A social network with file sharing. Why not?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2995204

by starter • 15 years ago

4 3 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Idea: A social utility that creates massive data clouds around a user's files and his friends files.

I'm building a better social utility and need opinions on why file serving in a social network may be good or not so good idea.

Background: Photos, videos and even messages are simply files accessible by one's social network.

Example: User A shares his favorite songs in an upload. His/Her friends may then listen to those tracks online.

Why don't we have a social utility that allows ANY file sharing/exchanging?

ajuc• 15 years ago

There is similair network in Poland ( http://chomikuj.pl/ ).

It's mostly used by pirates, and social aspect is not the main functionality (you can add comments, images, recommend people to other people, share their files, etc. , but that's all). Most people think of it as an alternative to rapidshare. They earn money from users paying for downloading transfer (uploading is free, or even gives you points you can use to download other files, I don't remember).

I wonder how they deal with copyright - maybe because you are supposed to know everybody you share with - it is fair use?

Anyway - it exists.

starter• 15 years ago

Thank You, I'll look into chomikuj! I want something for people in general, not general. It should be dead easy to share all the files I want to share with anyone in my friend graph.

I do want to know if it is fair use. No piracy intended!

anPlusD• 15 years ago

thanks for your input for anon+ :>