p2p usage discussion

[unvi$ible]

Hi There,
I have noticed that some of very very new members come here they go straight to questions which in some way promote illegal activites.
Recent ones are about p2p.
My question or starting point of discussion is :
p2p was made to "illegally" swap filles?
(well this illegally term is bigger then texas.)
We ban this new members and slam them with negative points but is it any other use of p2p which is positive as for examle :japanise are killing whales for scientific purposes.(are they?)
is there any legal useage of P2P?
I believe that lot of young people use this type of network as they can not afford the software or whatever?
if they are BAD or ILLEGAL why they are still around and does any of our members use it for any other positive purpose?
thanks

[dmorgan]

Good point...
I suppose it can be used for sharing GNU licensed programs as well as freeware when it has been pulled or discontinued. Whitepapers abound with p2p but I am unsure of licensing issues with them.

There are some more, but I think the point I want to make is that you can't trust any p2p aquired software. None of it. I think it is more of a security issue than most people are aware of. The risk is too great IMO.

[unhappy]

i just wanna say ...

which one of us can really say (not moral highground ****) that we haven't downloaded anything "illegal" EVER. 99% of the time i download something i erase it after i see it one time.

I dl'd photoshop because there was some little thing I couldn't do w/ gimp (or didn't know how to do) and then I erased it. So sue me.

In 2001 I was burglarized and they took all my CD's (as well as other things) Do you really expect me to pay for all the Nirvana CD's again. Hell no.

Also let others make Lucas richer. I dl'd the latest star wars. I'm glad I did because it was so bad that I went to play Metroid Prime half way through.

To dl things isn't as EVIL as they make it out to be. Now WE have a moral choice to pay for content based on seeing it before we purchase it and THEY (we know who) cannot deal w/ it. because most of the content they sell is awfull and they know it

[nihil]

which one of us can really say (not moral highground ****) that we haven't downloaded anything "illegal" EVER. 99% of the time i download something i erase it after i see it one time.

I can

It would depend on your definition of "illegal" though? Like I mean not against criminal law and not pursuable in civil law.

OK I will get a limited trial and use it for a "one off" without ever intending to buy it, but they decide to offer the trial..............if it works I will bear that in mind?

An area that is somewhat "gray" is the issue of "abandonware", which I define as stuff that does not have a current recognisable owner, so there is no one you can pay for it?

[Und3ertak3r]

OK,
P2P IS being used in the open source community.. You can use BitTorrent to D/L isos of many linux distro's..
It is being used in other areas for file distribution, that is outside the "Illegal" file sharing community.

As for the issue of the illegal sharing.. the way the subject is publicised you would think that music, movies and bootleg software is ALL that the P2P networks are being used for. And judging by unvi$ible's post, and the people who greened him, it would appear the publicity people have done an excellet job.

IF your for P2P networks for legal transfers.. Publicise it.. AND USE IT (it is a pisser when you decide to d/l the latest Fedora ISO and there is only 2 Seeds and no peers.. real piss poor effort)

So.. Support the Legal use, tell people about it .. dont hide in the closet.

I use BitTorrent P2P software to download and evaluate Open source software!

Now Dont get me started on copyright..

[rapier57]

I think the threads you may be referencing are not only threads dealing with questionable activities related to P2P, but were threads revived from two to three years ago. In one case, the three year old thread was revived by someone who read through the entire conversation that had drifted to reading the FAQ and not reviving ancient threads.

For some reason, there was a particular rash of those this last week or so. The ones that got negged and banned, btw, were the ones that just didn't seem to get it and ignored the PMs and advice.