Hello!

Now I get what you mean.You are talking about an Interception node also nicknamed an "Evil Eve" host.

What it does is listening to(Intercept) Pong messages but most importantly also QueryHit messages that contain information about Filename,its size,bandwidth,and IP number and port.

But it would be several big problems for the RIAA or any other to get enough evidence(Query Hit messages) to cath the big sharers.

1.It would be hard to get connected long enough to any individual node for long enough time to get enough Query Hit messages.To get effective they would have to set up an Ultrapeer and use a specialized client.If I would see an unknown strange vendor as one of my Ultrapeers under my connections tab I would instantly disconnect and reconnect to a different Ultrapeer.So this means that we should really start to look out for strange Ultrapeers.But it is also possible for the LimeWire developers to deny connections to hostile nodes for a future updated LimeWire version.I think that Bearshare have already done this in their new 4.X version.So lets hope that the LimeWire team are working on this.

2.Evidence value

The evidence value of Query Hit messages is not very high it is actually quite low.

It only proves that my files are indexed and shearchable and that someone is able to make a connection to me.

But in court I could always claim that I am a cheater or a Freeloader.That I take but do not give.I would tell the judge and the jury that In my Gnutella client LimeWire that I use there is an option to set the upload bandwidth and the number of upload slots to 0.So when someone tryes to download from me the download would stay at 0kB/sec and they would never get any files from me.So why do I have files in my Shared directory then?.

That is because I am aware of that many people on the Gnutella network has adopted an anti Freeloader policy.In LimeWire you could set the numbers of files that someone have to have in their shared directory before before they can download from you.And since I will not actually share any files but still be given permission to download from as many other hosts as possible I have alot of files in my shared directory but the upload bandwidth and the number of slots set to 0 so that I am not participating in any serious crime.

So this means that the Query Hit message is proof of the files that you have in your Shared Directory but it is not proof of that you are actually sharing them.

So this means that to get any real evidence that would really hold up in court they would have to browse my shared directory and download alot of files from me.But if LimeWire would have a function that prohibited such action then the RIAA or anyone else would have a significantly harder time catching big sharers.They would have to make thousands of querys and then download alot of files from a single individual and be lucky enough to get a large enough number of files from a single host to call that person a big sharer.

Lets hope that someone from the LimeWire development team read this thread because it sure is an interessting one!

__________________
<img src="http://www.jordysworld.de/emoticons/blob16.gif">Sincerely Joakim Agren!