P2P Network DiagramP2P, it’s been the MPAA’s voluntary enemy since the mid to late nineties, forcing law suits upon companies like Limewire and Mininova, claiming copyright infringements on their behalf. Organizations like the MPAA and MediaDefender, have been accused of some pretty slimy strategies, in order to get what they need to bring down sites like The Pirate Bay and TorrentSpy.

For example, take the alleged accusations against the MPAA by former TorrentSpy advertising partner Robert Anderson. Mr. Anderson states that the MPAA hired him to reveal sensitive information concerning TorrentSpy. He claims that the MPAA paid him for confidential information concerning TorrentSpy’s website. The MPAA has yet to deny the $15,000 dollars they paid Mr. Anderson for said sensitive information.

“The MPAA obtains information from third parties only if it believes the evidence has been collected legally,” says MPAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Kaltman. I broke into a fit of uncontrolled chuckles after reading that, so I had to quote it.

“…the Federal Trade Commission states that there are over 60 million P2P subscribers.”

Anderson stated the MPAA had wanted him to implant decoy files into TorrentSpy’s file sharing program in order to spread an Anti-Online Piracy campaign of the shady sort. The MPAA denies this accusation. Apparently, the MPAA told Anderson (via wired magazine): “We would need somebody like you. We would give you a nice paying job, a house, a car, anything you needed…. if you save Hollywood for us you can become rich and powerful.” Save Hollywood…LMAO. Sorry. Totally uncalled for.

Situations like the one stated above, have made P2P users wary of entertainment lawyers on the prowl for possible copyright violations. Though now, P2P users have another enemy on the frontline. Identity thieves using the P2P software to hack into the user’s pc, obtaining personal information like checking account and routing numbers, social security numbers, even the names and addresses of people in your family.

According to the Olson family in an interview with with MSNBC.com, due to the security holes in popular P2P sharing programs, their birthdays, family income and even their banking information was available through Limewire. Within a few minutes a history of their income taxes were accessible.

This is a huge issue in the P2P industry, considering that the Federal Trade Commission states that there are over 60 million P2P subscribers. That is a lot of opportunity for identity thieves to get what they want.

“Users can specify what files are private, but many don’t“, said Eugene Spafford, a computer science professor at Purdue University. Programs like Limewire and Bitcomet offer options to set specific file locations as private so that they are not shared over the P2P interface. So for all of you downloading maniacs out there, please be sure to check your settings and make sure your pc is armed with an arsenal of firewalls and the like. Between the MPAA’s goons and the no-life prepubescent identity thieves, P2P sharing is bound to get ugly.