Anarchy Lite – P2P Going Legit

Corporate P2P is the next big application according to Forbes:

file sharing is a powerful technology, and its legitimate uses cannot be denied. The beauty of it is that it doesn’t require a central server. Users who want a file search among other “peers,” scanning all the computers on a network and then swapping bits. The bottleneck at the file server is bypassed.

….Last October, in its ongoing effort to insinuate itself into Hollywood, Microsoft paid $18,000 to promote Lions Gate Films’ coming-of-age movie Rules of Attraction, using the Altnet peer-to-peer service. Altnet happens to be bundled with Kazaa. For a fee, its search technology will push legitimate music files and videogames to the top of Kazaa search queries. Hundreds of games are downloaded on Altnet daily, for $10 to $25. Music files cost users between a dime and a dollar; a 30-day movie license runs up to $4.

Even Napster cofounder John Fanning is making a comeback. Fanning, uncle of Shawn Fanning, is chief technology officer and founder of NetMovies, a movie subscription service. The Hull, Mass. company, similar to studio-backed Movielink, is testing its publishing system, which, for $5 a month, will allow viewers to download old classics and purchase new releases, like Bruce Willis’ Hart’s War. Blockbuster (nyse: BBI – news – people ) is an investor.

….Ian Clarke, the 26-year-old behind file-swapping service Freenet, is about to enter the corporate world. In March he will launch Locutus Enterprise, an application that wraps a three-piece suit around Freenet’s technology. Companies that buy Locutus will enable employees to search for and share work documents by placing them into one of, for example, three folders: one for a work group, one for a department and one for the company. Locutus will transport encrypted PowerPoint presentations, e-mails and Word documents on a system built on Microsoft’s .NET.

The corporate market is getting other file-swapping schemes. Groove Networks, started by Lotus Notes creator Ray Ozzie, has won a $50 million investment from Microsoft to promote its document-sharing platform beyond customers such as Bertelsmann AG, Neutrogena and Pfizer. Blue Falcon Networks has legally dealt downloads for years for companies such as Virgin.

If you can’t beat it, coopt it.