Collapsing P2P Networks

Andrew writes "I'm a undergraduate at the University of Washington, and after seeing this article on Salon, I dusted off a paper I had written last year. I examined P2P networks under a model usually used in describing animal populations, and found that it may be possible to cause a collapse in the network based on the intrinsic nature of the technology. Just as in animal populations, P2P networks require a sizable "critical mass" of users, and overharvesting can cause a systemic collapse - what if this were done on purpose? Quite ominously, my second recommendation on disruption was carrying damaged or incorrectly named files. You can read theabstract and the actual paper"

Comments

sinister motive?

[potcrackpot]

The practice of flooding the system with bad files is far more sinister than most of us realise.

This is actually the next step in the Taliban's fight against capitalism. They are continuing their religious war, attempting to reduce our morale by preventing us listening to music, except in short frustrating bursts of the same 10 seconds.

Their aim is to reduce us, to bring us down from within by sabotaging our right to Good Music In MP3 Format.

We Will NOT give in.

Uh, wait. Why did they start with 'No Doubt'?

Re:sinister motive?

[denladeside]

Techno and Dance is *supposed* to sound like that :-)

Well, atleast we know who skipped maths lessons

[GnomeKing]

In particular, our analysis of the model leads to three potential strategies, which can be used in conjunction:

1. Randomly selecting and litigating against users engaging in piracy
2. Creating fake users that carry (incorrectly named or damaged files)
3. Broadcasting fake queries in order to degrade network performance
4. Selectively targeting litigation against the small percentage of users that carry the majority of the files

Pythonesque...

[Anonymous Coward]

...Our four, four! potential strategies are: