Posted by
ryuzaki0
on from the hey-buddy-gotta-file dept.
Kaseijin writes "'We believe that if peer-to-peer flourishes, the Internet flourishes.' Earthlink's Research and Development division has released SIPshare, a prototype file-sharing application based on SIP. The code is available under a BSD-style license."
Earthlink supports P2P!
by
sketerpot
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
The most important part is this bit here:
EarthLink believes an open Internet is a good Internet. An open Internet means users have full end-to-end connectivity to say to each other whatever it is they say, be that voice, video, or other data exchanges, without the help of mediating servers in the middle whenever possible. We believe that if peer-to-peer flourishes, the Internet flourishes. SIPshare helps spread the word that SIP is more than a powerful voice over IP enabler --- much more. SIP is a protocol that enables peer-to-peer in a standards-based way.
You are giving away gmail invites to participate in a pyramid scheme? Fuck that. I'll give away my gmail invites just to mod you down.
Just post under here with your email address, they will magically appear in your inbox.
Re:Earthlink supports P2P!
by
DrEldarion
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
EarthLink believes an open Internet is a good Internet. An open Internet means users have full end-to-end connectivity to say to each other whatever it is they say, be that voice, video, or other data exchanges, without the help of mediating servers in the middle whenever possible.
Translation: Earthlink likes an open internet - an open internet allows for P2P file sharing and other things that require lots of bandwidth. Oh hey, did we mention that we sell broadband service? It's fast. You'll want that speed for downloading all this data. C'mon, just try it. The first one is free. Yeah, yeah, that's good. You like that, huh? Now, about this contract...
It should read
by
Ignignot
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
"We believe that if people keep needing more bandwidth, Earthlink will flourish." Earthlink is an ISP, and this is entirely for their own benefit. If more people are using file sharing, then they need more bandwidth to do it. If everyone buys more bandwidth, then the value of the internet is much greater (because it is proportional to connectedness). Then Earthlink gets more money. so you might even say:
1 - Release new P2P program
2 - Everyone needs more bandwidth
3 - People buy more bandwidth
4 - Profit!!!
5 - Internet flourishes kind of or something.
-- I submitted this story last night, and it didn't get posted.
Re:It should read
by
GodHead
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
1 - Release new P2P program
That should read "release proof of concept that wont work for 90% of users". It's a tech demo. It's not like there's some shortage of p2p apps anyway.
I think the bit that's missing is why SIP-based p2p would be better than other p2p apps. Someone care to explain that?
-- Just wait till some crappy band steals your nic.
Only a proof of concept...
by
garcia
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Will EarthLink SIPshare work behind NAT?
No. All messaging, including the file transfer protocol, are based on UDP. If you want to extend EarthLink SIPshare by incorporating something like STUN for NAT traversal, by all means do so.
Obviously this wasn't originally intended for anything other than the proof of concept as a large group of users interested in P2P would be using some form of NAT. If anything it may be dangerous (if it became popular) because users would DMZ or disconnect from their router to put their machines straight to the net to use this application.
Re:Only a proof of concept...
by
ray-auch
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Nope (be lovely if it was that simple), because SIP uses incoming (on different, sometimes random, ports) as well as outgoing connections. At least for VOIP, SIP behind NAT usually requires using proxies and/or STUN servers. See eg. here.
I'm sure their devils, I mean lawyers, have looked into this quite a bit. Besides, courts have already upheld in some cases that it is not the P2P software's liability if someone shares something illegal.
-- Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
The key for adoption of P2P is getting it into companies. Like IM, if P2P is compelling to average users, it will weasel its way into corporations. Don't miss the disclaimer: "Finally, EarthLink SIPshare is NOT a supported EarthLink product. It is more than anything else a manifestation of an idea. So if you call our Tech Support with SIPshare questions, they will have no idea what you are talking about. So please, if you use SIPshare, you're on your own." The problem is that this is for geeks, mostly. Until it is easy enough for "average" folks and grandmothers, it probably won't be adopted. So, might be good technology, but not so sure about adoption. We'll see. TWT.
I hate libertarians as much as the next guy, but let me put on that hat for a minute and ask: so what? If Earthlink honestly provides a good or service that people want, and people use it, why should they not be financially rewarded for their efforts? Profit motive is not inherently bad, however much it may cause unscrupulous players to behave unfairly or unjustly. I don't think Earthlink has done anything to warrant criticism, here, nor are their motives worthy of scorn.
Let's see, you're liberal, but believe fundamentally in individual freedoms (including the second amendment), but scorn libertarians? So you're like a libertarian, only not a heartless Randian bastard?
Level of integrity
by
moankey
·
· Score: 1, Insightful
Lets hope Earthlink keeps it just a little program to help promote their ISP. I would hate to think they are starting down the road of many other P2P companies which eventually start throwing spyware on your machine and making money the sleazy internet way.
Re:Good Bye EarthLink
by
Tackhead
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
> 'So if you call our Tech Support with SIPshare questions, they will have no idea what you are talking about.
And this differentiates SIPshare from anything else offered by Earthlink... precisely how?
Yeah there had to be the obligatory earthlink and scientology post. Okay could we like, move on? This is old and utterly irrelevant gossip that takes away from talking about what's more important, such as the future of the internet, the future killer applications of the internet and how earthlink just might be the last big player to keep the other big players and regulators in check.
on one hand you have the major telcos who are lobbying like mad motherfsckers to keep their stronghold on the pipes, while stifling competition and preventing prices from going down and bandwidth to go up. European countries and even Korea are zooming way ahead of us. Why? because regulations have allowed companies such as free.fr to share the lines at competitive costs. Imagine that. People in Korea are watching their fave soap operas, on-demand, over their TCP/IP broadband connectivity.
on the other hand you have all the cable operators, AOL, and timewarner, who are also lobbying like mad motherfsckers to limit the amount of competitive pipe sharing. Oh and they control content too.
Then you have companies such as earthlink, covad, speakeasy who would love nothing more than to offer faster connections and more competitive prices but are prevented from doing so by the FCC's shitty policies.
Finally someone like earthlink is speaking out FOR THE CONSUMER, and offering a really cool proof-of-concept, source code and all to the masses, as a basis for the internet killer-apps of the future.
And you wanna talk about scientology?
oh and for all the trolls whining about outsourcing of customer service, if you wanna blame someone, blame dumb users who can't use a computer, download every piece of crapware they can get their hands on to their computer, then call-up their ISPs tech support FOR FREE FOR HOURS to fscking bail them out of their own stupidity. Every single one of earthlink's competitor had already been outsourcing FOR YEARS. earthlink held up as long as a publicly-traded company could, but when your stock tops at $5, you've gotta make tough choices. I've heard stories of tech support reps spending an hour on the phone helping some clueless sap rebuild their entire OS. This type of task belongs to a computer consultant who will charge no less than $100/hour. That's the cold hard fact. And then you have 99.9% of all problems that can be resolved from reading a simple script. That's what outsourced service is best for. The remaining 0.1% of legitimate technical issues can get escalated back in the U.S., that's typically what ISPs and OEM vendors do. I guess they did something right because earthlink still managed to rank #1 in satisfaction from JD Powers i both narrow and broadband.
Re:Good Bye EarthLink
by
valmont
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Okay what part of "earthlink is not putting this out as a product" do people not get??? There are no legal issues to dodge here. This is not a product. This is not meant for average consumers. This is a research project. A science project. They're trying to show that "SIP is cool" and "can achieve cool things".
people are interpreting this as earthlink supporting p2p file sharing development when in fact, file sharing is a completely irrelevant use case for this technology. Even if you can share files with someone, that's not the cool thing of this particular application of P2P/SIP. it's the fact that you can communicate with a remote machine that sits behind some opaque NATed network.
On the other hand, the appeal of "controversial P2P applications" was the fact that each participant listed their presence and files available to share on a centralized network. The combination of 1) a P2P client application *AND* 2) a centralized network putting people in relation is what created a medium highly conducive to file swapping.
In this case, earthlink is merely pointing out the fact that SIP enables two computers to talk to one-another behind across opaque networks. The relevant applications of this revolve around VoIP, Video Conferencing, and yes, 1-to-1 data exchange based on a priorly established relationship.
Slashdot Mirror
EarthLink believes an open Internet is a good Internet. An open Internet means users have full end-to-end connectivity to say to each other whatever it is they say, be that voice, video, or other data exchanges, without the help of mediating servers in the middle whenever possible. We believe that if peer-to-peer flourishes, the Internet flourishes. SIPshare helps spread the word that SIP is more than a powerful voice over IP enabler --- much more. SIP is a protocol that enables peer-to-peer in a standards-based way.
"We believe that if people keep needing more bandwidth, Earthlink will flourish." Earthlink is an ISP, and this is entirely for their own benefit. If more people are using file sharing, then they need more bandwidth to do it. If everyone buys more bandwidth, then the value of the internet is much greater (because it is proportional to connectedness). Then Earthlink gets more money. so you might even say:
1 - Release new P2P program
2 - Everyone needs more bandwidth
3 - People buy more bandwidth
4 - Profit!!!
5 - Internet flourishes kind of or something.
I submitted this story last night, and it didn't get posted.
Will EarthLink SIPshare work behind NAT?
No. All messaging, including the file transfer protocol, are based on UDP. If you want to extend EarthLink SIPshare by incorporating something like STUN for NAT traversal, by all means do so.
Obviously this wasn't originally intended for anything other than the proof of concept as a large group of users interested in P2P would be using some form of NAT. If anything it may be dangerous (if it became popular) because users would DMZ or disconnect from their router to put their machines straight to the net to use this application.
I'm sure their devils, I mean lawyers, have looked into this quite a bit. Besides, courts have already upheld in some cases that it is not the P2P software's liability if someone shares something illegal.
Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
The key for adoption of P2P is getting it into companies. Like IM, if P2P is compelling to average users, it will weasel its way into corporations. Don't miss the disclaimer: "Finally, EarthLink SIPshare is NOT a supported EarthLink product. It is more than anything else a manifestation of an idea. So if you call our Tech Support with SIPshare questions, they will have no idea what you are talking about. So please, if you use SIPshare, you're on your own." The problem is that this is for geeks, mostly. Until it is easy enough for "average" folks and grandmothers, it probably won't be adopted. So, might be good technology, but not so sure about adoption. We'll see. TWT.
How to Download YouTube Videos
Don't be fooled. They'll turn over your name and address as soon as the RIAA comes with their subpoena.
:)
At least RoadRunner is nice enough to tell you where they're scanning from so that you can block them. Thanks iptables
Chris
I hate libertarians as much as the next guy, but let me put on that hat for a minute and ask: so what? If Earthlink honestly provides a good or service that people want, and people use it, why should they not be financially rewarded for their efforts? Profit motive is not inherently bad, however much it may cause unscrupulous players to behave unfairly or unjustly. I don't think Earthlink has done anything to warrant criticism, here, nor are their motives worthy of scorn.
Lets hope Earthlink keeps it just a little program to help promote their ISP.
I would hate to think they are starting down the road of many other P2P companies which eventually start throwing spyware on your machine and making money the sleazy internet way.
And this differentiates SIPshare from anything else offered by Earthlink... precisely how?
Yeah there had to be the obligatory earthlink and scientology post. Okay could we like, move on? This is old and utterly irrelevant gossip that takes away from talking about what's more important, such as the future of the internet, the future killer applications of the internet and how earthlink just might be the last big player to keep the other big players and regulators in check.
on one hand you have the major telcos who are lobbying like mad motherfsckers to keep their stronghold on the pipes, while stifling competition and preventing prices from going down and bandwidth to go up. European countries and even Korea are zooming way ahead of us. Why? because regulations have allowed companies such as free.fr to share the lines at competitive costs. Imagine that. People in Korea are watching their fave soap operas, on-demand, over their TCP/IP broadband connectivity.
on the other hand you have all the cable operators, AOL, and timewarner, who are also lobbying like mad motherfsckers to limit the amount of competitive pipe sharing. Oh and they control content too.
Then you have companies such as earthlink, covad, speakeasy who would love nothing more than to offer faster connections and more competitive prices but are prevented from doing so by the FCC's shitty policies.
Finally someone like earthlink is speaking out FOR THE CONSUMER, and offering a really cool proof-of-concept, source code and all to the masses, as a basis for the internet killer-apps of the future.
And you wanna talk about scientology?
oh and for all the trolls whining about outsourcing of customer service, if you wanna blame someone, blame dumb users who can't use a computer, download every piece of crapware they can get their hands on to their computer, then call-up their ISPs tech support FOR FREE FOR HOURS to fscking bail them out of their own stupidity. Every single one of earthlink's competitor had already been outsourcing FOR YEARS. earthlink held up as long as a publicly-traded company could, but when your stock tops at $5, you've gotta make tough choices. I've heard stories of tech support reps spending an hour on the phone helping some clueless sap rebuild their entire OS. This type of task belongs to a computer consultant who will charge no less than $100/hour. That's the cold hard fact. And then you have 99.9% of all problems that can be resolved from reading a simple script. That's what outsourced service is best for. The remaining 0.1% of legitimate technical issues can get escalated back in the U.S., that's typically what ISPs and OEM vendors do. I guess they did something right because earthlink still managed to rank #1 in satisfaction from JD Powers i both narrow and broadband.
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Okay what part of "earthlink is not putting this out as a product" do people not get??? There are no legal issues to dodge here. This is not a product. This is not meant for average consumers. This is a research project. A science project. They're trying to show that "SIP is cool" and "can achieve cool things".
people are interpreting this as earthlink supporting p2p file sharing development when in fact, file sharing is a completely irrelevant use case for this technology. Even if you can share files with someone, that's not the cool thing of this particular application of P2P/SIP. it's the fact that you can communicate with a remote machine that sits behind some opaque NATed network.
On the other hand, the appeal of "controversial P2P applications" was the fact that each participant listed their presence and files available to share on a centralized network. The combination of 1) a P2P client application *AND* 2) a centralized network putting people in relation is what created a medium highly conducive to file swapping.
In this case, earthlink is merely pointing out the fact that SIP enables two computers to talk to one-another behind across opaque networks. The relevant applications of this revolve around VoIP, Video Conferencing, and yes, 1-to-1 data exchange based on a priorly established relationship.
Extraordinary Vacations. Exceptional Prices