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Summary: A virtual tour of the Darknet
Comment: The title of Steal This File Sharing Book: What They Won't Tell Your About File Sharing, by Wallace Wang (No Starch Press), may make it sound as if you're thumbing through a blueprint on how to take down the entertainment industry and their allies at the Justice Department, but what we really have here is the definitive look at the file sharing movement.
Wang's right: You won't find this kind of information about the ins and outs of the P2P networks in the traditional press. Music, movie, video games, software, porn -- it's all here, ready to snag with a few mouse clicks.
The author pokes and prods his way through the shadowy corners of the Darknet, exposing the realms where millions of people come together to trade files and engage in other furtive activities that threaten the republic's foundations. Or not.
Most of us know about the Kazaas and eDonkeys of the world. Wang takes us deeper, showing how to conduct more effective searches for the files we crave. Level by level, we descend through the rungs of P2P, from file sharing software like Shareaza, Deepnet Explorer and Songcrawler to Usenet, Internet Relay Chat, and Manolito, "a treasure trove for finding rare and bootleg music that you probably won't find anywhere else."
Anonymity and hiding your identity are covered, natch, for the readers who want to do more than just read about these services. Wang offers tips on data protection, how to stop spyware and pop-up ads, and how to securely delete files. There's even a section on building your own private encrypted network, or darknet.
Unlike Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book, which openly advocated counterculture legal hijinks a generation ago, Wang is no bomb-thrower, offering a fairly down-the-middle discourse on the legalities of all this rather than advocating a mass P2P assault on the door of the entertainment industries' Bastille.
While a few chapters briefly touch on the causes and ethics of illegal file sharing, Steal This File Sharing Book is less interested in the whys or whos than with the how-to's. For anyone who seriously dabbles in digital media, has a stake in the file sharing wars or is simply interested in how today's generation of kids has found new ways of sticking it to The Man, Wang's book is a must-read.
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Summary: The other side
Comment: It's a nice overview book. Goes into how musicians, writers and other artists can use file sharing to get attention outside the large media outlets, which is probably why the large media outlets ignore this subject.
There's the downside, mostly spyware, and Wang goes into that. His interview was good on First Voice Books (www.firstvoicebooks.com/filesharing.html).
I think file sharing will grow up as the years go by and morph into a tool for companies and associations to distribute their work. Is it just a dream? Yahoo, MSN and Google don't think so.
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Summary: Good review of this topic
Comment: If you haven't downloaded a music or DVD file and you don't hang around file swapping channels then this book will quickly bring you up to date on the subject.
Using the same approach as in his "Steal this Computer Book" series, Wang gives us uncensored information on this topic. Too many journalists are either technically uninformed or seem to have signed up to the thought police to make media reports reliable. The author provides the information and allows you to draw your own conclusions.
Topics covered include:
- how to look for files;
- an explanation of the main peer-to-peer technologies from the user's point of view;
- searching in newsgroups, instant messaging services, chat rooms, on web servers and ftp sites;
- hiding your identity and protecting your computer from searches and malicious software;
- file formats;
- finding and sharing music, movies and TV shows, photos and images, books, software, and video games (emulators, ROM images).
Wang uncovers some some forms of theft which were news to me: sound bites and samples, guitar chords, bandwidth theft, website theft, recipes even needlework patterns! Can you imagine a group of hardened needlewarz pirates?
What is disappointing is that this book is sold world wide, but the author only covers legal liabilities and possible lawsuits from the US viewpoint. It would have been relatively easy to include international viewpoints since there is a great deal of uniformity with the US being odd man out. This is an unfortunate and common limitation of US authors.
The author also describes legal filesharing with those vendors who have come to terms withm the new technology.
Well worth the read!
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Summary: No samizdat
Comment: Looking for controversy? No shortage of it in this book. One can readily imagine this book as contraband in some regimes. Wang describes the major file sharing networks of our time. Gnutella, FastTrack, BitTorrent and others. He gives you the gist of each and how to get started using them to download files. All the major networks are designed to be easy to use for the layperson. Indeed, we see that this is a necessary condition for their popularity.
IRC usage is also explained. This is also an important electronic modality for downloading files. Ditto with Instant Messaging offerings from MSN, Yahoo and ICQ.
Naturally, a large portion of the book discusses what types of files get downloaded. Most music. Some video. But still limited because of the sheer amount of data in a typical film. Wang covers the continuing controversies in a fairly neutral tone. Overall, he supports the usage of the networks. Though he decries the copyright infringement. One might wonder, though, if it is because for practical reasons, he cannot take any other stance, given that he is espousing his view in the permanent form of this book. And that he is doing so with a reputable publisher, No Starch. So this is no samizdat.
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Summary: Legal and illegal file sharing information
Comment: This book is a lot of fun. It covers both legal and illegal aspects of file sharing, primarily of finding music, movies, hacked software and adult entertainment. He covers a variety of file sharing networks and applications. But the primary value of the book is in the experience he impart. The etiquette of file sharing, how to secure your files and avoid the security problems.
The coverage is fairly high level. You won't be getting step-by-step instructions in how to rip DVDs. The topics are covered, but the author generally leaves it to you to navigate all of the features of any particular application.
This book is better than the shoddy cover would imply, but the organization could have used some work. Definitely worth a look for those interested in doing a lot of file sharing.
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