A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ANONYMOUS ADDRESSING OF CONTENT ON NETWORK PEERS AND FOR PRIVATE PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING

摘要

A system and method for efficient and private peer-to-peer file sharing system ascribes a uniquely identified and anonymous link (an "edgelink") to any file or set of files on a peer computer. The link is registered anonymously with a publishing server. It includes updated connectivity information about the peer without registering any identifying information about the file. A peer recipient is able to access the link, receive connectivity information about the publishing peer from the server and then receive the file from the publishing peer without file content passing through the server. The system mediates any intermediary NAT devices without requiring any manual or automatic device reconfiguration.