First is was the RCIAA that hired independent contracters to monitor what users are downloading from peer to peer networks. Now campuses are. In a NEW.COM article posted today, congress is getting involved and putting pressure on campuses to crack down on people who share copywrited materials.

I propose that we implement an encrypted peer to peer network. That way, spyware won't be able to track what a user is downloading because the download will be encrypted.

I am surprised not to hear anyone else mention this. These agencies and the goverment are violating our privacy. Lets stop them now by using strong key encryption!

I'd appreciate strong encryption, but how should key distribution be handled in such a big network? And how can that be done in a reliable way that stops evesdroppers from man-in-the-middle attacks?

Thanks for replying TranceTip. I don't know how to implement RSA encryption on these peer to peer networks yet, as I have never looked at the code. However, I do work with distributed networks and such as work and college. Strong key encryption would require a client that supports it, obviously. There are a bunch of different approaches depending on how the network is structured. It may be possible only with a network restructuring, and it would be unhelpful to the community to fork a new network. I am going to take a look at the source code for a few open source GNU network clients and see how encryption could be fit into it. However, I am very unfamiliar with how the network is set up.
I am sure there are resources out there though, right?

If anyone has any ideas of has some experience and think they might know how to put encryption into the peer to peer GNU network, please post/email me. If I get enough support I wouldn't mind hosting a site dedicated to getting this done.

BTW, I am really passionate about this subject. Everyday when I read about companies/governments cracking down on file sharing I grow more worried.

Why don't you write it yourself?
Just download the source of LimeWire or Gnucleus and
give it a shot. I'm sure the other devs would have implemented
encryption if it was so easy.

BTW: There are already some *secure* filesharing networks out.
Have you ever tried freenet?

It is a good idea that has been bounced back and forth at gnutella.com forums, which no longer exist. Some of us came up with the fact that even if we encyrpt the trafic, it would be hacked by a determined Riaa person. If we would go with a very good encryption method, even dual encryption, some nodes may not have the processing power to encrypt their trafic.

Also is there is a good encryption method, and no one could crack it, then there would be the open source programs such as Gnucleus, and LimeWire that would have the method in the open source. I am not saying open-source is bad, but in this case there would have to be a standardised encryption .dll or side program or something like that that is OS independent and that is not open-source. Which having a .dll would only work with windows clents, then a java baced program would have to be made to do the same thing for Linux, and Mac users. Or bace it completely in jave.

If you can overcome the problems, then more power to you, i happen to be kinda working on a similar scheme, but one that would be used only if there is a detected attack on a node in the localised aeria. It is kinda complicated though. If you have the time go for it, otherwise... well... go for it still!

I'm looking at a program called Steganos Secure FileSharing. It does not include LimeWire in the filesharing programs it supports. Plus once downloaded files are encrypted, they are not available for uploading. Can anyone enlighten me about this program or other current progress?