Focus On: P2P

The death of the Blue Frog anti-spam client has mobilized a small group of developers to rethink Blue Security's concept. Not the tit-for-tat spam opt-out methods, mind you. The network architecture. Developers suggest that, if Blue Security had built a distributed P2P network, it could have withstood the type of attack that brought it down, along with Prolexis, Tucows, Typepad and UltraDNS. After looking over the plans, Email Battles offers a few suggestions.

In 2005, music execs found themselves boxed in by P2P, iPod, boring albums, and prices higher than the market was willing to bear. They responded by rootkitting customers' computers, planting viruses on file sharing networks, and suing grandmothers. Amazingly, sales still fell. Email Battles suggests a different avenue for building customer loyalty.

Sony BMG's rootkit bungling has brought suspicion to the entire entertainment industry. Email Battles asks, "If Sony BMG can be this stupid, why not the rest? And what makes you think they stopped with rootkits?"

Movie makers in a panic over the chance that P2P file sharers will eviscerate the industry may have found a new profit model, thanks to a well-heeled European startup. Email Battles profiles variable pricing, both on-line and at the movies.

In a misguided attempt to protect the movie industry, key members of the US Congress are considering funding the equivalent of a perpetual motion machine. It won't work. No Law can shield copyright holders from millions of highly motivated file sharers. Instead, Congress should focus its might on protecting inventors from its wild and woolly US Patent Office.