| darthpsychotic@gmail.com |
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Join: July 3rd 1971 6:59 pm
Posts: 4265
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OFFICIAL ADWARE VERSION: http://www.exeem.com
UNOFFICIAL ADFREE VERSION: http://www.exlite.net (BETA)
NOTE: eXeemLite will prompt you for a serial code when the app is fired up... ignore and close the prompt.
http://www.methlabs.org
From the early days of peer-to-peer (p2p) networking, most of the interest in the p2p scene was centred around Napster. However, this network had a fatal flaw.
In one of the most famous technology lawsuits of recent times, various recording companies managed to shut Napster down in the courts. Their argument was that the Napster network was centralised – totally dependant upon the central Napster servers to transfer files. Thus, Napster themselves were party to the copyright infringement that occurred on the networks, since if these servers were turned off no copyright infringement could happen.
The next step in peer-to-peer networking, at least the type of network that tried to evade censorship, either politically or through civil means, was to decentralise the network. If the system could exist without a central server, at least in part, then it would be harder for the operators of the network to be sued. This worked, and soon networks like the FastTrack (used by KaZaA) and Gnutella2 were capable of operating without anything more centralised than a list of currently connected users.
This tactic worked, at least from the point of view of network developers. The lawsuits against decentralised networks dried up, and it was ruled that users, not operators were responsible for activity on decentralised networks.
However, Bittorrent is now the most popular peer-to-peer system, purportedly accounting for 35% of Internet traffic. Certainly not all Bittorrent traffic is illegal – a large portion of Bittorrent use is used to transfer large legitimate files such as Linux distributions. However, for those who wished to use Bittorrent to download more “questionable” material the network was just too centralised – the network depends upon a central tracker, as well as a source for downloads.
This means that, just like Napster, Bittorrent sites could be taken down by attacking the source – a series of lawsuits and raids by organisations such as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), who's former chairman described people who infringe copyright as “Terrorists”, has targeted a number of Bittorrent sites, such as Lokitorrent and, ostensibly, Suprnova, one of the most popular torrent “link” sites.
However, Suprnova closed only after a number of other Bittorrent sites had closed, and it is in this article that we will examine exactly what the reason for the closure of Suprnova was, and will look into the history and existence of eXeem, the new “Suprnova” application.
The majority of torrent sites that were closed were Bittorrent trackers, hosts of the servers that work like the Napster servers used to and are required for downloads to work. Suprnova, on the other hand, was merely a link site, it didn't host a tracker itself, and so any legal argument against it would be difficult to use in court. As such, it is unlikely that Suprnova was legally attacked by the MPAA.
So, why was Suprnova closed? The website now advertises eXeem, and eXeem was hyped prior to the closure of Suprnova. Is it not possible that the closure of Suprnova was as much to do with eXeem as the MPAA? Didn't the developers perhaps wait until a large number of other torrent websites were closed down in order to remove suspicion?
Suprnova was a website populated by many adverts, which were in theory used to pay for the bandwidth costs of the Suprnova website. A website that was as large and popular as Suprnova would have had very high hosting costs, and as such any profit made via the adverts would have been quite small.
However, as a distributed, decentralised application eXeem does not cost the developers much to run at all. Any adverts displayed in this program wouldn't cost anything to produce, but would generate a constant revenue.
The truth is that, for all its hype, eXeem is a closed source, windows only application that is integrated with Cydoor, the spyware application that is rated as high risk by Microsoft and numerous other anti-spyware products, and described, in the case of one client, by the antivirus firm Kaspersky as a “Trojan Downloader”.
On our test machine (Windows XP Professional) we tried installing the new open beta of eXeem. The installation process asked us if we wanted to install an IE toolbar, which we were able to decline. However, it's licence agreement asks the user to agree too install third party applications, and includes a clause that the licence agreement can be changed without notice.
Can we really trust the eXeem developers? Who are they anyway? What is clear is that they are not directly connected to Suprnova. The Suprnova founder is more of a PR guy than a developer of the application. Isn't what this is all about – money? Compared to Suprnova, eXeem has the potential to make a far higher profit margin than a tracker website, and combined with the connection to Suprnova it is possible that many people will try this application, if only to see what all the fuss is about over this Suprnova “replacement”.
We used several major anti-spyware applications, including Microsoft's new anti-spyware system, on our test system, ensuring it was registered clean prior to the eXeem installation. After the install a number of spyware elements were found (15 in the case of Microsoft's scanner, although we are not sure how it classifies these elements). The key factor was the Cydoor dlls and adcache, which are rated as a “high threat” by Microsoft, and as critical by other companies.
It is ironic that users who will perhaps turn to a decentralised application for extra security and privacy, are going to find their privacy more challenged by the “solution” than the cause.
We are a part of Methlabs, the group who developed the PeerGuardian application and were responsible for much of the original tracking of BayTSP bots and other anti-piracy scanners have a very important message to say: eXeem is less secure for downloaders!
Bittorrent is centralised, and as such it is easy to close down a tracker. However, eXeem is decentralised, and as such it is easier to find users to sue. As a RIAA scanner, you no longer need to track multiple different websites and trackers, but now simply plug right into the network, just like was done with KaZaA, and we all know what happened to that. KaZaA became overrun with fake files and honeypot downloads used to capture file-sharers, and I predict that unless eXeem is policed in some way the same thing will happen.
Interestingly, the very process that would make eXeem safer for it's users would make it more dangerous for it's operators. If the eXeem operators could prove that they had enough control to police the network of fake files, then they could in theory be sued for not blocking copyright infringing works.
Since we have already seen that eXeem is most likely run for personal gain rather than community benefit, it is unlikely that the developers would take any risks.
Let's go over this again:
Why shouldn't we use eXeem?
It contains spyware.
Not only spyware, but Cydoor, arguably one of the worst spyware producers.
It is closed source.
Peer-to-peer communities are, to a large extent, based around the concept of sharing. eXeem has taken a protocol that was shared with the world by its creator and locked it into a closed-source, spyware'd application.
It is windows only.
Yes, this is important. Bittorrent was designed to be truly multi-platform, so that it could become universally available for any purpose. It is this that to a large extent helps the argument that peer-to-peer should remain legal – it's ability to adapt to thousands of useful situations is a great asset to the community, and can be used to save the distribution costs of non-profit organisations. eXeem is clearly a money-spinner, and so it will never gain respect.
It is not as safe as Bittorrent.
Just because it is safer for the few, eXeem is actually more dangerous for the average user. Since Bittorrent doesn't use any encryption or cloaking methods, it is ridiculously easy for a BayTSP system to monitor eXeem and pick out the IP addresses of those who are sharing copyrighted content.
Also, as you are downloading a large number of shared files at one time, there are many more opportunities for infringement capture. In Bittorrent you only share what you are currently downloading, but in eXeem you are sharing everything, and as such are more likely to be sued.
So, lets remember the important message of this essay (or is it a rant?) and shout out: DO NOT USE EXEEM!
http://www.lokitorrent.com
There has been tons and tons ... and tons of talk about eXeem being the new way to use peer to peer.
We at LokiTorrent completely agree. The premise of eXeem sounds quite nice. The unfortunate fact remains that the once great people at suprnova are not in control of this application. Many of suprnova's higher-ups have left the once-great site as a result of this fact.
Touted as the savior of peer-to-peer, eXeem ended up becoming nothing more than a new version of KaZaa, cydoor spyware included.
Early warning of this began when news came out of eXeem being closed-source, a world-known indicator that someone has become too greedy and any chance of it being 'for the community' are forfeit.
We sincerely wish the people at suprnova the best in future endeavors, but it is apparent that signing up with an 'unnammed corporation' was the undoing of what could have been the 'next best thing' in peer-to-peer community sharing.
We hope that, and will continue to work towards, peer-to-peer becoming a viable alternative for those not wishing to pay 90% of the profits made from their hard work and talent to the likes of the MPAA and RIAA to distribute their works. This is, after all, why peer-to-peer exists; the spead of information and creative works by those who wish to share them with the world, actually be able to share them without having to ask permission to do so from the money-hungry distributers hell-bent on making a mockery of the great concept of the internet.
In light of these facts, the new application eXeem has been banned from our site. This does not mean that we at LokiTorrent are not supportive of new forms of peer-to-peer, but simply that we don't wish our members to submit to spyware privacy invasion in order to simply share files.
Best wishes,
The LokiTorrent Staff
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