California - 09.05.2012 With concerns about privacy and intellectual property growing and the issue becoming more and more talked about in the media and in government circles, it may be wise to sit back and reflect on how it influences Ares Galaxy. Does Ares infringe upon intellectual property rights? Might increased regulation and other legislation of IP bring down the Ares network in the future? Is the individual user at risk? We’ll attempt to give brief answers to these questions in the following paragraphs. Intellectual Property IP or Intellectual Property is basically a temporary monopoly granted by the government over a certain piece of information. This can be an idea, a melody, a piece of writing, a block of code, or many other things. The rationale behind IP is that the creators of these things would not be willing to bring more of it into existence, if it would be too easy for others to duplicate the results. Or, in other words, people want the assurance that they will be the sole beneficiary of their creation for a limited time, which will give them incentives to create more. While this seems (to most people) obvious when considering patents for inventions or other physical products, it is much less so in the digital age. A certain piece of information – and music, videos, literature, on a computer, all of this is information – can be duplicated millions of times and enjoyed by everyone, without the original being affected. On the Internet, every piece of information is potentially non-rival and non-excludable, making it a virtual public good. But Intellectual Property as a legislative invention does make this information the sole property of those individuals who file for the copyright. Ares and IP Ares itself is fully open-source, so the program belongs to everyone. However, the public nature of the Ares free download (http://www.ares-download.net ) is not automatically conferred upon the files that are shared on its network. So every individual file that is shared on it may be the intellectual property of other individuals, making the downloading of these files technically illegal, if you do not have permission for it. Bringing Down the Ares Network Even though there are plenty of files being shared legally, there is also a certain degree of illegality on the Ares network. This raises concerns over the long-term viability of the network, in light of governments’ recent attempts to crack down on illegal file sharing. However, because there is no central server which routs all requests for Ares (as was the case with, for example, Napster), it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to shut down Ares Galaxy. The network only exists in the relations between its users and the protocol by which files are shared, things which are very difficult to bring down. The Risk of the Individual User While we of course do not condone the downloading of illegal files in any way, we must admit that there is virtually no risk involved for those who decide to do this. If authorities decide to crack down on illegal file sharing, it will be primarily the owners of websites and search engines which facilitate the downloading of pirated content, and the “scene” members who make it available in the first place, who will be the primary targets. The individual user is safe, at least for now. Contact Information: Andrew W +1.6613102107 Fax: +1.6613102107 11400 W. Olympic Blvd. Suite 200 Los Angeles, CA 90064 US