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Limewire Hooks Up with AVG, Promises Virus Free P2P

Ryan Whitwam — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:49:09 -0600

Surely you are aware the p2p networks are crawling with nasty malware. It’s almost enough to make you go elsewhere for your ~~copyrighted~~ public domain content. The MPAA and RIAA are of the opinion that people running torrents are a bunch of pirates that deserve what’s coming to them. The makers of Limewire, however, feel differently and have licensed the AVG antivirus engine to provide real-time scanning of downloaded files.

Limewire accesses both the Gnutella and BitTorrent protocols. The pro version of the software will be the one getting the security upgrades. Users of the free edition will still be on their own. Files scanned with the integrated scanner will be labeled as “Protected by AVG”. The software will make no distinction between legal and illegal files.

Look, we’re all for fewer people having malware and getting caught up in botnets, but is paying for a p2p app with integrated virus scanning the way to do it? Maybe suggest your p2p loving friends use a free security solution like Microsoft Security Essentials instead.

FCC's Draft Net Neutrality Regulations Permit Blocking Torrent Traffic

Ryan Whitwam — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:20:49 -0600

The FCC has formally issued their draft net neutrality rules, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is calling foul. The document contains language covering so-called “reasonable network management”. According to the EFF, this creates a loophole that would allow ISPs to block BitTorrent.

The net neutrality debate really took off when in 2007, Comcast began blocking BitTorrent connections. Eventually the FCC forced them to stop, but Comcast is still appealing the decision. This copyright loophole in the draft could be used by content producers to encourage ISPs to enforce copyright law. In fact, the EFF claims the exact behavior that got Comcast in hot water, and kicked off the debate could be perfectly acceptable under the proposed regulations.

It may not be feasible for the FCC to be intimately involved in every aspect of an ISP’s network management. What’s the solution? Can they just require protocol agnostic management?

Office 2010 Beta Already Leaked

Ryan Whitwam — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:42:58 -0600

Is a week just too long to wait to get your hands on the beta of Office 2010? If so, you can head on over to you friendly neighborhood torrent site and grab the code. While we don’t necessarily recommend doing this, you certainly could. Microsoft is neither confirming nor denying anything saying, “We have not officially released the beta code of Office (2010)… We recommend that people do not download code from unauthorized sources."

Microsoft is expected to officially release the Office 2010 beta at the Professional Developer Conference next week. A tech preview was released in July, but was still lacking some features and polish. The Redmond software giant is also making a bit of a departure by offering browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. So, interested?

Microsoft Again Snubs Torrents

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:55:12 -0600

Torrentfreak has lambasted Microsoft for not using torrents for the launch of the Windows 7 Beta. Microsoft faced serious bandwidth constraints and had to delay the launch of the Beta by a day. Although the criticism is impassioned coming from a blog about torrents, it is both sensible and plausible.

An official Torrent would have not only taken a lot of burden off Microsoft’s own servers, but it would have also offered great speeds as torrents speeds improve with traffic (the ratio between seeders and leechers is equally important, though). It is the same mistake that Microsoft made during the launch of the Vista Beta.

Image Credit: Geekzilla

Rather Than Compromise Users' Privacy, Torrentspy Bans US Searches

Erin Simon — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 21:50:27 -0500

Popular torrent search-engine Torrentspy closed its doors to US visitors Sunday in advance of a court order compelling it to begin logging users' IP addresses. Torrentspy doesn't host infringing files itself, but it does host the .torrent files that contain information pointing to torrent trackers, which connect users to other users sharing the same file. (I'm taking Copyright this semester, so in a few months I'll tell you whether the torrent files are even infringing.) The MPAA sued several torrent sites for copyright infringement earlier this year, and as part of discovery requested the site's server logs.

Discovery is a unique part of the US legal process whereby the parties to a lawsuit get to force each other to turn over information relevant to the case. The scope of discovery is pretty broad, and parties can be sanctioned for destroying evidence or refusing to respond to discovery requests. Generally, though, you can only be compelled to turn over information you already have – not create new documents or information solely for the benefit of the other side.

Pursuant to its privacy policy and the law of its home country the Netherlands, Torrentspy did not keep logs. That didn't stop the MPAA, however, who managed to convince a judge to order the site to turn on logging and then hand those logs over. The MPAA argued that the IP addresses and query records were already being created – in RAM, for the milliseconds that Torrentspy's servers received and responded to the requests. The MPAA argued that by not keeping logs of this activity, Torrentspy was actually destroying its records as the RAM data got overwritten.

The original magistrate judge's order, which had been stayed pending appeal, was upheld by the District Court and will take effect. Torrentspy says it plans to appeal the decision, but in the meantime searches originating from US IP addresses get shunted to a page titled "Torrentspy Acts to Protect Privacy", where the site explains its decision as a response to the “uncertain legal climate in the US regarding user privacy.”

Thumbnail source photo courtesy of fuzzcat.