Decentralizing Bittorrent

An anonymous reader writes "Exeem is a new file-sharing application being developed by the folks at SuprNova.org. Exeem is a decentralized BitTorrent network that basically makes everyone a Tracker. Individuals will share Torrents, and seed shared files to the network. At this time, details and the full potential of this project are being kept very quiet. However it appears this P2P application will completely replace SuprNova.org; no more web mirrors, no more bottle necks and no more slow downs. Exeem will marry the best features of a decentralized network, the easy searchability of an indexing server and the swarming powers of the BitTorrent network into one program. Currently, the network is in beta testing and already has 5,000 users (the beta testing is closed.) Once this program goes public, its potential is enormous. "

Comments

The point of Exeem

[bairy]

is to basically become a Kazaa but using the bittorrent protocol. I was one of the beta testers and I can say it works well, it's fast it's efficient and because it doesn't have to faff around with one tracker it starts transferring the second, *the second* you add the torrent.

Publishing a torrent is incredibly easy, drag the folder in, pick a category, click go. It hashes it and it starts seeding within seconds.

It still (obviously) needs some work doing to the app to make it more friendly but it's shaping up well.

Re:The point of Exeem

[MindStalker]

I think he is referrering to a system like freenet where files are routed through random users, and said user has no way of knowing what files are routed through them because its encrypted. Even the files you are sharing on yor computer are encrypted and get spread out and split up in pieces among everyone else, so just because you have a piece of the file doesn't mean you asked for it. Its all about plausable deniability. You can't prove who put a file on the network, and you someone has no idea as to what files or pieces of files their computer is sharing.

Re:Wait...

[Kelerain]

Because, theory goes, finding one person with that file finds everyone with that file, and furthermore you get the organized anti-leeching distribution advantage of bit torrent. You can think of it this way. Bit torrent works well, right? This is just a different way of finding torrents.

Re:Freenet? Hello?

[Severious]

I gave freenet a try for well over a week constantly on and in the end it was still basically useless. It was about 10x slower than a modem. It is a great idea but from my experience it just doesn't work.

Why?

[Julian Morrison]

I don't agree with the all-in-one idea. It seems to me the problem would be better solved in a more modular way.

(1) having a search that only indexes trackers, and can then launch an external app of your choice to do the torrent download

(2) improving the bittorrent protocol so anybody with a seed can failover as the tracker

When I want to download torrents, I want to use Azureus, regardless of whether it was a P2P searched torrent or one off a website. I don't want to have to use some all-in-one app that decides for me the One True Way that downloads shall be handled, merely because it implemented the search to find them.

Re:Wait...

[dustman]

No, it isn't. What is trivial with eDonkey is to get a modified client that doesn't have this restriction. Solving this problem requires reporting the amount of uploading being done to some kind of server.

No, it doesn't require that. Basically, you just have all connections be 2-way. The key issue here is that you are all looking for the same file.

If client B wants to connect to client A and download some pieces, client A can decide on whether or not to allow this based on which pieces B can provide that A is missing.

If the connection is not mutually beneficial to both parties, one side closes it.

Combine this with a "generosity" setting, where some people sharing the file give away pieces for free, (and by default, when you finish a download you turn into "super-generous" mode until the transfer utility is closed), and the system will work fine, without any sort of central monitoring.

Basically, everyone is "trading" pieces of the download, and automatically discovering "local" peers which have uncongested links with each other.

Re:But remember!

[iminplaya]

...take the milk from the refirgerator, and walk out without paying.

Why do you insist on using anologies that simply don't apply? This is why I call you people copyright drones. You have no logic to back up your argument, so you use old theories that have been proven false. Yet you continue to use them. It doesn't help your cause in any way. Copyright is as depicable as trickle down economics. In fact they are the same. Let a guy make millions at public expense, and maybe, just maybe he might leave a few more crumbs on the floor for the rest of us. It's a horrible concept. Under this system, the only motivation to create anything is money, little more. Under this system, people create useless stuff, and then they're spamming us at dinner time ringing my damn phone telling me "Buy my shit! C'mon godammit, buy it! If you don't buy it you're a damn thief! Buy! Buy! Buy!" It's because of IP that we have so much crap on the store shelves. Junk is being invented simply because you can find a sucker that will buy it.