be damaging. Such actions will simply result in further problems for the network, as the artist will direct complaints towards Soulseek itself. Those wishing to show their support for Soulseek will best do so by simply NOT sharing any files by this artist. The files in question include:

1.Free Your Mind, Megan�۪s epic mix.

2.Free Your Mind, Sapphirecut's Original mix

3.Action-Reaction by Sapphirecut (in any form)

4.Any music that has Sapphirecut on it except the Illustrious track “I’d Say Yes”, which is a remix.

We thank you for your patience and support through this situation, and we look forward to seeing all users back on Soulseek shortly. Users who wish further information regarding the DMCA are directed to browse to http://www.chillingeffects.org. All information needed regarding the act can be read or studied there. Cheers.

On behalf of Nir and Rosalind Arbel,
Sean Nelson / Proteus93
Soulseek Administration

So, there you go. Maybe we will see it back online soon, maybe not…

Posted in: Dear Diary Music

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