community.linuxmint.com

Neither Retroshare nor Tribler for some unknown reason are even found in the Linux Mint Synaptic package handler. However given today's police-state mentality for Internet usage, not only should they both be available thru the Synaptic package handler, Retroshare and Tribler should both be included with the Linux Mint standard installation. These programs provide private and encrypted file-sharing with a secure decentralised platform providing Linux Mint users with more security and that is the very basis of the Mint Community, providing the utmost in security to it's users.

Retroshare

Provides Private and Secure file sharing and communications with your friends. RetroShare is a Open Source cross-platform, private and secure decentralised communication platform. It lets you to securely chat and share files with your friends and family, using a web-of-trust to authenticate peers and OpenSSL to encrypt all communication. RetroShare provides filesharing, chat, messages, forums and channels.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/retroshare/files/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/retroshare/

Note: After installing right-click on the Gnome or Kmenu for RetroShare and edit the launch from retroshare to RetroShare to remedy that oversight. From a Mint Terminal Cli you can also run it via RetroShare in the Launch Option correct from /usr/bin/retroshare to /usr/bin/RetroShare and your'e good to go.

RetroShare founder DrBob stated that while the software has been around since 2006, all of a sudden there's been a surge in downloads. "The interest in RetroShare has massively shot up over the last two months," he said. "In January our downloads tripled when interest in SOPA was at its peak. It more than doubled again in February, when cyberlockers disabled sharing or shut down entirely. At the moment we are getting 10 times more downloads than in December 2011." RetroShare's founder believes that there is an increased need for security, privacy and freedom among file-sharers, features that are at the core of his application."RetroShare is about creating a private space on the Internet. A social collaboration network where you can share anything you want. A space that is free from the prying eyes of governments, corporations and advertisers. This is vitally important as our freedom on the Internet is under increasing threat," DrBob told TorrentFreak. "RetroShare is free from censorship: like Facebook banning ‘obscene' breast-feeding photographs. A network that allows you to use any pseudonym, without insisting on knowing your real name. A network where you will not face the threat of jail, or being banned from entry into a country for an innocent tweet."

It's impossible to accurately predict what file-sharing will look like 5 years from now. But, a safe assumption is that anonymity will play a more central role than it ever has. Recent crackdowns have made operators of central file-sharing sites and services more cautious of copyright infringement. Some even went as far as shutting down voluntarily, like BTjunkie. In the long run this might drive more casual downloaders to legitimate alternatives, if these are available. Those who keep on sharing could move to smaller communities, darknets, and anonymous connections.

Tribler

Tribler allows you to watch videos and download content. Tribler aims to combine the ease of Youtube.com with the performance of peer-to-peer. Tribler is backwards compatible with the Bittorrent download protocol. To discover interesting content standard RSS feeds with .torrent links are supported plus the "Tribe protocol" which automatically scans the network for available Bittorrent swarms upon startup. Tribler uses an embedded web browser to access video clips of Youtube.com and Liveleak.com Other features are "People who like this also like" for recommending related swarms, the ability to make friends, and to donate idle upload capacity to friends. The later can improve download speed by a factor of two on asymmetric Internet links. The fastest way of social file sharing

http://dl.tribler.org/