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Peer to peer (P2P) software has been around for a number
of years now. One of the most famous, which was brought down
by legal battles was Napster. Peer to peer software is both
a good thing, and a bad thing. In order to explain the situation
more thorouly, it shall be presented with both the pros and
cons of this software.
Note that Dragonstar dose NOT support or endorse
the use of any of these programs. They are listed here as
a guide for educational purposes only. DragonStar dose not
offer support or file downloads for any of these programs,
nor will any enquires about them be responded to. Any enquires
should be directed to the program's creator. DragonStar takes
no responsibility for any difficulties arising from your choice
to use such programs.
P2P software give you access to multiple sources of music, videos,
programs, and other such computer media
Seems like a good thing, right? Well, not necessarily. There
are basically two sides to this story. We will now look at
those.
Pro: New, or relatively unknown authors, singers, wirers
and such can easily share their new media, and gain free exposure
This allows them to gain publicity that they would not have
previously access to. For young or budding developers, this
allows them to share demos of their software or games to see
if it's worth taking them to full development. In this way,
P2P is a great thing.
Con: If you've followed the law lawsuit in the
states, you already know the problems. Currently there's no
way to restrict shared files or software to JUST public domain
information. This means you can also find copyrighted materials.
Companies have ways to track who is sharing this, and if it's
big money, like for the RIAA or Hollywood, they've already
proven their willingness and determination to sue individuals
who violate copyrights. So when you download something, it
impossible to know if you're downloading a free copy, or a
copyrighted item. This can lead into legal issues.
P2P files may have more then they seem
Pro: May have some bonus content for whatever you
download, however it's rare this is good.
Con: MOST unexpected content is spyware, adware,
viruses, trojans or other unwanted garbage. Without a good
anti-virus, firewall, and anti-spyware, this is a major security
issue. Alternatively, there have been issues with downloads
being incomplete.
P2P files may not be what they seem
Pro: None
Con: Mislabeled content is almost always spyware,
Trojans, porn, or other unwanted materials. This is not great,
ESPECIALLY if you have a child using this software. An innocent
rock song could end up a five minute track of some guy swearing.
There's a question of P2P legality in Canada
CURRENTLY it appears the answer is technically yes.
However this could change at a moment's notice, and who knows
what kind of cascading results could occurred. The RIAA IS
pushing to change the law that currently protects Canadian
users, but this has been in progress for some time, with no
apparent change.
Recently DragonStar conducted a test with Lime wire, one of
the various P2P software programs about. In downloading 4 test
files, all four reported positive for viral infection, and promptly
were deleted by the anti-virus. A fifth test case ended up going
from a music file to porno graphics. Note that this information
dose not reflect on all files, this was just a sampling DragonStar
ran.
AS STATED ABOVE, DragonStar DOSE
NOT ENDORSE OR RECOMEND the use of these products. Your
choice to use them or not is strictly up to you, and DragonStar
takes no responsibility for any actions taken as a result of
this information.
For more information, there are several documents available online,
such as this
one from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission,
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