Security Issues

We start with security issues, because a clear grasp of them and how a particular peer technology is secured is a prerequisite to analyzing legal ramifications.

Peer technologies must be considered “security porous” in the sense that they inherently provide great individual freedom for the user and are designed to easily establish direct connections between peers. In short, p2p clients have a (nasty for controlled IT policy) tendency to blithely ignore or actively circumvent traditional security measures such as corporate firewalls or filters. Information can thus cross otherwise established boundaries “without permission, assistance, or knowledge of any central authority or support groups”, as one corporate vendor puts it.

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