In a Refugee Camp - A P2P Outpost
In refugee camp, a P2P outpost
File-trading network in West Bank not worried about lawsuits
Deep in the tense Jenin refugee camp in the Palestinian West Bank, a new file-swapping service is daring record labels and movie studios to turn their piracy-hunting into an international incident. Dubbed Earthstation 5, the new file-swapping network is openly flouting international copyright norms at a time when many older peer-to-peer companies are trying to establish themselves as legitimate technology companies. One of the brashest of a new generation of file-trading networks, it is serving as a new test case for the ability of high-tech security measures and international borders to preserve privacy on the Net.
AS THE DEADLINE looms this month for what will likely be thousands of copyright lawsuits filed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against individual computer users, anxious file swappers are turning to this and other new services in hopes of avoiding legal consequences. In EarthStation 5’s case, it is returning industry legal threats with bravado.
"We’re in Palestine, in a refugee camp," said Ras Kabir, the service’s co-founder. "There aren’t too many process servers that are going to be coming into the Jenin refugee camp. We’ll welcome them if they do." ... (MSNBC)
[from the terminal of Geoff Goodfellow]