Eight Ways to Revitalize P2P

October 12, 2006

Thomas Mennecke

7) Question BitTorrent/eDonkey2000 indexing sites which implement payment systems.

Contrary to popular belief, file-sharing is not about piracy. Rather, it’s about community, the furtherance of technology and the pursuit of knowledge. Paramount to all these ideals is the concept that file-sharing should be free. When individuals begin to charge for that information, or access to that information, it creates a system of privilege and rejects equality.

Few file-sharers support the entertainment industry’s position on digital copyright enforcement, yet interestingly enough most file-sharing accept the entertainment industry’s policy of aggressively pursuing physical pirates. Charging for information not owned by the seller is frowned upon not only in the physical world, but online as well.

6) Piolet – Big up Yourself!

Piolet was once called Blubster. The once famous P2P client generated legions of followers, and not just because it was a decent source of information. Rather, Blubster created a community environment that challenged Napster. It had a concise news section, and an entire .net domain dedicated to the sole purpose of furthering its large community.

Those days are long gone. Instead, Piolet.com is spit and polish and has the feel of a corporate website. Blubster.com was an inviting and homey location that welcomed new ideas and the exchange of information. The only thing Piolet.com invites is a quick click to another website. Most people still remember the old days of Blubster, and programmer Pablo Soto sits on a golden opportunity to give exactly what many in the P2P community seek.

5) Support Open Source Networks and Clients.

The commercial P2P scene has been wiped clean – at least nearly so. StreamCast’s Morpheus and LimeWire are the only two US based developers still fighting the good fight - however their longevity is in question.

Open source innovation has instead become the cornerstone of P2P and file-sharing development. Gnutella and eDonkey2000 once were controlled primarily by closed source, commercial operators. Yet because of the highly distributed nature of open source development, these networks still exist long after their commercial overlords were banished from ever looking at another P2P network again.

So when you fire up your next file-sharing client, ask yourself, “Is there an open source alternative? Is the longevity of this program dependent on a future court ruling?”

4) Support Free Content.

The entertainment industry is vehemently opposed to unauthorized file-sharing. Fair enough. Instead, find similar genres that are distributed under creative commons or copy lefted. There’s an incalculable number of content that is distributed at no cost and contains no DRM. Many alternative artists openly encourage their fans to redistribute, mix, or otherwise manipulate their work. Sites like Jamendo, Artist Server (Caution: some artists on Artist Server offer their music copyrighted) and SectionZ all offer large directories of Creative commons licenced material.

Creative Commons isn't limited to music though. Webcasters such as the Revision 3 crew, the TWiTcasters and many more utilise Creative Commons. Artists can use sites like Sample torrents to find legal samples for the purpose of creating music. The eMule Content Database offers a wide variety of legal share-able content through the eDonkey2000 network. Many movies such as Star Wreck, Elephants Dream, The Piracy Documentary, and Steal This Film are offered through the BitTorrent protocol. The list of Creative commons works is endless and this list of examples is just the beginning.

3) Forget about the minor issues…

Like the old saying goes, there are things in life we can change, and things we cannot. If you’re lucky, God will give you the serenity to tell the difference. Most file-sharers are already well educated in the dealings of DRM (Digital Rights Management), political issues, software, hardware, and numerous other issues facing the Internet and its netizens today.

However there’s an extensive population of individuals who do not. Make it a point to show friends, family, and even strangers the wide-ranging network of information available online. Web resources such as the EFF.org, Ares Technica, Boing Boing, Corante, AfterDawn, CD Freaks and ZeroPaid have bustling communities filled with individuals are more than willing to share information. There may not be anything an individual can do to protest the latest Senate Judiciary hearing on the implementation of Broadcast Flag technology, but you can certainly help people towards the path of enlightenment with information.

2) Perception is everything

A positive attitude and confidence is a key to success. If faced with a difficult and challenging task, a defeatist point of view will almost always lead to failure. There are more than 10 million documented P2P users online at any given moment, with millions of additional users traversing BitTorrent. This number represents a value of more than 10 fold over Napster. Napster’s comparatively diminutive size reshaped the Internet and gave us the world we have today.

While the chips may seem down, they are anything but. The entertainment industry has been forced to refocus their enforcement efforts, music stores are beginning to experiment with DRM-free products, and iTunes is still a relatively small enterprise compared with an average P2P network.

1) Have fun!

There was a time when file-sharing was inventive. During the early days of Gnutella, fans of this network used to race across IRC looking for gateway IP addresses. Without it, the client could not connect to the network (a la WinMX.) Although a bit annoying at the time, it helped build the community atmosphere and cooperation that made file-sharing enjoyable and adventurous.

As file-sharing stabilized, much of the magic that initially surrounded it has dissipated. Those around since the beginning may even question the relevance of file-sharing. Maybe people are taking the whole deal too seriously. Sit back, relax, and see what’s happening out there.