Neither BitTorrent nor Gnutella depend on any pirated file existing on any webserver. If either did, it wouldn't exist (or rather, wouldn't be used).
At best it sounds like Gnutella *can* pull from an HTTP source if someone is crazy enough to host pirated content on an HTTP server. But what fraction of actual usage does this make up? How many zeros are before it? BitTorrent avoids interoperability because existing standards forbid anonymity, and BT absolutely, utterly depends upon this property to be valuable. It's not going for ease of use, it's not going for performance, it's going for piracy, and the IETF has nothing in its toolshed to support that. -david _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Adam Fisk Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2007 9:08 AM To: theory and practice of decentralized computer networks Subject: Re: [p2p-hackers] HTTP design flawed due to lack of understandingofTCP Hi David- On 1/5/07, David Barrett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: The reason BitTorrent doesn't use HTTP is because it's a tool for piracy, and hosting pirated content on a public webserver is the quickest way to get sued. What you call "breaking interoperability with the rest of the internet" I call "flying under the radar". For the context of the problem they were solving, it's an excellent design decision. (Granted, by optimizing the protocol for piracy they make it suck ass for legitimate hosting, but that's a totally valid choice.) It certainly has had that effect, although I wonder in practice how much using HTTP would have made it more vulnerable. It didn't make Gnutella any more vulnerable, although BitTorrent is more closely integrated with web servers. Furthermore, I think you're overglorifying the IETF protocol stack. I mean, if it were truly as great as you say it is, why do all the most innovative products avoid it like the plague? Perhaps the problem lies closer to home than they'd like to admit. I probably am overglorifying it. I think there's an impending backlash against all these clumsy, essentially proprietary protocols becoming standards, though. HTTP and HTML really started this whole ride. Their simplicity -- the ease of interoperation -- was really the key. To me, breaking interoperability is an all to frequent design mistake. -Adam
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