Originally Posted by VGeorgie

This is all a moot point really, and the original Torrentfreak article very much mischaracterizes RTMFP, which is formally termed a peer assisted protocol. It's unlike traditional P2P protocols.

First, it's primarily intended for live and streamed events - "RT" means real time. Like RTMP it doesn't store the video content beyond a local cache. This is completely unlike P2P which is intended to store a local, static copy of the content.

Second, it requires a controlling server (Adobe's is called Stratus) to initiate and maintain the connections with all peers. The peers can talk to one another, but at the direction of the server. This adds centralization that most P2P networks try to avoid, for legal reasons.

Third, for mass media delivery the idea is less about saving overall bandwidth but using a web of provider peers to help increase scale without building fatter pipes. It's not unlike how Google works. By distributing the load a network logjam at any source won't impede the overall data flow.

Adobe is specifically not providing a means to distribute non-real time media over P2P. Why join the ranks of Napster, Grokster, and Limewire? Adobe is a mult-billion dollar company. Does anyone really think they'd jeopardize themselves just to make a P2P client that could be used for piracy?