29 July 2006

Mirror, Mirror on the Web ...

From time to time, as you wander through the wonderland of cyberspace, you may encounter a mirror site. Unlike Alice’s looking glass, Internet mirrors are no more than exact copies of existing sites. Most commonly, mirror sites are used to provide multiple sources of the same information.

Mirroring of sites occurs for a variety of reasons:

• To allow faster downloads for users at a specific geographical location. For example, a U.K. server could be mirrored in Japan, allowing Japanese Internet users to download content faster from the local Japanese server than from the original British one.
• To permit dowloading of large files from alternative sites. This would permit many individuals to download the same file simultaneously.
• To counteract censorship and promote freedom of information. For example, an activist might post pictures on a Website of a country conducting illegal activities or make available information on secret government activity and be litigated for such. Other Internet users will make the content in question available on other servers when the legal action results in the cancellation of Web services for the original activist.
• To provide access to otherwise unavailable information. For example, when the People’s Republic of China banned the Google search engine in 2002, the mirror elgooG was used as a way of effectively circumventing the ban.

A good example of mirroring is the well-known SourceForge.net Website. The basis of the SourceForge concept is, primarily, the hosting of open-source software projects, but secondarily the use of many different locations to achieve one goal: to maintain download availability to the user. Many innovative computer projects host their sites and software on SourceForge, which provides mirrors in several U.S. states and countries, from Dublin, Ireland to Tokyo, Japan.

For the average user, a mirror permits the rapid download of large files from more than one source, keeping the Internet pipeline unclogged. If you wish to download a file from a site and are given the opportunity to select another rabbit hole, take it. Imagine the looks on their faces when you tell your friends that you downloaded the trailer to Pirates of Carribean - Dead Man's Chest ... from Australia.