Ok guys, I like to start a little thread on this Bearshare program.

I'll do it in the proper Bearshare forum.

Just am going to announce it here.


This is to get all interested people to put down their observations, findings and possibly (hopefully) ways to muzzle this intrusive, but very good otherwise, Gnutella Net client.


It (your bearshare program/client) talks to other bearshare clients running on the network, not just direct, but via anybody you are connected with!

And it does that using ENCRYPTED packets!


You cannot stop it, you cannot read it, you don't know what's inside (well some of it is being explained by VINNIE, the Bearshare man), you don't know what will be inside tomorrow and you may not like what it does (if you would know).


It is very technical and quite un-noticable and unknown to the average surfer, who may be only interested in sharing and downloading files, and 'trusts' in the program doing the 'right' thing to him/her.


Well, trust is something, which never ever hast lasted too long, not with people you don't know, not even with your closest friend(s) or lover(s) - unless you are very very lucky!

Sorry, you may not agree with this last bit, but let me say to you now - just live a bit longer and you will understand.

So head off into the Bearshare forum and if you do some testing yourself give your results.


Hopefully somebody comes up with some firewall, code filter or what to do to stop this encrypted packeting between Bearshare clients.


The 'Gnutella Net' MUST stay free of this ego-centric and/or program-centric pollution. It is already congested enough with unfair people who download without sharing, who do not enable incoming connections, but whinge when they cannot connect to anybody fast.


Remember: If nobody has incoming connections enabled, you and I cannot connect to anybody and each other.

The Gnutella Net is still young and growing, and we all make what it is today and tomorrow.


Happy sharing, 'keep the ********* honest' and the controlling and un-necessary (and unwanted) packeting on the Gnutella Net to a MINIMUM.


JD