A Moral Dilemma: Open letter to Gnutella community

[innoval]

Beckerist, this is not the place to advertise a filter. That would be naive on my part and inappropriate. We have engaged an advertising firm for that and a PR firm for other aspects related to this filter. I know that hardcore Gnutella users would not buy this filter nor use it. I am seeking buy-in. That is different.

Never, ever, advertise in newsgroups, community forum, etc. But this is a place to engage users. When we first announced the filter, we received significant and helpful advice. (We also received a number of blasting emails).

It is a warning. It is sincere. It is also opinion. Thus disagreement is welcome. BTW: our filter is fully functional and never expires. We hope for commercial revenue but little or no end-user revenue.

It is my opinion that at some time, not too far off, CEO's of Gnutella firms will be called before sub-committees or investigative panels and they will be able to say that there are filters available.

Bearshare's and LimeWire's built in filters are a good step in the right direction but are only useful with fully trusted children or home environments where Internet activity is closely supervised. The reality is that parents, schools, etc. are (maybe sadly) looking for more.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Dan