LimeWire shut down in US by US Court

I'm curious as to two things on this though.

1) How did they get passed LimeWire's usual defense of "legal software that can be used for illegal purposes" Similar to how a knife can be used to stab someone, or you could use it to cut vegetables. Just because the consumers choose to use it illegally doesn't mean that it in itself is illegal.

2) Is this now going to be a precedent case where they are suddenly able to shut down a bunch of other things because now that they have shown they can do it once?

 

I'm comparing this to the speakeasies back when the Prohibition had been passed. They banned alcohol, closed down places selling it, but people still got their hands on the stuff, and found many (illegal) ways of distributing it. They could shut down a place, but you could count on another opening up shortly afterward.

So sure they managed to get one site closed down. Is that going to stop pirating? Not likely. People will find another source somewhere.

I myself did use Limewire, but only for soundtracks that I just couldn't find on iTunes or in stores. Everything else I caved in and bought legally through iTunes. And even still I only had it for a short while once I found out how virus-ridden the thing was. Made a brothel seem clean.

And as far as I know Frostwire is still working, my brother's using it (much to my dismay) but I haven't heard any loud shouts of "FFFFFFFFF it's off" yet.

 

Private torrents>Blog downloads>Public torrents>Limewire>Google

As such, I don't really see the big loss. I suppose this makes a precedent, which is bad, but that's all for now. I'm still fine. :/