more on Opera integrates BitTorrent in upcoming browser

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        Re: [IP] Opera integrates BitTorrent in upcoming browser
Date:   Mon, 06 Feb 2006 10:03:07 -0500
From:   dsr () tao merseine nu
To:     Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
References:     <43E75D5D.4080408 () farber net>



> The following is a press release from Opera Software. According to 
> the release, the company is integrating BitTorrent into its 
> browser. Unfortunately, this could cause adverse effects; Opera 
> users may experience slow Internet performance because the 
> BitTorrent software will saturate their Internet bandwidth 
> allocations without their knowledge or consent. (The BitTorrent 
> protocol is, as you may know, designed to try to use every scrap of 
> available bandwidth not only to receive content but also to 
> redistribute it.) Also, because BitTorrent is one of the preferred 
> protocols for downloading of pirated movies and similar fare, the 
> software will also doubtless turn many Opera users' computers into 
> illicit sources of copyrighted material and subject the users to 
> lawsuits from movie studios and sanctions from their ISPs. It will 
> be interesting to see how this pans out, but I fear that the move 
> will backfire very badly for Opera.

Apparently Mr. Glass has never bothered to research exactly how
the BitTorrent protocol works. For every mention of BitTorrent,
please substitute "FTP". Does it sound ridiculous now?

The BT protocol only involves the user in downloading and
rebroadcasting the specific files that the user has requested.
When the download is complete, the user may continue to serve
those files to other BT users, or may stop responding. Only if
the user has requested illicit material will their machine
participate in serving it, and that only as long as the user
specifies after the download is complete. If the user is
requesting an ISO of a Linux distribution, they can be assured
that only that ISO is passing through their system.

-dsr-


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