From et voila:
"I see you are plain ignorant. I'll lock the thread and leave a nice linky to you."
from this thread:
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...0&pagenumber=2
which was subsequently locked.

Not only is free speech a misnomer in this forum, but it comes in the forms of personal attacks! This really speaks well of LimeWire; stifle any voice of dissent and attack that voice on a personal basis. To think of the hubris involved in such a response makes my skin crawl, as though by sheer force of will.... I may be ignorant, but there is something that can be done about that, whereas for arrogance, this is another matter entirely.

WHAT DOES LIMEWIRE HAVE TO HIDE?

I stand by my contention that Limewire is spyware, based upon a generally accepted definition of that term, regardless of how it makes anyone feel. The emotional blackmail is certainly in keeping with the general demeanour of this forum.

I have presented the qualitative evidence for the contention, and it has not been refuted. As for quantitative evidence, maybe even one of the "true believers" is handy with a packet sniffer as well, and can come prepared to argue their case, but under the current hostile climate, I doubt if that evidence would be presented unedited.

That said, I never inferred that LimeWire was a "bad" program in any manner; I use it and will continue to use it. I said nothing disparaging about the package itself, or the developers; I merely said that it was spyware with the caveats stated above, that is all. There certainly are a lot worse filesharing programmes to be had, and despite the fact that its a memory hog, LimeWire is the most stable application of its kind.

It is the reaction to speaking truth, combined with the misleading claims made about LimeWire that have developed a deep suspicion in me, however. I ask again:

WHAT DOES LIMEWIRE HAVE TO HIDE?

I have presented the qualitative evidence for my contention; now, the onus is most assuredly on LimeWire to prove that it is not spyware. SoftPedia certification not withstanding (which I hitherto have trusted), I think it should be understood just what is being said here, and what is not, without inference, and most assuredly without personal attacks.

LimeWire is spyware until it stops calling home (or gives the user the option of turning it off). Period.