Around the time the Recording Industry Assn. of America said this spring it would start tracking down individuals who were trading pirated music on the Internet, Trader X, a 17-year-old U. S. high school senior who declined to provide a name to avoid prosecution, hightailed it over to a service for swapping music and other digital files called Direct Connect (DC). Trader X had used other file-sharing services in the past, but chose DC for two simple reasons: privacy and plenty of movies. In most file-sharing services, millions of computers swap files with millions of others openly online, in plain view of the RIAA and others. DC'S free software lets individuals set up a password-protected, members-only network that relays music and movies among a closed group of people. "Frankly, as long as the Internet exists, file trading can't be stopped," says Trader X. This is just one glimpse into the world of darknets―gated communities that run on the Internet but are open only to those who belong to the private network. These mini-networks are gaining appeal among more than just teenagers looking for a free copy of rapper 50 Cent's 21 Questions. Political dissidents from China to Iran, as well as civil liberterians in the U. S., are interested in avoiding the prying eyes of government authorities and reestablishing some privacy on the transparent Internet. Even well-respected corporations, including Hewlett-Packard Co. and Siemens, are turning to darknets to allow them to share sensitive data with outside partners while protecting the data from rivals and restricting the partners from burrowing into the corporation's own intranet.
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