Thanks thingsforjason for the heads up. Sharman Networks has released a new version of its Kazaa peer-to-peer networking software.
But the company is yet to face record industry lawyers in court and, in a move that is likely to further antagonise its opponents, the company has used the latest release to counter several of the measures that record companies and movie studios have been taking to stamp out peer-to-peer piracy.
The record companies have been flooding the internet with bogus files in an attempt to hamstring peer-to-peer set-ups.
But the latest Kazaa software allows people to rate files, so that corrupt or false examples will quickly collect poor ratings and warn users away. There is also an active default setting called "filter bogus music and video files".
According to Sharman Networks the new version introduces several new features, including a better web search device, customisable skins, the ability to create shared play lists, improved image handling and unlimited bit rates.