Stole from velvetrain

I'm
a Slytherin!

First Year Exam 50/50 - A
Second Year Exam 44/50 - B
Third Year Exam 41/50 - B
Fourth Year Exam 37/50 - C

I suck. *g*

Hmmm, this is a terrifying prospect...

glad I took out KaZaA.

From MSN.com

P2P network hidden in Kazaa downloads
By John Borland
Special to ZDNet News
April 2, 2002, 4:30 AM PT


A California company has quietly attached its software
to millions of downloads of the popular Kazaa
file-trading program and plans to remotely "turn on"
people's PCs, welding them into a new network of its
own.

Brilliant Digital Entertainment, a California-based
digital advertising technology company, has been
distributing its 3D ad technology along with the Kazaa
software since late last fall. But in a federal
securities filing Monday, the company revealed it also
has been installing more ambitious technology that
could turn every computer running Kazaa into a node in
a new network controlled by Brilliant Digital.

The company plans to wake up the millions of computers
that have installed its software in as soon as four
weeks. It plans to use the machines--with their owners'
permission--to host and distribute other companies'
content, such as advertising or music. Alternatively,
it might borrow people's unused processing power to
help with other companies' complicated computing tasks.

Brilliant Digital CEO Kevin Bermeister says computers
or Internet connections won't be used without their
owners' permission. But the company will nevertheless
have access to millions of computers at once, almost as
easily as turning on a light switch.

"Everybody will get turned on in more or less a
simultaneous fashion," Bermeister said. "This will be
an opt-in program...We're trying to create a secure
network based on end-user relationships."

The Brilliant Digital plan is the most ambitious yet
from a string of companies that have tried to make
money off the millions of people who are downloading
and using free file-swapping programs such as Kazaa,
MusicCity's Morpheus or LimeWire.

Nearly all of the file-swapping programs now routinely
come bundled with so-called adware or spyware--programs
that automatically pop up advertisements while people
surf the Web or that keep track of where someone surfs,
information that can then be sold to marketing
companies. Despite growing concerns about this bundled
software, usage and downloads of the file-swapping
programs are at an all-time high.

But Brilliant's plan, by tapping into the computer
resources of the file-swappers themselves, has fallen
into a new realm where start-ups such as Kontiki and
Red Swoosh are just starting to gain traction. Those
companies are trying to use peer-to-peer technology to
distribute content more quickly online, but they face a
battle convincing people to install their software and
become distribution points.

Brilliant, by contrast, already has potentially tens of
millions of computers in its network, simply by
piggybacking on top of Kazaa.

According to CNET Download.com, a popular software
aggregation site owned by News.com publisher CNET
Networks, the Kazaa software--and by extension the
Brilliant software--was downloaded more than 2.6
million times last week alone. Brilliant has been
distributing the core technology for its peer-to-peer
service along with Kazaa since February, Bermeister
said.

The Brilliant network is based on a piece of software
called "Altnet Secureinstall," which is bundled with
the Kazaa software. That technology can connect to
other peer-to-peer networks, ad servers or file servers
independently of the Kazaa software and can be
automatically updated to add new features, according to
Brilliant's filing.

When the software is "turned on," computers running the
Brilliant software will form a new peer-to-peer network
separate from but connected to Kazaa, the filing said.
A few computers with fast connections will form the
early core of the network and be asked to join first.
Other ordinary computers and Net connections will be
invited later, Bermeister said.

Brilliant's software will be able to understand and
respond to searches inside Kazaa, since it is based on
the same technology. But if it is successful, Brilliant
will be able to host content and run "distributed
computing" applications over the new network that is
entirely separate from Kazaa or other file-swapping
networks based on the same technology.

Working behind the scenes
Brilliant and Bermeister have played a central role in
many of the events shaping the file-swapping world in
the past few months.

Bermeister began distributing his company's 3D
advertising software along with the Kazaa software last
year. That's how he got to know the founders of Kazaa
BV, the Dutch company that created the file-swapping
technology originally used by Kazaa, Morpheus and
Grokster.

When the Kazaa BV founders decided they didn't want to
be in the network business, Bermeister introduced them
to a former associate in Australia, Nicola Hemming. Her
new company, Sharman Networks, bought the Kazaa
software and continues to distribute it.

Bermeister is now drawing on his association with the
Dutch programmers for his new venture. Brilliant has
created a new company for the peer-to-peer service,
called Altnet. It has licensed the Dutch programmers'
technology from their new venture, called Blastoise.
According to Brilliant's annual report, filed Monday,
the Dutch programmers have taken a 49 percent stake in
Altnet.

Brilliant has been subpoenaed in the record labels and
big movie studios' copyright infringement lawsuit
against Kazaa BV. No suit has been filed against
Brilliant or Sharman Networks, however.

The immediate plans for Altnet, Brilliant and the new
peer-to-peer network remain unclear.

Bermeister said the company had been testing the
technology along with ad giants DoubleClick as a way to
serve ordinary Web ads more quickly. Under this plan,
an ad that a person sees on a Web site might be hosted
by a nearby computer running Brilliant's Altnet instead
of on a central ad server, as now typically happens
with DoubleClick.

Brilliant's CEO was quick to note that people would be
asked before their computers were used for this or
other purposes. He said the software would show a
pop-up box explaining the network's function and giving
people a chance to turn it off. People who allow their
computers to be used will be compensated somehow,
possibly with gift certificates or free videos, the
company's filing said.

However, people who accept "terms of service" already
distributed with Brilliant's and Kazaa's software are
already agreeing to let their computers be used without
any payment at all.

"You hereby grant (Brilliant) the right to access and
use the unused computing power and storage space on
your computer/s and/or Internet access or bandwidth for
the aggregation of content and use in distributed
computing," the terms of service read. "The user
acknowledges and authorizes this use without the right
of compensation."

Anybody who declines this provision is not able to
install the Kazaa file-swapping software. Brilliant's
software can be disabled or removed after installation
without affecting Kazaa's performance, however.

A representative for Sharman, which distributes the
Kazaa software, could not be reached for comment.

Privacy-rights advocates contacted for comment
expressed some concern about the way the Altnet
software has been distributed and about whether the
millions of people who already have it installed on
their computers will be tech-savvy enough to know what
they're agreeing to when and if Brilliant does ask to
use their computers.

"A lot of the people most likely to use this software
are teenagers or college students. There's a lack of
sensitivity about privacy in that age group," said
Larry Poneman, CEO of Privacy Council, which helps
companies manage privacy issues. "Do they really want
to be commandeered and have their machines do things
that aren't necessarily in their best interest?"