In a bid to demonstrate the futility of trying to ban peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, a computer scientist has written the shortest P2P program ever.
Like all P2P applications, Tiny P2P, written by Edward Felten of Princeton University in New Jersey, establishes a network between PCs on which files can be transferred without using a central server. Members of the network make content on their hard drives available to everyone else. But this decentralisation allows, for instance, movie pirates to hide illicit footage more easily.
Felten is concerned that Congress might revive a piece of legislation called the Induce Act, which…
