Distributed Hash Table in Azureus

I had been using Azureus 2.3.0.0 since it came out, and the DHT feature has been promising. Only that more people need to switch over to Azureus for it to be really useful. The network effect, you know. The more people join in, the greater the benefit.

Slashdot posted a link on the Azureus Distributed Tracker and Database and as usual, the comments by slashdot readers can be educational. But sometimes, they are just hilarious.

The new Bittorrent protocol was designed by the same developers who designed the original TCP/IP protocol in the 70s. But this new protocol has a decidedly "edgy" feel to it. Below is the "handshaking" procedure. There are a few similarities between it and SMTP:

[...]

It's good way to publish legitimate content. It's not a good way to distribute illegal content. First of all the torrent has a record of your peer IP addresses. So, all the lawyers need to do is have the peers listed in the torrent shut down -- then the torrent is useless. Sure, you could hide for a while using zombie windows boxes as your "master" peers, that's one level of indirection. But as they become unavailable you need to distribute new torrent files with fresh peer lists. Maybe that's not a problem, but it seems like more trouble than it's worth.

[... some dude has to come along and say something like this... ]

All this work for a less than honorable cause. Just think what could be if all this human effort had been channeled through a charity, say Habitat for Humanity, your local food bank, or teaching someone to read.

[... and earn a whole lot of insults ...]

I am SO sick of hearing this. The time you spent posting this to slashdot could have been spent handing out one more dinner at a soup kitchen. How's that?

People have lives OTHER than charity, as your presence here proves. As for this being less than honorable, that's the eye of the beholder. It's like the VCR, guns, or deep fryers. They can all be used for good or for evil. Just because they can be used for evil doesn't obviate they're good potential, nor should we ban them because of their potential for abuse.

[... which gets really overboard very quickly ...]

Hmm. How does one use a deep fryer for evil? Open a KFC?

Oh what? Like YOU'VE never heard of a deep fried a baby. Sure, sure. All of those KFC and and french-fry lovers like to stand up and say that a ban would be against their best interests, but even they know the primary reason people get deep fryers is for cooking babies.

[...]

Is it just a coincidence that this enhancement has come the day before the new Star Wars movie?

I sense a great disturbance in the force... as if George Lucas' bank account cried out in terror... and then... silence.

Either that, or I just have a headache.

[...]