p2p, the concept

[jason87x]

Has anyone worked in building p2p apps and protocols? I'm talking an actual p2p network of physical devices that is strictly p2p, no servers for most things. Are there security and privacy benefits to p2p? How are addresses handled, like say you want to send a message to a specific friend but you don't have the relatively static IP system in the Internet. How are those things handled?

[Rubberman]

What's in a name? P2P? Point-To-Point? Person-To-Person? What you seem to be describing is what I would call an N-tier architecture. Clients and servers are indistinguishable. I have designed many such systems, some of which are used today to run most semiconductor fabs in the world. In any case, please be more specific. A "friend" may be an individual who can be accessed on one, or another, or another system depending upon time, place, etc. IP addresses on the internet are not necessarily static, even relatively. They depend upon a lot of conditions, such as the situation with a mobile device that may move from access point to access point. Each time, they connect to the internet they will get a new address, possibly the same (but NAT'd) as the access point itself. Individuality/identity is a major issue here, no?