Privacy Leaks and P2P
LawMeme ran an interesting story a while back on the implications of distributed information spread. In ot her words, how is it possible to control information flow on a truly peer-to-peer network without a centralized structure? The author discusses this in terms of controlling the flow of private e-mails, but there are other examples as well. Take GlobalSecurity as one such case: Thanks to the reality of commercial satellite imagery, they purchase photographs of strategically interesting areas and distribute them for free. This sort of resource, which used to be co ntrolled by nation-states, is now available to all. Or, just consider the RIAA’s unsuccessful attempts to crack down on peer-to-peer file sharing. This is the ultimate implication of the Internet, in my opinion - once a single person has a piece of inform ation, everyone with a modem can have it a stunningly short time, whether that information is a satellite photo, a pirated song, or (in the case of the LawMeme story) a private letter.
The means by which enlightened rulers and sagacious generals moved and conquered others, that their achievements surpassed the masses, was advance knowledge. - Sun Tzu, The Art of War