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P2P Virus Blues

Some of you already know this and some of you don?t and it should probably stay exactly as it is. But when Inside Magic began in the late 1990?s, we had just two missions; and one of them was to bring you the latest magic news.

The other mission involved our life-long goal of getting the investigative community to re-open the Warren Commission to finally consider the incredible ?coincidental? evidence that the late-Chung Ling Soo?s murderous wife, Dot, was in Dallas before and after November 22^nd, 1963. You can read more about that mission and the compelling facts that demand an answer by clicking here.

So here is the truth we are reluctant to share.

There are spin-offs of the now-emasculated Napster peer-to-peer file sharing system that have so far scooted under the radar. Kazaa, Morpheus, eDonkey and WINMX have all set-up what is called ?true p2p systems.?

Napster incurred the wrath of the recording industry but also the penalties of the Federal Copyright law because it was more than just a way of people getting together to share files. Napster actually kept some of the files transferred and was, therefore, more involved in the illegal acts.

These more recent entries in the peer to peer network…

P2P Virus Blues

So here is the truth we are reluctant to share.

These more recent entries in the peer to peer network are less-centralized than Napster. By using the software, you can open all or a part of your personal computer?s hard drive to the internet. Your directory is included in the files other computer users can search and if you have a file they would like, it can be downloaded from your disk to theirs.

The Government?s shut-down of Napster didn?t really bother us. It was at best a wink-and-a-nod skirting of the law to steal music files. We don?t listen to much music and certainly not to music we haven?t purchased. We read, however, that these newest systems were making the transfer or illegal copying of non-music files just as easy as downloading a bootleg version of Christmas with Jim Neighbors.

We went on one of the p2p systems to check it out. Set-up was easy. It indexed our hard drives but we turned off the ?sharing? subsystem that would allow others on the web to see and download the files on our computer.

We?re not going to give much detail about what system or what steps were necessary because we think these networks are illegal and should be avoided. It is difficult to imagine how they will enforce the shut down, however. All of the users are anonymous and none of the process is centralized. There is some hope, however. We?ll get to that in a second.

Within five minutes of going live on the system our search for ?magic? yielded thousands of non-music files. We were presented a list of over 1,800 edocuments, ebooks, DVDs and image files we could download for free.

For instance, we were able to download virtually all of Michael Ammar?s DVD collection, or the latest Banachek DVD series. There were ebooks produced by Lybrary.com made available for theft by their original purchasers. Did you want the complete Tarbell set but didn?t want to pay for the hard work or royalties? You just need to click a box and down it comes ? for free.

You know what this means, correct? Someone out in the internet world of faceless enablers is opening their computer to allow you to take what is not their to give. Maybe they got it the same way or maybe they bought it legitimately. Either way, they are knowingly helping you violate copyright laws around the world and to rip off the authors of the DVDs, videos, books, or compilations.

Here?s our position: It is wrong. There is no civil liberty argument one can launch for the taking of something illegally. There is no civil liberty defense for making the copyrighted materials available for downloading. None.

We debated whether to even mention this on Inside Magic. We don?t want to encourage folks on the edge to slip into the morass of immorality and theft. Hopefully your constitutions are sufficient to keep you from doing this.

But, as mentioned earlier, there is a self-policing mechanism installed in all of these p2p systems. In the same way one risks contracting a bothersome to fatal disease by extra-marital relations, hooking up with the internet?s version of easy love or lust will almost certainly bring you a virus sufficient to wipe out your computer?s memory of the illicit act. It will also probably wipe out any files you have saved.

According to the experts at Tech TV (now G4 Tech TV), the p2p contributors are not all altruistic free file sharing folks. Some are downright ugly, scumbags looking to ruin your life for their enjoyment.

The files you download and secure on your drive are likely to contain virulent strains of internet viruses strong enough to get past even your best anti-virus software. According to Information Week, 45 percent of the results listed for any given search will be files intentionally or unintentionally infected with viruses. You have given the viruses a free shot to your computers by logging in and disarming the access protection. You will be as vulnerable as those who prey on your type would hope.

In fact, according to the FTC and Information Week, if you use Kazaa, the chances are virtually 100 percent you will be the victim of a Trojan Horse bringing impossible to remove spyware to your family or work computer. Once it gets a foothold on your system and in your files, you will infect your family, friends and work.

If you happen to be one of the file sharers making the DVDs, ebooks or other materials available, you already know that you should stop. This essay won?t stop you; you have already decided that you do not wish to respect the property and business others work so hard to develop.

If you are thinking about downloading material you do not own and for which you have no property rights; we can only hope, in all sense of charity, your computer gets the fever and dies. Sure, that means we?ll have a few less readers but when you re-stage your system and get back into the real world, you?ll be a better, wiser and more considerate reader.