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Protecting Clients: Legal Impact of Filesharing Network Design

Cryogenes writes "InfoAnarchy has posted an excellent piece on legal issues faced by participants in a P2P network. The article is written by Fred von Lohmann who was previously noted on /. for the white paper IAAL*: Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and Copyright Law after Napster (which you can find on the EFF site here)."

9 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Linux is not a contender.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    If you put Linux next to some other operating systems out there for a cost comparison, the conclusions are devastating for Linux.

    Linux costs not only more because of the frequent updates which require new cdrom's to be bought if you don't have a high speed Internet connection.

    Another factor in Linux cost is its maintenance. Linux requires a *lot* of maintenance, work doable only by the relatively few high-paid Linux administrators that put themselves - of course willingly - at a great place in the market. Linux seems to be needing maintenance continuously.

    Add to this the cost of loss of data. Linux' native file system, EXT2FS, is known to lose data like a firehose loses water, when the file system isn't unmounted properly. Other unix file systems are much more tolerant towards unexpected crashes. An example is the FreeBSD file system, which with soft updates enabled, performance-wise blows EXT2FS out of the water, and doesn't have the negative drawback of extreme data loss in case of a system breakdown.

    Factor in also the fact that crashes happen much more often on Linux than on other unices. On other unices, crashes usually are caused by external sources like power outages. Crashes in Linux are a regular thing, and nobody seems to know what causes them, internally.

    The steep learning curve compared to about any other operating system out there is a major factor in Linux' cost. The system is a mix of features from all kinds of unices, but not one of them is implemented right. A Linux user has to live with badly coded tools which have low performance, mangle data seemingly at random and are not in line with their specification. On top of that a lot of them spit out the most childish and unprofessional messages, indicating that they were created by 14-year olds with too much time, no talent and a bad attitude.

    I can go on and on and on, but the message is clear. In this world, there is no place for Linux. It's not an option for any one who seeks a professional OS with high performance, scalability, stability, adherence to standards, etc. The best place it should ever reach is the toy store, and even that would be flattering.

  2. Re:Is anyone able to actually read this? by Nastard · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Judging by his words, I would not immediatly discount the possibility of a large number of toes.

  3. Re:Simple sharing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Dude, surely that was worth some karma...why the AC? Looks like the e4m folks don't know about pgpdisk the way they moan about pgp.

  4. Fp! by LilGuy · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    yay

    --

    You're nothing; like me.
  5. google as a filesharing tool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    i like just using google to find files, like the excellent collection of asian mpegs

  6. Re:Is anyone able to actually read this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    must be a slow news day

  7. Re:Is anyone able to actually read this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Funny, your mom was pretty quick at gobbling my wang today, and that was news to all. She's usually slow from being stoned out of her mind on ecstacy while hanging out at the dance club waiting to get it in the rear while crawling around on the floor as the bubbles pour out.

  8. Re:Is anyone able to actually read this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Yes, people who, unlike you, have an IQ higher than the number of their toes.

  9. Doctors grew penis on guy's arm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    16-year-old guy Malik was ready to make up with the idea he will never be a real man. But the doctors gave the hope back to him.

    http://english.pravda.ru/fun/2001/08/10/12267.html