FTC Ends LimeWire Investigation

The Federal Trade Commission has closed its investigation into peer-to-peer site LimeWire, though the agency said it remained concerned about the security implications of users running legacy versions of the company's software.
"Upon review of the matter, including non-public information submitted to the staff, we have determined not to recommend any further action by the commission at this time," Mary Koelbel Engle, associate director of the FTC's bureau of consumer protection, wrote in a letter to LimeWire chief executive George Searle.
When LimeWire is installed, it allows users to share files via a peer-to-peer network, and the investigation centered around the concept that LimeWire originally would automatically share a user's files rather than letting the user opt-in. Many people were sharing files they did not know they were sharing on the wide-open P2P network.


The FTC found that LimeWire provided enough safeguards to protect users, and had improved its offering on letting users know about the dangers of inadvertently sharing sensitive files on the P2P network, like tax documents, bank statements and other types of information.
LimeWire is not entirely free from legal battles, however. In June, eight music publishing organizations sued LimeWire for copyright infringement "on a massive scale." That suit came weeks after a Manhattan federal judge ruled in favour of 13 record labels and the Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA), which also sued LimeWire for copyright infringement.


A LimeWire spokeswoman said Friday that a trial for the RIAA case is set for January 18, 2011. The case involving the music publishers is separate from that, but "we still hope to work together and settle through a business agreement rather than a legal one," she said.


In the meantime, LimeWire is working on the development of its own music service.