...because P2P is about exchange, and people need to know whom to send information to.
What you CAN do however, is to make it very difficult to prove that the data in question ORIGINATED FROM YOUR IP.
This can be done by massively modifying a standard P2P network, so that each client randomly serves as a relay for sending data or parts of data to another client.
It's like tossing a ball around between friends and not letting RIAA catch it.
I need piece #32 of Terminator4.avi, and so I send a request.
Client #398 responds, saying that it can provide piece #32, while actually it receives it from client #UNKNOWN (ip you're not aware of) and sends it to you.
The fact is that client #398 is most likely not a part of downloading of Terminator4.avi at all, and you will not find it on it's hard drive.
It just participates in a scheme of global file distribution, serving as a temporary proxy, a shield for the client that actually does have it.
There's no way you can accuse client #398 of transferring warez, because it only transferred a small chunk of encrypted data. Even if decrypted, its matching to a certain pattern inside Terminator4.avi can be a pure coincidence.
Or it can even be a sum of several blocks inside the file, in which case it will not match any "whole" piece of the file at all.
At this point, of course, an RIAA member can set up a computer, join this network, and try to catch the cases where HIS client is used as the relay, in which case his client becomes aware of a certain person's IP address, and that person sends the file chunk to the RIAA computer so that it can transfer it to the recipient.
This can be made difficult, by requiring each new member of the network to have sufficient amount of "illegal" files (and not just the same file many times over!) actually shared with others for free, before it becomes fully a part of the network.
This would require RIAA computer to have actual "illegal" files on it, and quite a few of them.
If they fill it with fakes, they will either be unpopular and never become a part of the network, or, if some people actually acquire the entire file, they'll get a sufficient amount of "blacklisting" from the network to never be allowed to join it.
So, RIAA will be forced to use warez in order to find warez sharers.
Still, the problem of them acquiring IP's that way remains. Perhaps it can be solved by allowing recursive relays, where a chunk, instead of being proxied by one client, can travel through an indetermined amount of clients, say, up to 10, before it actually reaches its destination.
However certain measures will have to be taken to prevent an "empty loop", where clients keep requesting the file from one another, and neither has it...
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Fascisti !
Why, I got laid. No, I didn't :(
...because P2P is about exchange, and people need to know whom to send information to. What you CAN do however, is to make it very difficult to prove that the data in question ORIGINATED FROM YOUR IP. This can be done by massively modifying a standard P2P network, so that each client randomly serves as a relay for sending data or parts of data to another client. It's like tossing a ball around between friends and not letting RIAA catch it. I need piece #32 of Terminator4.avi, and so I send a request. Client #398 responds, saying that it can provide piece #32, while actually it receives it from client #UNKNOWN (ip you're not aware of) and sends it to you. The fact is that client #398 is most likely not a part of downloading of Terminator4.avi at all, and you will not find it on it's hard drive. It just participates in a scheme of global file distribution, serving as a temporary proxy, a shield for the client that actually does have it. There's no way you can accuse client #398 of transferring warez, because it only transferred a small chunk of encrypted data. Even if decrypted, its matching to a certain pattern inside Terminator4.avi can be a pure coincidence. Or it can even be a sum of several blocks inside the file, in which case it will not match any "whole" piece of the file at all. At this point, of course, an RIAA member can set up a computer, join this network, and try to catch the cases where HIS client is used as the relay, in which case his client becomes aware of a certain person's IP address, and that person sends the file chunk to the RIAA computer so that it can transfer it to the recipient. This can be made difficult, by requiring each new member of the network to have sufficient amount of "illegal" files (and not just the same file many times over!) actually shared with others for free, before it becomes fully a part of the network. This would require RIAA computer to have actual "illegal" files on it, and quite a few of them. If they fill it with fakes, they will either be unpopular and never become a part of the network, or, if some people actually acquire the entire file, they'll get a sufficient amount of "blacklisting" from the network to never be allowed to join it. So, RIAA will be forced to use warez in order to find warez sharers. Still, the problem of them acquiring IP's that way remains. Perhaps it can be solved by allowing recursive relays, where a chunk, instead of being proxied by one client, can travel through an indetermined amount of clients, say, up to 10, before it actually reaches its destination. However certain measures will have to be taken to prevent an "empty loop", where clients keep requesting the file from one another, and neither has it...