The Australian trial of P2P company Sharman Networks, parent firm of the KaZaA file-sharing program, is reaching a climax. The court has ordered KaZaA to implement a filtering system by which unauthorized transfers are blocked, and to do so by December 5, or shut down operation. Flashback to the court injunction that shut down the original Napster. In this case, "shut down" means Sharman cannot profit from distribution of the KaZaA, but existing clients would still function. Beyond that, of course, file-sharing would continue unabated in other venues. Shutting down one avenue is like throwing a rock in a river: it doesn't stop the current.

Of course, KaZaA is barely relevant any longer, as this page of comments on Digg illustrates. The music industry might crow in victory when KaZaA goes down, but it will be a meaningless, behind-the-times victory.

So this week we've seen two different approaches to file-sharing companies. Sharman, successor to the original Napster and loathed by the labels, claims it cannot filter itself and will probably be put out of business. Meanwhile Bram Cohen, inventor of Bit Torrent and responsible for the mainstreaming of movie downloads, agrees to filter his search engine (which shows no sign of being filtered so far, and probably cannot be effectively filtered any more than KaZaA can be) and is endorsed by Dan Glickman, MPAA chief. It is all politics; it is all appearances; it is all divorced from file-sharing reality.