Two well known P2P file sharing networks look to be gone as of yesterday. The WinMX network and website are not accessible and the New York offices of eDonkey are reported to be closed (see update at end of article), according to Reuters.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a company distributing software that allows copyright infringement can be held liable. The Recording Industry Ass. of America has since been on a 'cease and desist' letter sending spree, with a number of P2P software companies suspected of being the targets.
We've seen P2P networks come crashing down in the past, only to see other networks take the throne as the most popular P2P solution. It's quite likely that users of the WinMX and eDonkey networks, if they really do disappear for good, will simply find an alternative network to use. By the time any legal action against a P2P network comes to the courts, users have generally found somewhere else to go.
Remaining P2P networks will either become the new, most popular way of distributing copyrighted material, or measures will be implemented to prevent the distribution of such material, keeping RIAA and its legal beavers from swooping in on them.
Update
Further to the earlier information, sourced from Reuters, that eDonkey's offices had closed, Slyck.com reports that the New York offices of the company behind eDonkey have actually been closed for around a year, following relocation. It makes sense, then, that nobody at MetaMachine's New York offices were contactable.
