Using P2P To Make Gov't Documents Easy To Find 171
Trinition writes "Kim Zetter wrote for Wired News that "While legislators in Washington work to outlaw peer-to-peer networks, one website is turning the peer-to-peer technology back on Washington to expose its inner, secretive workings." For once, we have a concrete example to point to when citing the merits of P2P."
Hrm... (Score:5, Insightful)
um... (Score:4, Insightful)
Um...What about Bittorrent? Last time I checked it was the best way to download large files like Linux distros. Plus it makes it better to have more people downloading not worse, a big problem for huge servers with popular files. I can remember it taking FOREVER to get my first fresh Linux dostro downloaded
Re:Hrm... (Score:4, Insightful)
Of course, but it's a lot easier for your elected representative to read "We're legislating against p2p networks to stop criminals from stealing music," off of a 3x5 card given to them by the RIAA than it is to say, "Here in D.C. we're doing things we're afraid you might find out about."
Perhaps this is one reason they don't like P2P... (Score:5, Insightful)
In fact, if we use P2P to broadcast all kinds of government dirty laundry, their attempts to ban p2p will look like an attempt to crack down on freedom of information.
It could very well be that free flow of information, anonymous and universally available, is a huge reason why world governments don't like p2p. Of course, the record industry's huge donations to Orrin Hatch don't hurt any either.
I say dump Cryptome onto p2p sites. Dump whatever you can. We have a loophole right now; better try and widen it while we can. We might even give pause to some of the criminals on capitol hill while we're at it.
Re:flaw (Score:2, Insightful)
How can you judge if documents have been tampered with? Take a random sampling and find the originals (all are public documents) and compare.
Frankly, this is no more insecure than trusting everything Fox News has to say.
Re:Ok... (Score:4, Insightful)
I use bittorrent to download Linux ISOs. I use ED2K to get community films and videos (Like the Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years [google.com] for example.) Even my home network could be described as peer to peer as I have no server for 4 client machines.
All legitimate uses, no "For once" required.
Ernest Miller wrote about this... (Score:5, Insightful)
complete support from me (Score:3, Insightful)
This type of idea can be applied to many more things which can encourage social reform. Not just spreading information and accessing it easily (P2P and the Internet are doing just fine), but with opening tools and software/hardware solutions into the public domain. We need to figure out a way to develop software without fear of piracy (by making it free), and which still compensates those who spend thousands of hours toiling over it.
We should apply this idea at all levels. Move out of the dark realms of piracy and software cracks, and prove that we really DO have better ideas than the current industry.
-Dave
Re:National security vs. P2P. (Score:3, Insightful)
As in, "as soon as somebody uses the network to commit a crime, the police will feel moved to enforce the laws they swore to uphold?"
Re:This Will Never Work (Score:3, Insightful)
If some of our hirelings sometimes act as if they don't see things that way, all the more reason for the rest of us to make sure that we act as though we do.
Re:National security vs. P2P. (Score:3, Insightful)
The basic issue is that laws directed at inanimate objects rather than at specific behavior are generally a bad idea.
Re:Hrm... (Score:5, Insightful)
because it can be altered.
we have seen many, many examples of the U.S. gov't altering published data to support political motivation.
using p2p, where there is -no one single point of control- would actually be a far more Democracy-supporting protocol than FTP or HTTP, both of which are like the "fascist dicatorships of transfer protocols"...
Re:Ok... (Score:2, Insightful)
quick, everyone, get behind this effort to p2p'ize gov't documents and the public record. to fail to do so would be to let the Terrorist-Haters win...
A proper sub-title for this story would have been (Score:3, Insightful)
Using Gov't To Make P2P Operators Hard To Find
Re:Ok... (Score:2, Insightful)
Exactly, how long do you think it'll be before we hear about 'terrorists' trading secret government documents over P2P?
For once?! (Score:3, Insightful)
Software downloads - I get all of my Linux ISOs from Gnutella and BitTorrent
Photographs - Yes, 99% of what's shared on Gnuttella in the way of images is porn. That 1% can be DAMN interesting.
Video feeds - Back when the towers fell, the Internet was slow, but usable. Major news sites were effectively dead, though. Gnutella was klunky then compared to now, but was still your best bet for getting video of what was going on.
Rare music - bands that have yet to make a name. Rare recordings from over seas that have never been for sale in the US. There are just so many GOOD things to listen to after you wade through the mainstream garbage.
P2P is a healthy, vibrant community of free speach. That means that a lot of the speach is the sort of thing you'd hear out of the average high school student, true, but that doesn't make the rare, considered speech any less valuable!
Re:Ernest Miller wrote about this... (Score:3, Insightful)
Are you under the illusion that the DMCA is the only possible way the government could attack a website?
Re:Secretive Workings? (Score:3, Insightful)
Some years ago, my father and I secured the public printed documents on the manageement of the State of Alabama Board of Education and the various schools in the state. We recompiled the data by hand typing into a database and extracted much valuable management information. When presented to Mary Jane Caylor (State Board of Ed.) she was dumbfounded. She said with much excitement, "Where did you get this data!" It seemed that she had requested from the Bureaucrats this data in this form and they had told her it was impossible to give it to her.
Making a long story short this data was used with the obvious suggestions to improve schools and their management nation wide. Schools are now evaluated by the development of their students. Unfortunately we have not extended this evaluation into the direct compensation and tenure of teachers.
The point here is that data available on paper may as well be locked in a safe regrards solving problems. This P2P use and posting of all public documents on the Internet is the key to management of governmnt. It is like taking the hot sun and shining it on the snow burrying our freedom. It melts it away!
Re:Concrete examples? (Score:2, Insightful)
Actually, it may be viewed by legislators brib^H^H^H^Hlobbied by certain competitors of linux to be another reason to try to outlaw P2P.
Strat