A private program for those you trust

[napho]

Paranoia says it all.



http://paranoia.sourceforge.net/ParanoiaFAQ.html

http://paranoia.sourceforge.net/download.html

[TankGirl]

Thanks for the link, napho.

Interesting! Paranoia, even if it is a centralized chat/filesharing system, introduces several features and concepts that I myself consider important for the next generation p2p systems:

- verifiable peer identities with tamper-proof local aliases and encrypted communications
- possibility to create different shares for different user groups
- support for declaring both static shares (more or less permanently shared files) & dynamic shares (pointers to regularly changing shared content)
- a mechanism to evaluate peers ('karma' & trust points) and control sharing with these evaluations

This is a very potent set of features and the prospect of implementing similar functionality in a decentralized environment is particularly fascinating. Imagine a FastTrack/WinMX-like open network with an easy access for anybody to step in and start sharing. As you would gradually come to know and trust some people better, you could use the same software to allow them a more exclusive access to your library and vice versa. No need to play with FTP servers or ICQ, just a simple change in their social status and they would see your 10.000 files instead of the 1.000 that you are sharing to everybody. Leeches and RIAA snoopers would be natural outcasts in this kind of advanced social environment where sharing and earned trust would be rewarded with access to ever more luxurious sources of digital pleasure.

- tg

[TankGirl]

BTW I found this comment on the download page quite amusing:

[ssj4_android]

What's anti-rip? BTW, it says it's discontinued. Check the address in the image.

[TankGirl]

Originally posted by ssj4_android
What's anti-rip? BTW, it says it's discontinued. Check the address in the image.

RIP = The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Law

http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~james/politics/RIPbill.html
An Act to:
Make provision for and about the interception of communications, the acquisition and disclosure of data relating to communications, the carrying out of surveillance, the use of covert human intelligence sources and the acquisition of the means by which electronic data protected by encryption or passwords may be decrypted or accessed; to provide for Commissioners and a tribunal with functions and jurisdiction in relation to those matters, to entries on and interferences with property or with wireless telegraphy and to the carrying out of their functions by the Security Service, the Secret Intelligence Service and the Government Communications Headquarters; and for connected purposes.

The act is worrying for several reasons:

- The government can order telecommunications services, including ISPs, to intercept your communications, and demand that this is kept secret forever!.

- Interception warrants can also be served to do masssurveillance.

- ISPs can be forced to install equipment to support interception warrants.

- The government can monitor any user's activities on the net for any reason it sees fit.

- The existence of interception warrants and surveillance data cannot be mentioned in court, thus you cannot find out if you have had your communications illegitimately intercepted.

- The government can demand you hand over keys to encrypted information on pain of 2 years imprisonment, and if you ever possessed the keys you must provide evidence you no longer do so.

U.K. e-mail snooping bill passes

By Laura Rohde / Infoworld
July 27, 2000 6:25 am PT

THE SURVEILLANCE BILL granting the U.K. government sweeping powers to access e-mail and other encrypted Internet communications passed its final vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday and is set to become law on Oct. 5.

Among other provisions, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) bill requires ISPs in the United Kingdom to track all data traffic passing through their computers and route it to the Government Technical Assistance Center (GTAC). The GTAC is being established in the London headquarters of the U.K. security service, MI5 -- the equivalent to the FBI.

- tg