So Napster (www.napster.com) has an architecture which includes a central server architecture for searching, and connecting to the network, has been legally forced to remove 100s of thousands of user accounts [1] So the is possible because a) the notion of an 'account' exists (napster is an IRC like chat program with the killer application being collaborative file sharing of mp3s), and b) because there are central servers. (As an aside I am not sure what cancelling the accounts achieves because that only applies to the chat handle; the user can pick a new handle and continue). Gnutella is a napster like file sharing system (without the IRC, and with no restriction on types of files shared). Gnutella however has no central servers; it's architecture is like USENET, new nodes pick existing nodes and connect themselves to the network via some of those nodes. There are no user names. Gnutella (when I tried it) seems to have about 10x as much as napster in terms of currently online files (10 Tb when I checked over 2500 nodes). On Gnutella people are sharing not just mp3s but music videos in the 20-80Mb size range, and even what looked like a movie of 350 Mb. Gnutella stands a much better chance of success because napster servers being central can be closed down. Gnutella basically can't be shutdown. I think the next step on from Gnutella is some crypto to make it so servers can't see what they're serving -- Gnutella leaves that transparent. I figure selective enforcement might have some effect on Gnutella users, and that not reasonably being able to know what files your server served would help in this area. Adam [1] > NAPSTER BLOCKS 317,377 USERS > Following through on its stated policy, Napster has blocked 317,377 user > screen names from accessing the service. The names are those delivered by > rock group Metallica last week. The company's official statement can be > found at http://www.napster.com/metallica-notice.html. Media coverage at > http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1847464.html
