P2P operations seek shelter in political conflict zones

EarthStation 5 claims to be operating successfully from within a refugee camp

The long reach of the entertainment industry's lawsuits against file trading networks may prompt future P2P operations to locate themselves in politically volatile areas - like refugee camps.

A new file swapping network that calls itself EarthStation 5, claims to be operating from within the Jenin refugee camp on the Palestinian West Bank. A spokesperson for the service noted that the camp is a pretty tough place to serve a subpoena or a search warrant.

Hounded file swappers, facing the prospect of mass copyright lawsuits from the recording industry this fall, are turning to P2P services like Earthstation 5, which appear to have some territorial immunity. The Israeli government has turned over civil law enforcement in the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. That organization has far more pressing challenges - such as trying to rein in suicide bombers - than enforcing already weak foreign copyright restrictions.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

The long reach of the entertainment industry's lawsuits against file trading networks may prompt future P2P operations to locate themselves in politically volatile areas - like refugee camps.

A new file swapping network that calls itself EarthStation 5, claims to be operating from within the Jenin refugee camp on the Palestinian West Bank. A spokesperson for the service noted that the camp is a pretty tough place to serve a subpoena or a search warrant.

Hounded file swappers, facing the prospect of mass copyright lawsuits from the recording industry this fall, are turning to P2P services like Earthstation 5, which appear to have some territorial immunity. The Israeli government has turned over civil law enforcement in the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. That organization has far more pressing challenges - such as trying to rein in suicide bombers - than enforcing already weak foreign copyright restrictions.

Earthstation 5 streams and offers downloads of albums and first-run movies off its servers. It has been translated into more than a dozen languages, and downloaded 22 million times. The English version is not one of the most frequently used.

Like Blubster and Filetopia, Earthstation 5 claims to be anonymous. But the service is not easy to use. It utilizes a less used Web protocol called User Datagram Protocol (UDP) to relay data. This strategy makes it harder to detect a music file on a computer than those transmitted by the more commonly used TCP.

Earthstation 5 also uses Secure Sockets Layer encryption, which is commonly deployed on more secure e-commerce sites. Users are also asked to search or transfer files via proxy servers in hopes that only the IP address of the server is visible, not the machine sharing the files. But these methods do not offer airtight anonymity and Earthstation 5 offers too few details on its security strategy to genuinely trust them. What might look like a proxy server could be a honey pot or proxy-look-alike lures set up by companies hired to root out file traders.

Proxy servers also slow downloads. But if Earthstation 5 can brush aside legal challenges to these machines and offer credible anonymity, it could point the way for other P2P networks.

For the moment, Earthstation is continuing to operate its own proxy servers. The question is how long can they afford to keep these machines running as demand continues to increase. The service reportedly has backing from anonymous investors in Israel, Saudi Arabia and Russia and is hosted by an Israeli company SpeedNet. It is interesting that one of the oldest and most widely used P2P networks, iMesh, is itself based in Israel where it has never been sued.

Entertainment companies can still sue U.S.-based backbone ISPs to block access to the Web addresses of services such as Earthstation 5. They have done this before and chances are good that this is the strategy they will turn to again. But in the meantime, Earthstation 5 will continue to serve many non-English speaking uses. They demonstrate that people searching for a way to make a living in a dangerous and often lawless location, could turn that liability into a benefit. Earthstation 5 claims to have reached out to both the Israeli authorities and militant Palestinian groups asking just to be left alone to do business. In so much as it provides chronically poor and besieged people are way to earn a living, both groups have thus far complied with the request.