Editing Anonymous P2P (section)

===General===
While anonymous P2P systems may support the protection of unpopular speech, they may also protect illegal activities, such as [[fraud]], [[slander and libel|libel]], the exchange of illegal [[pornography]], the unauthorized copying of [[copyright]]ed works, or the planning of criminal activities. Critics of anonymous P2P systems hold that these disadvantages outweigh the advantages offered by such systems, and that other communication channels are already sufficient for unpopular speech.

Proponents of anonymous P2P systems believe that all restrictions on free speech serve authoritarian interests, information itself is ethically neutral, and that it is the people acting upon the information that can be good or evil. Perceptions of good and evil can also change (see [[moral panic]]); for example, if anonymous peer-to-peer networks had existed in the 1950s or 1960s, they might have been targeted for carrying information about [[civil rights]] or [[anarchism]].

Easily accessible anonymous P2P networks are seen by some as a democratization of [[encryption]] technology, giving the general populace access to secure communications channels already used by governments. Supporters of this view, such as [[Phil Zimmermann]], argue that anti-surveillance technologies help to equalize power between governments and their people,<ref name="Zimmermann_interview">Russell D. Hoffmann (1996). [http://www.animatedsoftware.com/hightech/philspgp.htm Interview with author of PGP (Pretty Good Privacy)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416085355/http://www.animatedsoftware.com/hightech/philspgp.htm |date=2019-04-16 }}. Transcript of a radio interview, retrieved 2008-01-21.</ref> which is the actual reason for banning them. [[John Pilger]] opines that  monitoring of the populace helps to contain threats to the "consensual view of established authority"<ref name="pilger">John Pilger (2002). [http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/11340 Impartiality of British Journalism]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. ZNet article, retrieved 2008-02-11.</ref> or threats to the continuity of power structures and privilege.