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Brave new Filesharing

16:41 / 27.03.07

To share, or not to share...
This is mostly the question, which is especially hard for people who´d like to avoid getting sued over a few gigabytes of copyrighted material stored on their harddisks. Most popular file-sharing systems nowadays are quite easily traceable ( as far as I know) and are used by the Copyright enforcers to find the felons and fling hefty fees and charges at their IPs.

Now, in the 21st century, a handful of OS programmers resist the invading Copyright Empire by building tools of intraceable invincibility!

Some of these tools, such as MUTE or Freenet are notoriously slow because of the security measures used - but there´s one new starlet on the firmament: ANTs P2P. a little OS sourceforge project by a lone student in need of funding and contribution, which could just be a bit faster than the rest.

Please comment, contribute, download and use at your leisure.
(It´s not my project, I just really like it. A lot.)

But is anonymous filesharing a good idea anyway? Is virtual absolute freedom of data equivalent to giving child molesters a safe platform?

21:44 / 27.03.07

It's dangerous to equate filesharing as a distribution system with the nefarious (or benign for that matter) uses to which it can be put. The technology can always be adapted to allow varying levels of anonymity, varying levels of moderation or censoring of content, etc.

I say 'dangerous' not because the internet mafia will come and break your legs - I mean dangerous to the medium, and arguably to the internet as a whole. Remember that anonymity is a default state. If you buy some eggs, or a newspaper, or a bicycle, or go to a film or a gig or ice-skating - nobody knows. Why should anyone know? It's nobody's business what you do, as long as it's legal. Laws are there to prevent bad stuff happening, by threat of punishment (after the deed, mostly) - and the general assumption is that everyone is innocent of anything bad.

So, people should absolutely be free to develop secure ways of communicating - be it leaving a lit candle in the window, or these secure P2P apps... I don't buy the reductio ad paedophilia argument. I mean I know it's a concern - and the police will have to somehow counter it, but these apps are probably no more secure than meeting in person to swap illegal (or copyrighted) materials...

Personally I do fileshare, and I use the most popular, mainstream software I can find. I probably feel there's safety in numbers. Someone on here mentioned PeerGuardian recently, which I haven't tried.

05:39 / 02.04.07

Anyone who's terribly concerned that filesharing programs made illegal or pirated material transfer for money so... so... so much more accessible or dangerous, never had the same swapmeets, dirt malls, or dodgy corner shops as the rest of us.

They may make them cheaper, because you're not paying someone for the material, but taking it for free. Cheaper/free, but not that much easier to access. Unless you have the computer and internet connection of UBERGOD. Which, most of us don't. If we even have our own computers. Which most of us posting on Barbelith might, but most people on the planet, or even in whatever country you're sitting in right now, probably don't. And schools, businesses, family members and employers (or their network admin enforcer-types) might look poorly upon your ill-electronically-gotten gains.

I'm all in favor of assuming people will be good people, as much as you can, without obsessive IDing and control. I would type 'follow the good laws' but y'know, everybody in the room and a couple folks outside will probably disagree on which all of those are.

And I've never bought the excuse that purchasing or cadging-for-totally-free something illegal is forcing someone else to supply. Fuck the suppliers, y'know? It's a choice to market/push anything, so if that's illegal, I'm more than slightly inclined to put the weight on them.