Industry peers slam govt file sharing filter

IDG News Service — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:53:41 -0500

A federal government move to stamp-out illegal file sharing via the national Internet content filtering scheme will be impossible, experts say, without blanket ban on peer-to-peer traffic.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy issued the furtive announcement last month in a government blog that ISPs may be required to block illegal file sharing in peer-to-peer networks -- used by the likes of LimeWire, Kazaa and BitTorrent clients.

"Technology that filters peer-to-peer and BitTorrent traffic does exist and it is anticipated that the effectiveness of this will be tested in the live pilot trial," Conroy wrote in the blog.

The national clean feed Internet scheme, part of the government's $128 million Plan for Cyber Safety, will impose national content filtering for all Internet connections and will block Web pages detailed in two blacklists operated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

Penetration testing firm Assurance.com.au director Neal Wise said blocking illegal content over peer-to-peer traffic is too resource-intensive and detrimental to legitimate traffic to be feasible.

"It is one thing to use a proxy server to ban a list of Web sites, but other application protocols are a whole other thing -- many peer-to-peer [networks] are particularly cunning and get around firewalls and packet filters," Wise said.

"[Both filters] can be easily defeated. The Internet routes around damage and people will get around it if it becomes mandatory... the hackers always win.

"In all likelihood the practical way this will be implemented is by blocking or throttling all peer-to-peer, rather than doing it selectively."

He said enforcement will be difficult because current technology cannot effectively filter the huge reams of data travelling over the networks and ISPs are unwilling police users.

The announcement follows criticism that Web filtering will not block the large amount of illegal material distributed across peer-to-peer networks.

Pure Hacking senior security consultant Chris Gatford said ISPs lack the resources to block only illegal material which requires potentially billions of shared files to be verified.

"It will be an extremely arduous task and I don't believe there is technology capable of filtering the huge amount of data," Gatford said.

"It is too much of a challenge to filter the networks and the government won't be able to block a whole protocol unless we go the way of China.

"Data re-packed and re-seeded 40 times can't be located and torrent trackers aren't reliable enough... the government should really walk away from it."

Internode network engineer Mark Newton said wide-spread use of peer-to-peer encryption will require the entire protocol to be blocked to stop illegal file sharing.

Experts say legitimate uses of peer-to-peer protocols mean a blanket ban is not feasible despite the fact it is used to circulate copyright-protected and illegal media.

Wise said commercial organisations will overtake illegal file sharers as the heaviest users of peer-to-peer networks within five years for the dissemination of media-rich content.

"It is a logical way to distribute media en masse; illegal sharers have proven this," he said.

Open Source Industry Australia CEO Damian Hickey said the protocols are being recognised by commercial and open source communities as the fastest way to distribute and store large files such as software and video.

"We are considering making a GPL license our video solution and converting it to peer-to-peer so it is held on computers run as servers... it would be an absolute killer for us if video was filtered while we are running it.":

"Filtering is an impediment to business -- we often have designers working for us who will deliver their work to us via BitTorrent.

"It would be a total pain in the arse if peer-to-peer was filtered [because] of how it would affect distributed version control.

"I don't think they want to filter distributed version control but you can put video up on it and it becomes just another way of getting around it."

Optus and iiNet confirmed participation in the live content filtering trial, scheduled for completion sometime this month, but said the government has yet to advise whether peer-to-peer filtering will be included.

"We are very committed to ensuring illegal content is eliminated as much as possible from the Internet and we want to work with government to make sure it is done in the best possible way," Optus director of government and corporate affairs Maha Krishnapillai said.

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Industry peers slam govt file sharing filter