Re: [p2pi] Charter and problem statement

[Nicholas Weaver <nweaver at ICSI.Berkeley.EDU>]

On Jul 22, 2008, at 10:04 AM, Enrico Marocco wrote:

> Nicholas Weaver wrote:
> > However, can ALTO be used as an oracle to find the peers distributing
> > illegitimate content, once an illegitimate content identifier has  
> > been
> > discovered by the legitimate content owner?
> >
> > Should this be considered a requirement in any direction (MUST
> > enable?  MUST prohibit?)
>
> I think this is a reasonable question. Plagiarizing the requirements
> draft, my answer would be that it MUST allow users not to disclose the
> content being exchange.

There may be an inherent conflict here, however:

If the user doesn't disclose a content/group/swarm identifier, then  
other peers can't find the user who's interested in the same content  
identifier, which may reduce effectiveness considerably.

If the user does disclose a content/group/swarm identifier, then other  
peers can find the user who's interested in the same content  
identifier, which may enable a large information leakage.


If some ISP in cooperating with the MP/RIAA is running an ALTO server,  
even if the clients don't connect directly, the trackers which query  
it (or arbitrary peers, in a trackerless system) may be able to glean  
interesting information based on the incoming query stream.



Additionally, the information leakage's danger can really depend on  
the nature of the content:

For both pirated material and legal pornography, the results are at  
least embarrassing, if not legally dangerous.

For legitimate, nonpornographic content, the results of an information  
leak are far less severe, but still could be significant.  (EG, could  
ALTO be used for "Nielson for IP-TV?"  Would this be good or bad?)


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