PeerGuardian Interview

PeerGuardian 2 is Phoenix Labs’ premier IP blocker for Windows. With features like support for multiple lists, a list editor, automatic updates, and blocking all of IPv4 (TCP, UDP, ICMP, etc), PeerGuardian 2 is the safest and easiest way to protect your privacy on P2P.

We had an interview with Cory, the lead developer of PeerGuardian 2.

What is your role in the development of PeerGuardian 2? Would you call the development a group effort or are you the brains behind the project?

I'm the sole programmer, but we've had several other people working on it in other respects - UI/graphic design, documentation, support, etc. It's a group effort, I'm just the guy that gets to bring it all together.

How long before we can expect a stable release of PeerGuardian with Windows Vista and IPv6 support? Is the available test build a good representation of the version to come or can we expect even more?

The current test build is pretty buggy, and doesn't represent any final release quality. The old PeerGuardian 2 code has actually been scrapped, and PeerGuardian 3 is in the final stages of development with full Vista and IPv6 support.

PeerGuardian 2 and certain firewalls, like McAfee, do not run very well together. Why are users experiencing these kind of problems; will these problems be solved in PeerGuardian 3?

PeerGuardian 2 uses a specific type of driver, and Windows only allows one of this type to be loaded at once. Some firewalls use this type also, so they can disable each other without knowing it. PeerGuardian 3 will have the same problem on XP, but it uses an all new driver for Vista that does not have this problem.

Linux users cannot run PeerGuardian 2, but they have an alternative: MoBlock. Are there any plans of MoBlock and PeerGuardian joining forces?

We actually keep in close contact with the MoBlock developer, and have been plans for a while to make it an official PeerGuardian at some point in the future. It's not a for sure thing, and we don't have any specific date set, but he has expressed interest.

How did the "Methlabs staff revolt" affect PhoenixLabs internal management, and how did the public respond?

We have a new server admin now, and have ownership split between the founders to ensure it doesn't happen again. Internally, the biggest effect was a drop in morale, but we've recovered. The public was very helpful. Our community has always been so strong, that we had countless people helping to spread the word. We went so far to drop our lists (as they had been compromised) and recommend people switch to a competitors lists instead, and I think that helped ensure people that we're still trustworthy.

Dropping your lists must've meant losing years of work?

Yes. It was a saddening decision to make, but to ensure the protection of users we decided it was a necessity. We found evidence that the rogue admin had changed the lists, and tried to cover it up in logs. The changes we found were not major, but we don't know which other changes were deleted from the logs.

Blocklist.org is an ambitious project to allow the community to submit, correct and even have IP ranges removed from the PeerGuardian blocklists. However, blocklist.org appears to be in the hands of an organization called PortfolioBrains; what has happened and when can we expect it online and fully operational?

The domain was owned by Method, the founder of Methlabs. He is still staff, but he hasn't had any role in development for several years. The domain name expired, and he was unreachable. So we no longer own it. The site may come up again at a later date, but not at that domain. We're all pretty busy these days, so really it's just a question of when someone gets the time to get it back up and running.

Is what has happened to blocklist.org a good representation of the level of interest the staff still has in the project(s)?

The current staff are still very active and interested in continuing Phoenix Labs projects.

And with that sentence I'd like to end the interview, thank you for your time.

Thankyou