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The Centralization of BitTorrent Networks

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the peer-to-peer-to-peer-to-peer dept.

Writes writes writes writes "A group of graduate students from the University of Washington have posted a a new independent report about the extent of centralization in regards to BitTorrent communities. The report indicates that irrespective of the recent damage dealt to global torrent sites, the communities are still very active, even despite their large degree of centralization (and perhaps exposure/liability). Furthermore, the report attempts to determine if the torrent communities follow the 80/20 rule, by measuring the Long Tail of torrent distribution."

3 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. Umm, no, it won't ever die. by garcia · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So seriously, is BitTorrent dead?

    No. Well, we don't think so, at least.

    That should have read, "is BitTorrent for Warez dead?" And no, it's not, but it probably won't appear like suprnova.org did again...

    Is BitTorrent dead? No, it will never die. Just as FTP for Warez dwindled and other transfer services took over (IRC, Napster, Kazaa, BitTorrent, foo) it didn't kill it. FTP, IRC, BT, foo, all have valid reasons for existing other than warez.

    BT though, above all the others, is actually really useful for trasferring large files quickly. Yeah, it's not good for the long term but I'm sure someone will come up with something that will make the protocol attractive for use outside of the Warez arena.

    It's just that the warezkids are all about picking up new tech and using it. It's their nature as they are generally tech oriented.

    I wish I could be a grad student and publish a bunch of bullshit with graphs and get my degree!

    1. Re:Umm, no, it won't ever die. by HeghmoH · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A 1:1 ratio for everybody is mathematically impossible. For every byte uploaded, you have a byte downloaded. You also have at least one person who doesn't download anything at all, the original seeder. The average ratio of the entire network is always 1:1, and the average of the entire network minus original seeders will always be less than that. You will always have people who don't have a 1:1 ratio even if everybody is super-nice and lets their torrents run forever after they finish.

      --
      Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
  2. Re:BitTorrent's usefulness? by 787style · · Score: 5, Informative

    That's your problem - your upload was choking your download. Use a client like Shadow's Bittornado http://www.bittornado.com/ and throttle your upload speed.