Jed McCaleb is an American programmer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he was exposed to early discussions about cryptography and peer-to-peer networks before leaving to prioritize hands-on projects. In 2000, McCaleb founded MetaMachine Inc.
and released the eDonkey2000 application, later developing the eDonkey and Overnet peer-to-peer networks. At its peak, the network had over 4 million active users.