Phil Morle
Encyclopedia
Phil Morle is a consultant advising internet startups on building and operating large-scale consumer internet platforms. In recent years Morle has advised startups including Yoick, YelloYello, Omnidrive
, Prime
, 3eep and Tangler. Morle has been active in industry standards groups, as one of the founders of Dataportability.org and a workgroup member of APML
(http://apml.org APML.org). He has also been a film producer on the independent film "Mine" (2007)
Prior to 1997, Morle was a founder and artistic director of Kaos Theatre in Perth
for ten years and was working in information technology to subsidise his interests. By 1997, he became a web designer. In 1999, he joined Brilliant Digital run by Kevin Bermeister
which ran Internet auctions for Sotheby's
and Christie's
. While working in Darling Harbour in 1999, Morle met Nikki Hemming
and the pair became friends.
Morle was asked to redesign the Kazaa
website in October 2001 as they were a client of Brilliant Design. Kazaa
was then owned by its originators Niklas Zennström
and Janus Friis
and the company was facing legal action from the Dutch music industry which was suing the company for copyright infringement.
Sharman Networks
bought out Kazaa in early 2002 with Bermeister and Hemming recruiting him as Director of Technology. Kazaa was the main beneficiary of the demise of the first version of Napster
in the middle of 2001 and by the beginning of 2003 over 60 million copies had been downloaded. Kazaa's website was one of the top ten websites in the world.
Organisations such as the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) and the Australian Recording Industry Association
(ARIA) took legal action against Kazaa, alleging that the company's products facilitated breaches of copyright in the Australian Federal Court. The court found that Kazaa had authorised users to infringe music industry copyright, though proceedings against Morle were dismissed.
Kazaa was accused of bundling adware
, spyware
and malware
with their software. In a 2003 interview with The Guardian
, Morle described this as an urban myth spread by companies marketing anti-spyware. However, CNet's
Download.com
stopped hosting a download capacity for the program on its site because of malware packaged with the program.
In his testimony before the Federal Court of Australia in December 2004, Morle testified that it was not technically possible to filter adult and illegal sexual content such as child pornography
from underage users. This contradicted claims by Alan Morris, the Vice-President of the company to a Committee of the US Senate that the company's Adult Filter provided such a capacity.
Omnidrive
OmnidriveOmnidrive was an online storage company with a single multi-platform product that aggregates storage into a single place, allowing users to access, share and publish any of their data and content...
, Prime
Prime (disambiguation)
A prime is a natural number that has exactly two distinct natural number divisors: 1 and itself.Prime or PRIME may also refer to:In mathematics:*Prime , the ′ mark, typically used as a suffix...
, 3eep and Tangler. Morle has been active in industry standards groups, as one of the founders of Dataportability.org and a workgroup member of APML
APML
APML is an XML-based format for expressing a person's interests and dislikes.-Overview:APML allows people to share their own personal attention profile in much the same way that OPML allows the exchange of reading lists between news readers...
(http://apml.org APML.org). He has also been a film producer on the independent film "Mine" (2007)
Prior to 1997, Morle was a founder and artistic director of Kaos Theatre in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
for ten years and was working in information technology to subsidise his interests. By 1997, he became a web designer. In 1999, he joined Brilliant Digital run by Kevin Bermeister
Kevin Bermeister
Kevin Bermeister has developed substantial businesses in the computers, multimedia and Internet industries. He established Ozisoft in 1982 which was one of the first interactive multimedia companies. By 1990 Ozisoft was Australia's largest video games distributor...
which ran Internet auctions for Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
and Christie's
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
. While working in Darling Harbour in 1999, Morle met Nikki Hemming
Nikki Hemming
Nikki Hemming is the CEO and part owner of Sharman Networks and President of LEF Interactive, an agency based in Sydney, Australia, responsible for promoting and developing Kazaa, a peer-to-peer file sharing network, since 2002...
and the pair became friends.
Morle was asked to redesign the Kazaa
Kazaa
Kazaa Media Desktop started as a peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol licensed by Joltid Ltd. and operated as Kazaa by Sharman Networks...
website in October 2001 as they were a client of Brilliant Design. Kazaa
Kazaa
Kazaa Media Desktop started as a peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol licensed by Joltid Ltd. and operated as Kazaa by Sharman Networks...
was then owned by its originators Niklas Zennström
Niklas Zennström
Niklas Zennström is an entrepreneur best known for founding several high-profile online ventures with Janus Friis including Skype and Kazaa. More recently he founded the investment group Atomico and has become a significant figurehead for entrepreneurs in the tech sector.-Career:Zennström started...
and Janus Friis
Janus Friis
Janus Friis is a Danish entrepreneur best known for co-founding the file-sharing application KaZaA, and the peer-to-peer telephony application Skype. In September 2005, he and his partner Niklas Zennström sold Skype to eBay for $2.6B...
and the company was facing legal action from the Dutch music industry which was suing the company for copyright infringement.
Sharman Networks
Sharman Networks
Sharman Networks is a company headquartered in Australia and incorporated in Vanuatu. It owns the rights to the KaZaA file sharing software...
bought out Kazaa in early 2002 with Bermeister and Hemming recruiting him as Director of Technology. Kazaa was the main beneficiary of the demise of the first version of Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
in the middle of 2001 and by the beginning of 2003 over 60 million copies had been downloaded. Kazaa's website was one of the top ten websites in the world.
Organisations such as the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) and the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
(ARIA) took legal action against Kazaa, alleging that the company's products facilitated breaches of copyright in the Australian Federal Court. The court found that Kazaa had authorised users to infringe music industry copyright, though proceedings against Morle were dismissed.
Kazaa was accused of bundling adware
Adware
Adware, or advertising-supported software, is any software package which automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements to a computer. These advertisements can be in the form of a pop-up. They may also be in the user interface of the software or on a screen presented to the user during...
, spyware
Spyware
Spyware is a type of malware that can be installed on computers, and which collects small pieces of information about users without their knowledge. The presence of spyware is typically hidden from the user, and can be difficult to detect. Typically, spyware is secretly installed on the user's...
and malware
Malware
Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior...
with their software. In a 2003 interview with The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Morle described this as an urban myth spread by companies marketing anti-spyware. However, CNet's
CNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
Download.com
Download.com
Download.com is an Internet download directory website, launched in 1996 as a part of CNET. Originally, the domain was download.com.com. The domain download.com attracted at least 113 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com study....
stopped hosting a download capacity for the program on its site because of malware packaged with the program.
In his testimony before the Federal Court of Australia in December 2004, Morle testified that it was not technically possible to filter adult and illegal sexual content such as child pornography
Child pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
from underage users. This contradicted claims by Alan Morris, the Vice-President of the company to a Committee of the US Senate that the company's Adult Filter provided such a capacity.