Peer-to-peer, this simple yet powerful technology amazingly provokes a plethora of emotions from a vast spectrum of people. Otherwise known as p2p, this connection and collaboration tecnology is seen by some as a god send, as an evil thiefing technolgy, as others see it as a cost-efficent form of buisness protocol. P2P has rewritten the status quo of online distribution and networking, from the offices of the corporation to the campus dorm. When everyone is connected to a p2p network, each client becomes both a user and distributor, or in other words a “node.” Since there is a lack of a trandial central server, clients instead make direct connects to each other, since everyone can download and upload accordingly. The very first internet, ARPANET, was created not with a tradtionla client/server protocal, but rather with the very first p2p setup, with each node being able to connect and share resources without a centralized server. Since then, P2P has taken off and is today a very provoative technology. Popular with the college students for the way it facilates the sharing of multimedia, it is likewise hated by the executives of the entertainment industry who have been working vicousouy to kill

Another P2P business venture is the use of a P2P protocal to provide a method of Video on Demand, or as it is commonely known as VOD. Cable companies recently have been envious of the satellite video distribution form of VOD. Cable companies have been trying to give their customers a similar vehicle of video delivery, but while mainting a profit which is the leading obstacle. Paul Sweeting, author of “The P2P Paradox,” states “the idea for cable operators is to equip their subscribers with high-speed internet access via cable modems and then use that capability to deliever movies on demand.” By using the internet as its backbone, the cable companies can provide a efficent distribution medium if the customers have a high speed connection. But there are issues that could hinder the VOD system the cable compaines would like to install including bandwidth useage, compression techonlogy of large movie files, and storage of the movies themselves that are waiting to be delieverd. This is where P2P comes into play. “By far, the most efficent way to maintain and operate an IP based system for distributing large data files such as movies, is to base it on peer-to-peer architecture.” (The P2P Paradox, P.1) Here the author suggests that using a P2P system of distribution, the storage and bandwidth issues are no longer in mind. “Rather then storing movies on massive servers and serving them up one at a time, in a P2P envioronment, the file is just passed around within the network, with no need for central storage and shifting the bandwidth cost to the user.” (The P2P Paradox, p.1) This could effectivly change the way we rent and watch movies and videos. I am sure Blockbuster is taking notice and even starting to think of developing their own P2P-IP based VOD system.

P2P is not just for poor college kids. P2P is in the inital stages of becoming a legitimate business tool. Last september, in San Francisco, at a brainstorming session called the Peer-to-Peer Summit, some of the most prestigious names in P2P technologly came together to brainstorm about the future of P2P. “The high calibur group hased out ideas on how P2P will affect users and the high tech industry. They also talked about obstacles the nascent technology faces. There was much debate throughout the day, but they all agreed on one thing: P2P communication and collaboration will overhaul Internet-based computing as we know it” (Tech Leaders talk up potential, p.1). They discussed the obstacltes currently holding P2P down, which include bandwidth constraits, and corporate firewalls. Intel Coroprations cheif P2P officer, Robert Knightenon even went as far as to state “P2P will be as big as the Web was to the internet.” While P2P is on the rise, there are several negative issues becoming more prevelent in the filesharing community. “Among the obstacles to such freedom are bandwidth constraits and corporate firewals.” While broadband is gaining premise everyday, it is still not the standard, which the summit discussed is crucial to the development of peer-to-peer systems. Corporate firewalls are actually the most crucial opstacle in the way to the future development of p2p systems. These firewalls tend to block the ports that many p2p protocals use to share and download files through the nodes. With these firewalls closing the ports these p2p protocals run on, the whole idea of p2p becomes irrelavent, as they can not even run its purpose. Among the summit, some speakers spoke up to the need to find alternative methods to bypassing the firewall issue in future p2p realeases.

The RIAA is at war with no one. They are fighting technology, not people. Mp3s are part of the reason people are interested in music these days. When they ask people to stop file-sharing they are in essence asking people to stop buying music. "Stop buying our music you thieves," is pretty much what they are saying. Well