Aug 09
8
P2P with a Condom Part II – “Etiquette”
In Part one
we introduced the concept that operating eMule is like any other program, you
have to learn a little to get a lot.
So
today we will be discussing Responsible file Sharing and Fake Files.
How
do you notice that the file you are downloading is a fake?
Unfortunately
– very few files come so neatly framed as the following example:
And
even though it’s a fake – it is being shared by 178 people and requested by
234.
Folks
– when you’re downloading a large file – its worthwhile to right click on the
file, select details….
Which
immediately tells us there is a problem. (It’s in red…….) If the file has an
invalid file extension, then it’s probably fake, corrupt, or whatever. But let’s
make sure….. how else can we tell?
The
Next TAB in the Details menu is Name – so let’s check out the Name of the file…..
This
movie was obviously a multi choice. It was anything I want it to be. With
another seven pages of optional names.
Okay
– this file obviously has an identity crisis. There is nothing here to see or
save – so the easiest thing to do is “Cancel” the Download.
However,
if you want to be absolutely sure…… because fakes can occasionally pass the
first two checks….. so lets see what the rest of the world say about this file……..
Click on the comments Tab.
Okay,
a few green flags (obviously content industry shills that think you’re an idiot…..)
and a lot of red flags…. So that’s strike three. (However if there is only one red and lots of
greens – occasionally it might happen that the content industry shills want you
to think a good file is bad so that you wont download it…. Confusing huh?)
According
to the Content Tab, this movie has no codecs, no length, no size and does not
have any recognizable format.
Strike
4.
We
are now finished the easy check, so we can now cancel the download (which
automatically deletes the file) or we can be silly and waste bandwidth by
downloading the file and making it available to everyone else to download.
Who
would do that?
Well
first we have to discuss the types of File Sharers….
There are seven basic types of file sharers.
- Lazy
do nothing leech file sharers - Corporate
interdiction “goons” - Corporate
entrapment organisations – seeding real content via Honeypots. - Corporate
promotional organisations distributing files to increase their popularity. - Terrorist
based DVD burning, sell at the market types - Responsible
personal fair use File Sharers. - Illegal
File Sharers who download copyrighted material not covered under fair use.
Each one with some determination can be identified and dealt
with.
I
am going to assume that all my readers fall into the category of being File
Sharing Class 6.
And
it’s obvious that :
Lazy
do nothing file sharers, Class 1; download files, never bother to check if they
are any good and then leave them for other poor unsuspecting victims to also
download. I call this the Petulant Slob
Syndrome. After all he wasted his bandwidth, so why shouldn’t you waste yours –
HAH!!!
Well
there’s a very good reason. In part one we spoke about the reputation of nodes
on the Kademlia network. Reputation of
nodes that consistently share corrupted content will in future releases of
Emule be restricted.
Is
there any way to check a file if it is fake if the file passes all of the above
checks ?
Yep we can check the files unique fingerprint – it’s hash file identifier.
Open
that content menu again, click on the ed2k links Tab and copy the last part of
the file:
ed2k://|file|This%20is%20Definitely%20a%20Fake%20File.avi|679437526|ADE536BE38CCF88332DCEF1DE0664597|/
Add
it to the following url with an &&hist=1 following the hash string
http://ed2k.shortypower.dyndns.org/?hash=ADE536BE38CCF88332DCEF1DE0664597&hist=1
and
you should get back something that looks likre this…….
again,
telling us that the file has lots of different names, lots of different codecs
and should probably left for those content guys to share amongst themselves.
So
– be a responsible file sharer.
Don’t
download crap.
If
you do – delete it. The faster you delete it – the faster eMule/Kad will
realise that it is likely a fake file.
However,
if it isn’t a fake file. File sharing etiquette would suggest that you leave
the file available for download and sharing for a few days. To give something back
and not become a Class 1 Leecher.
Next
time – I shall discuss how to deal with those nasty nasty people that keep
sending you corrupt part files.
Like
this……
