Russia is due to settle on its accession to the World Trade Organisation before the end of October - an accession that almost certainly depends on the disappearance of AllOfMP3.com.
American officials have spent the last month
deploring the existence of the rogue music download site, which operates legally in Russia but breaches concepts of 'international' copyright law.
The Yanks have made it clear that Russia's membership of the WTO, which will bring a massive economic boost to the country, will be impossible whilst it continues to allow what it sees as a massively illegal site to operate within Russian borders.
Russia is unlikely to have many qualms about hanging the chaps at the site out to dry for the greater good, and so we can expect it to go dead any time soon - unless provision is made for operation within a different country.
Earlier in the year, ThePirateBay set up backup servers outside Sweden after authorities there launched a raid on the site's server hardware, and their experiences may provide a model for the music download service.
Do you think the site will disappear before October is done? Or does Russia have little chance of joining the WTO with or without the interference? Let us know what you think
over in the forums.
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