p2p, anonymity and security

[Travis Roy]

Derek Martin wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 11, 2004 at 12:04:57AM -0500, Greg Rundlett wrote:
> 
>>I also want to get a general purpose p2p tool similar to Napster, for 
>>sharing ogg, mp3 or other multimedia files.  The number one prerequisite 
>>here is which tool/protocol offers the best anonymity.
> 
> 
> I feel obligated to point out that you are basically advertising in a
> relatively public forum your intention to violate Federal law.  This
> is rather a bad idea, particularly in today's climate.  It is
> certainly possible to exchange materials which do not have copyrights
> to which you are not the owner via these file sharing networks;
> however I don't think anyone here is naive enough to believe that is
> (exclusively) what you intend...

How do you know that? Perhaps he wants to share legal content but 
doesn't want everybody and their brother knowing his IP address, name, 
and location. Bands like Guster allow sharing of their music if it's a 
live show that they taped. You can get tons of their shows on 
archive.org. I host guster.net for a friend and he has many many media 
files up that the band has no problem with.

Just because somebody is sharing media files doesn't automatically mean 
they are illegal, even if they want to keep their identity a secret.