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P2P software kit

Resetting Or Uninstalling Your Peer-To-Peer Software To Keep It - And You - Legal

When used properly, 'peer-to-peer' file sharing is an exciting new technology. Unfortunately, P2P networks are often used improperly - usually for the illegal distribution of copyrighted content.

If you're involved in P2P file sharing, you may be using GTK-Gnutella, LimeWire or some similar application. You may not be aware of it, but when you registered as a P2P software user, you probably agreed to let the network use your computer as a distribution source of music files. In other words, if you're like most P2P software users, you do more than simply download files. You probably also make files on your hard drive available for copying by others. Not only does this make you a potential illegal distributor, it also means that whenever you're online, every other network user around the world (and there are tens of millions of them) has the ability to access your hard drive.

If you want to do the right thing - and, not incidentally, keep strangers out of your hard drive - you should disable your P2P software's uploading capability. Go to the University of Chicago's Network Security group's web page to see how to disable file sharing in a number of programs.

NOTE: Some peer-to-peer software and services make it difficult for you to de-install them. We can't make any guarantee how this will work on your particular system, so be sure to back-up your data and other applications first to avoid any loss. 

Reproduced with permission from Pro-Music.

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