LimeWire's new software illustrates a growing trend: "darknets" are becoming simple to setup and use. As millions of people now find that they can easily create their own private share networks, what's in store for content industry investigators who rely on public P2P networks to find suspected file-sharers?

By Nate Anderson | Last updated March 5, 2009 9:35 PM CT

The new version of P2P client LimeWire—now at version 5.1.1—has been in the news lately for a feature that makes it simple for even the newbiest newb to create a "darknet." Nothing here is technically ground-breaking, but LimeWire's massive install base means that millions of users now have a secure and simple way to share files with each other and no one else.

Darknets are going mainstream, something that could make it more difficult than ever for rights-holders hoping to monitor public P2P networks in order to pick off offenders. That process, already difficult enough, could get a lot harder as such tools migrate out from the geekerati. [ArsTechnica...]    [Comments...]