A group of peer-to-peer file-sharing application companies have told the US Congress in a detailed letter that it is not possible for them to filter or block copyrighted or inappropriate sexual material on their networks. While the congress and courts are calling for filtering and sent out a letter last November to P2P United's members, the group are trying to prove that it is not technically feasible to filter content and back this with detailed technical documentation.
Only a centralised based server can filter content such as by restricting search results on the server as used by the original Napster and Audiogalaxy prior to being shutdown. With decentralised networks such as Kazaa, either all the supernodes or clients will need to be replaced to enforce filtering and they will also need to contact an up-to-date centralised database to determine which content to filter, thus defeating the totally decentralised approach. A company called Audible Magic demonstrated software set up by the RIAA that filtering trades of copyright songs is actually possible within the Internet Service Provider itself. Unfortunately it is only effective for customers using that ISP and has no effect on the rest of the P2P network.
Peer-to-peer companies claim that decentralised file-swapping network tools are legal as already said by a federal judge and they don't intend to modify their software to filter results based on a central database. Savannah submitted the following news from CNet via our news submit :
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As part of a lengthy letter to Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-N.C., the P2P United trade association said Wednesday that file-swapping companies should not be held to a standard that is technologically infeasible. Lawmakers "have been deliberately misinformed by self-interested industry about the technological capability of peer-to-peer services," said Adam Eisgrau, P2P United's executive director. "It is not that we won't filter out copyrighted material and inappropriate sexual material. It's that we can't." The group's claim, backed up by considerable technical documentation, comes as calls for filtering of file-swapping networks are rising in Congress and in courts. Graham and a quartet of other legislators sent a letter to P2P United's member companies last November, asking for assurances that the file-swapping companies would attempt to stop illegal material from being traded through their networks. Most pointedly, the letter asked that the companies work to create some kind of filters that could block copyrighted material and pornography. File-swapping companies have contended that this kind of filter is impossible in a decentralized system such as Gnutella or Kazaa. In older file-swapping services such as the original Napster, in which searches were routed through a central point, a filtering mechanism was more feasible. But in wholly decentralized networks, in which searches radiate out through a constantly shifting array of "nodes," or individual computers, filters are impractical, the group said. Only by forcing the networks to change into something else--a centralized system, for example--would effective filters be useful, the group added. However, some companies say they have the ability to do some effective filtering. Read the full story here. |
Implementing filtering into decentralised P2P software would be like VCR and DVD-Recorder manufactures implementing a feature to call a central location to determine if the program being recorded is copy-protected. This can be done, but would not prove popular with consumers and the same goes with P2P software tools. Finally, while filtering can be set-up on ISP's across the US to block certain content, it would prove ineffective for the newer decentralised P2P tools that encrypt their transmissions such as MUTE .
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Source: CNet Technology News
