Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
On Tue, 17 Feb 2004, Mary Gardiner wrote: > SLUG committee has had a reporter request the contact details of people > who are making legitimate (by which I presume he means legal) use of P2P > technologies. He's looking for 'experts' to comment, but the article is > for laypeople. > > If you are willing to comment on your use of P2P technology, please > contact the SLUG committee, and we'll pass your details on. I can't really think of legitimate or good uses (that are actually current) that could legitimise KaZaa and similar programs. However, BitTorrent really stands out as a great means for distribution of a single item, and has been used by a few distributions now I believe for distribution of their ISOs. Whilst I'm not sure if I could put anything together that would be useful for an article, it would be a great topic to focus on. For those who haven't used BitTorrent, it's basically a P2P application whereby you download a .torrent file, which contains references to a "tracking" server. Once there, you are given a few peers to download bits of the file from (peers being either seeds - people who have the entire file already, or other people who are still downloading the file aswell). This way, everybody helps add to the distribution of a file. This method works extremely well on new releases of files that are likely to cause a great rush of high capacity downloading (such as ISO releases of distributions), because instant of the server being instantly overcome by the load of billions of people downloading a file, the rush of people downloading actually causes there to be so many more peers that the actual drain on the original seed is minimal (or at least, in a relative context -- there would be a bit of load at first, but as soon as a few downloaders picked up and started peering, the initial downloads for new people would be handled by various people already downloading). This is very different to what the public have come to know as P2P, which is that you go in a search for something (usually illegal) to download, and get it straight away. Search-based P2P applications made for the distribution of (random) data to me are not really a good idea in a world where copyright infringement is such a hot issue, and where the public don't feel that the original content has the value that the price placed upon it represents. Hmm, I really didn't mean to write that much -- bye now! Andypoo. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
> > SLUG committee has had a reporter request the contact details of people > > who are making legitimate (by which I presume he means legal) use of P2P > > technologies. Hmmm sounds like a sting operation. "All P2P is illegal; underground hackers want publicity (that's why they go underground in the first place); trick them into showing off their uses of P2P then arrest them". > However, BitTorrent really stands out as a great means for distribution of > a single item, and has been used by a few distributions now I believe for > distribution of their ISOs. [large snip] > Hmm, I really didn't mean to write that much -- bye now! Yes Andypoo if your email had been much longer we would have needed BitTorrent to get it in the first place :-) Stuart. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
Hmmm sounds like a sting operation. Yes it does, doesn't it? "All P2P is illegal;... Well... Probably close to "all"... but not "all". I have seen (and even skimmed one) articles on the use of P2P to share documents and media files. This is within the organization that owns said documents, media files, and the itellectual properly within. It's a niche market! Think I saw these articles in; IDM - Image Data Manager - http://idm.net.au underground hackers want publicity (that's why they go underground in the first place); trick them into showing off their uses of P2P then arrest them". [large snip] _ Hot chart ringtones and polyphonics. Go to http://ninemsn.com.au/mobilemania/default.asp -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
At Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:03:30 +1100, Mary Gardiner wrote: > If you are willing to comment on your use of P2P technology, please > contact the SLUG committee, and we'll pass your details on. I used a web browser once and I believe there was no globally centralised server involved at any point. Does that count? (More seriously, all the good bits of the Internet are P2P networks.) -- - Gus -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
On Wed, Feb 18, 2004 at 10:12:14PM +1100, Angus Lees wrote: > I used a web browser once and I believe there was no globally > centralised server involved at any point. Does that count? > > (More seriously, all the good bits of the Internet are P2P networks.) Exactly my thoughts. The internet is inherently p2p. Perhaps we should ask them which parts they think are not legal. Sadly, I suspect it's too late to control this particular meme (that p2p == sharing copyrighted material) Matt -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
On Thu, Feb 19, 2004, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Perhaps we should ask them which parts they think are not legal. "They" didn't use the word 'legal', "they" used the word 'legitimate'. Can anyone who would like their contact details to be provided to this reporter (I have no way of confirming his own legitimacy, sorry, no magical powers here), please let me know. -Mary -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
On Thu, 19 Feb 2004, Mary Gardiner wrote: > Can anyone who would like their contact details to be provided to this > reporter (I have no way of confirming his own legitimacy, sorry, no > magical powers here), please let me know. > A problem I often face, and one that is easily overcome: Ask the dude for his company/news organisation NAME (eg, News Limited, whatever) and look up there number in the phone book and ask for him/her by name. If he can't provide this simple detail, then he is a dud. I get lots of them. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
On Thu, Feb 19, 2004, David wrote: > Ask the dude for his company/news organisation NAME (eg, News Limited, > whatever) and look up there number in the phone book and ask for > him/her by name. If he can't provide this simple detail, then he is a > dud. I get lots of them. He claims to be a freelancer. In any case, I don't have the time to check the legitimacy of every request that the SLUG ctte gets for comment. We're starting to get lots, and most of them aren't "what's the SLUG [committee] take on $X?" they're "can you find us people who can comment on $X?" (where $X is invariably something the committee has no internal expertise on). So I'm just passing them on. Understandable if people don't want to respond. If anyone does want to volunteer to handle press requests for SLUG though, including legitimacy checks, do let me know. -Mary -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
On Thu, Feb 19, 2004, Mary Gardiner wrote: > He claims to be a freelancer. Oh and he did specific a publisher by name. I'm not prepared to reveal names and details of ctte correspondents on an archived list like this one, but if people are curious ask offlist. -Mary -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
> I used a web browser once and I believe there was no globally > centralised server involved at any point. Does that count? Not unless you use a very loose definition of "p2p" - it's a client-server technology. Decentralised != p2p James the cranky -- ...so there I am at ten thousand feet with a power drill in one hand, a takeaway menu in the other, no parachute and a _very_ suprised expression... pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
On Thu, 19 Feb 2004, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > I used a web browser once and I believe there was no globally > > centralised server involved at any point. Does that count? > Not unless you use a very loose definition of "p2p" - it's a > client-server technology. > > Decentralised != p2p Zeroconf, APIPA, SMB browsers elections, etc. aren't client server technology. They could be considered peer to peer... Mike -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
> On Thu, 19 Feb 2004, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > > I used a web browser once and I believe there was no globally > > > centralised server involved at any point. Does that count? > > Not unless you use a very loose definition of "p2p" - it's a > > client-server technology. > > > > Decentralised != p2p > > Zeroconf, APIPA, SMB browsers elections, etc. aren't client server > technology. They could be considered peer to peer... Fair call. I was specifically referring to web browsers/servers, and haven't met either Zeroconf or APIPA. The very terse line that followed was an abbreviated form of, "being decentralised doesn't necessarily mean it's a peer-to-peer system." Cheers, James -- ...so there I am at ten thousand feet with a power drill in one hand, a takeaway menu in the other, no parachute and a _very_ suprised expression... pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
On Wed, Feb 18, 2004 at 10:12:14PM +1100, Angus Lees wrote: > At Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:03:30 +1100, Mary Gardiner wrote: > > If you are willing to comment on your use of P2P technology, please > > contact the SLUG committee, and we'll pass your details on. > > I used a web browser once and I believe there was no globally > centralised server involved at any point. Does that count? I'd consider root-servers.net to be somewhat centralised. > (More seriously, all the good bits of the Internet are P2P networks.) Amen to that. Greatest power of the medium, IMAO. - matt -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
Re: [lug] Re: [SLUG] Press request: Legitimate uses of P2P
On Wed, Feb 18, 2004 at 10:12:14PM +1100, Angus Lees wrote: > At Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:03:30 +1100, Mary Gardiner wrote: > > If you are willing to comment on your use of P2P technology, please > > contact the SLUG committee, and we'll pass your details on. > > I used a web browser once and I believe there was no globally > centralised server involved at any point. Does that count? You never touched *.root-servers.net? Or *.gtld-servers.net? -- Daniel Stone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "The programs are documented fully by _The Rise and Fall of a Fooish Bar_, available by the Info system." -- debian/manpage.sgml.ex, dh_make template pgp0.pgp Description: PGP signature -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
