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Hi.
Lately when using the Gnutella network I have noticed that there are 8-12 versions of each file each with a different size and checksum. The size difference is only visible when I look at the file size in bytes; they all are within 1000 bytes of each other. These files are hosted on computers with different IP addresses.
Is this a bug in Gnutella not saving the files properly or is an attempt to fill the network with fakes. I guess I have to download a few to find out. You can see this for yourself by searching for "twilight zone" of "three stooges" videos.
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Kazaa's the same way.
Wouldn't surprise me if E-mule and Win MX are to a much lesser degree as well.
What happens is either people edit music files' MP3 tags, changing artist and title info -- often from 'none' or incorrect to the correct names. This may change file lengths or at LEAST will vastly change the checksum/hash value. (Gnutella uses SHA1 hashes as checksums.)
Some lesser-known file-sharing clients on Gnutella, such as Morpheus, have at least in the past occassionally/accidentially corrupted files while sending them out to other people.
Also, many of those files may have first appeared BEFORE Gnutella had good error checking (which is still improving btw with tiger tree hashes and partial file sharing) -- so they just continue being copied...warts and all. :(
Lastly, just like on Kazaa, there are companies flooding ALL the big file-sharing networks with fakes. (Gnutella barely qualifies here with only about 350,000 to 470,000 users at any given moment -- but it seems to be growing: http://www.limewire.com/english/content/netsize.shtml )
