NNTP vs P2P (Re: Can P2P applications learn to play fair on networks?)

Mon Oct 22 12:56:30 UTC 2007

Adrian Chadd wrote:
[..]
> Here's the real question. If an open source protocol for p2p content
> routing and distribution appeared?

It is called NNTP, it exists and is heavily used for doing exactly where
most people use P2P for: Warezing around without legal problems.

NNTP is of course "nice" to the network as people generally only
download, not upload. I don't see the point though, traffic is traffic,
somewhere somebody pays for that traffic, from an ISP point of view
there is thus no difference between p2p and NNTP.

NNTP has quite some overhead (as it is 7bits in general afterall and
people need to then encode those 4Gb DVDs ;), but clearly ISPs exist
solely for the purpose of providing access to content on NNTP and they
are ready to invest lots of money in infrastructure and especially also
storage space.

I did notice in a recent newsarticle (hardcopy 20min.ch) that the RIAA
has finally found NNTP though and are suing Usenet.com though... I
wonder what they will do with all those ISPs who are simply selling
"NNTP access", who still are claiming that they don't know what they are
actually requiring "those big caches" (NNTP servers) for and that they
don't know that there is this alt.bin.dvd-r.* stuff on it :)

Going to be fun times I guess...

Greets,
 Jeroen

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