SPECIALIZED FILE SHARING NETWORKS

 < Day Day Up > 



In the computer world, nothing stays the same for long, and peer-to-peer technology is no different. Although FastTrack and Gnutella may be two popular file sharing networks right now, there’s no guarantee that another file sharing network won’t suddenly surge in popularity and push more established file sharing networks into the background. So if you’re the adventurous type who wants to explore some of the smaller and newer file sharing networks, take some time to experiment with the file sharing networks listed in this section.

UP-AND-COMING FILE SHARING NETWORKS

For an alternative file sharing network, take a peek at Soulseek (http://www.slsknet.org), which specializes in sharing complete music albums. Soulseek is completely free, and it doesn’t secretly install adware on your computer. To make money, the publishers of Soulseek offer a unique incentive: the more money you donate, the closer you get to the front of the line when waiting to download files.

BitTorrent (http://bitconjurer.org/bittorrent) specializes in distributing large files, such as full-length movies, to multiple people. Like an ordinary file sharing network, BitTorrent allows someone to post a large file for many different people to download. To speed up the downloading process, when multiple users download the same file, BitTorrent gives each user a different part of the file. Once everyone has downloaded a different part of the same file, BitTorrent redirects them to download the other parts of the file from other users. By spreading the file sharing process among multiple users, everyone can download a single large file quickly with less risk of getting cut off before they can download the entire file from a single computer.

Another programmer created MUTE (http://mute-net.sourceforge.net) after watching how ants scatter and regroup when disturbed, yet always manage to reach their final destination. MUTE applies the same theory as BitTorrent to file sharing. Instead of directly linking two computers to swap files, the MUTE network routes pieces of the files through several computers before they reach their destination. MUTE works much like spreading a message through a crowded room: if you give the message to seven people, and they spread the message to seven more, and so on, the message eventually reaches the right person.

In order for the recording industry to keep track of who’s sending and receiving what file, they would have to monitor every single computer on the MUTE network, carefully tracing each piece of the file as it moves from computer to computer before reaching its final destination. MUTE remains optimized for smaller networks to preserve speed, but it shows how programmers are applying more sophisticated construction techniques to preserve user privacy.

Sometimes a client program starts out on an established network, but then decides to break away to form its own private network instead, whether for political or technical reasons. WinMX (http://www.winmx.com) originally connected to the OpenNap network, which was an open source version of the original Napster network. When the recording industry started shutting down OpenNap, WinMX slipped away, formed its own network, and continues to thrive to this day.

Ares (http://www.aresgalaxy.org) originally connected to the Gnutella network and then realized that Gnutella’s technical limitations would also limit the future of Ares, so Ares broke away and created its own network, too. Some unique features that Ares offers include the ability to deal with interrupted file downloads (Ares just starts downloading the missing parts of a file rather than forcing you to download the whole thing over again) and multisource downloads (so you can download the file you want as quickly as possible).

BUILDING YOUR OWN NETWORK

Whether you use an old or a new file sharing network, there’s always the danger that government authorities may be secretly monitoring your activities. While a handful of file sharing networks use encryption to hide the types of files you’ve shared, and proxy servers to mask your IP address, nothing is foolproof. So rather than risk trading files among any of these public file sharing networks, why not start a private file sharing network instead?

With a private file sharing network, you can control who can join and who can’t, so you can swap files of any type within your trusted circle of friends and coworkers (without any possible snooping by government authorities or recording industry infiltrators).

If you already chat with friends through ICQ, you can use a program like ICQ File Share (http://www.npssoftware.com) to swap files with your ICQ chat buddies. If you don’t use ICQ, try one of these instead:

BigSpeed http://www.bigspeed.net

Aimini http://www.aimini.com

HotP2P http://playapp.com/hotp2p

Perhaps the most intriguing private file sharing network is one created by Nullsoft, the company that created the Gnutella file sharing network. Just like they did when they released Gnutella over the Internet, Nullsoft once again managed to irk its parent company, America Online, when it posted a program dubbed WASTE (http://grazzy.mjoelkbar.net/waste/mirror), which allows users to set up private file sharing networks with encrypted file transfers. Named after an underground postal system in the Thomas Pynchon novel The Crying of Lot 49, WASTE combined private file sharing networks with encryption. This combination pretty much ensured that even government authorities couldn’t snoop on a WASTE network without a great deal of difficulty in locating the network in the first place, and then cracking the encryption once they found the network.

Not surprisingly, America Online quickly yanked WASTE off Nullsoft’s website, but other programmers had already taken the WASTE source code and are likely to create alternatives and variations. Now if you visit Nullsoft’s website, you’ll see the following dire warning:

NOTICE OF UNAUTHORIZED SOFTWARE

An unauthorized copy of Nullsoft’s copyrighted software was briefly posted on this website on or about Wednesday May 28, 2003. The software was identified as “WASTE” (the “Software”) and includes the files “waste-setup.exe”, “ wastesource.zip”, “waste-source.tar.gz” and any additional files contained in these files.

Nullsoft is the exclusive owner of all right, title and interest in the Software. The posting of the Software on this website was not authorized by Nullsoft.

If you downloaded or otherwise obtained a copy of the Software, you acquired no lawful rights to the Software and must destroy any and all copies of the Software, including by deleting it from your computer. Any license that you may believe you acquired with the Software is void, revoked and terminated.

Any reproduction, distribution, display or other use of the Software by you is unauthorized and an infringement of Nullsoft’s copyright in the Software as well as a potential violation of other laws.

Thank you.

Nullsoft

Although you can find plenty of files on websites, FTP sites, and newsgroups, most people are likely to find file sharing networks easier and faster to use. To maximize your chances of finding a particular file, connect to the more popular file sharing networks along with some of the smaller, less popular ones, as well. Chances are good that the next time you want to find a certain file on the Internet, the first place you’ll look will be through a file sharing network.



 < Day Day Up > 



Steal This File Sharing Book
Steal This File Sharing Book: What They Wont Tell You About File Sharing
ISBN: 159327050X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 98
Authors: Wallace Wang

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net