P2P file sharing Lime(Wire)light
p2pnet news | politics:- As Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG progress in their massive, multimillion-dollar campaign to dominate online consumers and gain control of how and by whom, product is distributed in cyberspace, the reality of P2P file sharing is becoming increasingly important.
Big 4 copyright enforcer the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has been able to incorrectly suggest Internet protocol addresses are enough to identify alleged file sharers.
In fact, they’re no more than the addresses of given computers which could of course be used by anyone with direct, indirect or remote access to them.
The Big 4 also claim P2P applications are responsible for exposing children to online pornography, despite the fact the Net is packed with untrammelled .xxx sites which are easily accessible by anyone, anywhere, young or old, with a computer and a Net account; and, the labels themselves are guilty of knowingly promoting and selling material with obscene and sexually explicit lyrics.
The focus on P2P file sharing as a risk was originally developed as part of the corporate music industry’s sue ‘em all marketing campaign and attention has now been further sharpened by the Federal Trade Commission statement that P2P networks can pose a national security threat because they enable federal employees to share sensitive or classified documents accidentally from their computers,” as CNET News put it yesterday.
The FTC claim came during a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing and committee chairman Henry Waxman says he’s now considering, “new laws aimed at addressing the problem” because he fears, “foreign governments, terrorists or organized crime could gain access to documents that reveal national secrets”.
Never mind that sloppy government and military security procedures and not P2P applications are far more often cited as being responsible critical breaches not only in the US but around the world.
At the same hearing Mark Gorton (right) was singled out for special attention with his his controversial LimeWire file sharing application the target of a highly focused attack.
Interestingly, LimeWire has a section on safe file sharing which includes a detailed description of how users can make sure they’re not inadvertently leaking music or other material online through share directories, and Morpheus owner StreamCast Networks has just announced a national campaign which, “encourages and reminds users of file-sharing software to share responsibly”.
Meanwhile, “Limewire’s Gorton acknowledged that the company has some security-related changes ‘in the works right now’ but stopped short of accepting all the blame for the leaking of classified information,” says PC Magazine, going on:
Most likely, sensitive information ends up on the Web when “people override the safe defaults and end up disclosing stuff they didn’t mean to disclose,” Gorton said. But in the case of intentional disclosure, “it’s really disturbing to me that professionals in this field” would break with protocol and make this information readily available, he said.
As a result, Limewire is examining how to better protect directory and folder sharing, he said. “I think probably a lot of the information that gets out there now is because people accidentally share directories that they didn’t mean to share,” Gorton said. Limewire has warnings that pop up about sharing directories, but that is “clearly not enough in a handful of cases.”
Says the LimeWire safety site:
“You will be asked to designate a folder that will contain the files you would like to share. With the ‘Browse Host’ feature, a user can look at any file in this folder. You can change your folder location at any time by going to Tools/Options/Saving.
“Please be aware that private material can be viewed if it is in your shared folder.”
Also See:
incorrectly suggest – IP addresses and identities, July 14, 2007
national security threat – p2p file sharing ‘risky’ says FTC, July 25, 2007
CNET News – Congress: P2P networks harm national security, July 24, 2007
national campaign – New anti-P2P laws loom, July 25, 2007
PC Magazine – House Targets Limewire on Leaked Classified Info, July 25, 2007
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