Actually, it is possible for the Gnutella network to be targeted by the RIAA, or any other organization. Statistically, 3% of Gnutella users provide over 50% of all the materials found on the network. With a little programming knowledge, it is possible to see what users are doing on the network (illegal or not, it can be performed nonetheless). After monitoring the pings and pongs being sent between gnutella users, IP Addresses can be harvested that have been shown to be hosting large amounts of copyrighted materials. Although a computer's IP address changes every time a user dials up with an ordinary ISP, some user's IP address remains constant. These would include most T1, Cable, and DSL users. There is an option with some service providers that allows dynamic IP Addressing, which changes your IP address every once in a while to avoid unauthorized access. Once the IP address has been obtained, it can be traced to a service provider. If the organization and the service provider cooperate, the name, address, e-mail address, etc. of the use can be matched with the IP Address. Then they could easily issue cease and desist orders (I'm not sure if I said that right, so correct me if I messed up). If individuals don't comply, the RIAA can be sued.

So, if the RIAA wanted to track the gnutella network and try to weed out all of the "illegal users", they could theoretically wipe out the gnutella network. But looking at things realistically, you will see that there are tens of thousands of users. According to LimeWire.com, there are currently (at the time of this post) about 40,000 hosts on the network. That is, of course, only representing the number of hosts that are "viewable" within LimeWire.com's search horizon. There are most likely many users than this number shows, and no matter how hard the RIAA worked, they would have very little impact on the network. The network constantly changes, grows, evolves, and new users are joining faster than Intel is releasing Blue Man commercials (did you know they spent $300,000,000 on those stupid light-bulb sucking excuses to buy a pentium 4?). Anyways...

Some have already tried to make ISPs block known "offenders." Nearly all (if not all) have denied such demands, saying that it limits a user's freedom of speech or some other intelligent excuse. I feel sorry for any ISP caught in this situation. They feel much like a go-between, and they are expected to show the RIAA some results.

Later Everyone!