Feel free to dispell the myth if it's at all false, but popular opinion has it that BearShare is spyware. For that reason, I boycotted even *trying* the BearShare client (because spyware is always inevitably cancerware in that it's near impossle to remove without causing damage to your computer) and instead came across LimeWire (IMO the best client for file-sharing/Gnuttla Network interfacing).

If BearShare is spyware (which I'll assume true until told or proven otherwise) then it being squeezed out of the Gnutella Network is no loss. Next to porn, email spam, and the Radiohead.com, spyware is the lowest form of filth there is. I don't want to get all 'Big Brother' on everyone, but it's just plain deceptive and intrusive. And since most users out there apparently don't know that BearShare is spyware, maybe if LimeWire can help attribute to BearShare's slump in popular then they're doing one hell of a favour to the poor sods who have no idea that their main internet connection may be monitored courtesy of BearShare.

Hummer