CrimeWire

The CrimeWire project has been developed as a response to illegal music downloads. It does not aim to solve the controversial problem of illegally downloading MP3s but actively provide different angles (not only those against downloading) to open up a space for reflection in the file sharer's mind.

Using metaphors from the criminal world the new skin CrimeWire renames the buttons in the interface: you will now hit a "steal" button instead of "download", be asked to "select crime" instead of "select file," etc. You can perform all the normal functions of LimeWire plus a few extra, but CrimeWire constantly reminds you what you are doing.

In the "Criminal Record" function (formerly known as Library), the "MP3 Paylists" informs you how much you "owe" artists and record companies. This information based on a calculation that one track costs £ 0.79 ("thanks" to iTunes Music Store) and the artist usually gets 8-10% out of that. To add a perspective, you can also access information about individual artists and specific record companies yearly income.

There is also a "Justification Profile" function based upon a point system. When you input your salary, number of records in collection, amount of vinyl in collection, number of concerts you go to per year etc. it returns the amount of money it is fair for you to "steal" for per day.

By Louise Wictoria Klinker.