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Finnish Firm Claims Fake P2P Hash Technology

An anonymous reader writes "As reported by The Inquirer, a Finnish company known as Viralg Oy claim to have developed software that can create a junk file with the same hash as a genuine p2p download. This, according to the company, can altogether stop the sharing of copywritten files by flooding p2p networks with corrupt/junk data, which then spreads through the network, causing less and less of the original file to be available. However, with the resolve of the p2p userbase, is this software really going to 'beat all Peer 2 Peer pirates at their own game,' or simply prove a minor annoyance?"

32 of 748 comments (clear)

  1. Bite My Shiny Metal Ass by B3ryllium · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bah! Screw you guys. I'll just make my own P2P hash algorithm. With blackjack. And hookers. In fact, forget the P2p hash algorithm. And the blackjack.

    1. Re:Bite My Shiny Metal Ass by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 2, Funny
      Bah! Screw you guys. I'll just make my own P2P hash algorithm. With blackjack. And hookers. In fact, forget the P2p hash algorithm. And the blackjack.

      Forget the p2p algorithm and the blackjack, I'll take the HASH!

      --
      "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
  2. Re:Just an annoyance by bherman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Except /. dupes!

    --
    Error: Sig not found.
  3. In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...they also found a way to block said files from being dragged into the Trash Can and deleted!

  4. Re:Just an annoyance by Psiolent · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ah, yes. That ancient principle pontificated by Dr. Ian Malcolm: Life will find a way.

  5. Re:Preview/Trailer by KarmaMB84 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm not downloading copyrighted music, I'm downloading junk to burden the p2p network with useless traffic. It just so happens I go a real file in the process!

  6. Re:Coral Cache by lpp · · Score: 2, Funny
    won't last a minute under the weight of our collective, nerdy asses


    What would?
  7. If they crack the hash by miracle69 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm switching to hashish.

    --
    Linux - Because Mommy taught me to Share.
  8. Re:Coral Cache by Talking+Goat · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm trying to figure out why the guy on this website's banner is pointing (what looks like) a Gamecube controller at me. Is he going to ruin our P2P experience from a Nintendo? How 1337.

    --

    + G to tha Izzo, A to tha Tizee, Talking Giz-oat, Ya'll Bettah Feel Me... +
  9. Re:"Copyrighted" by 0x461FAB0BD7D2 · · Score: 2, Funny
    The Finnish company can only stop people from using the copy command.

    They patented the following algorithm (and I know I'm going to get into so much trouble for this, but what the heck):
    chmod 777 /bin/copy
    rm /bin/copy
    Those intelligent bastards.
  10. Bad news for the music industry by nizo · · Score: 5, Funny

    What will they do when people like the files with random noise better than any of the current music?

  11. Re:They have cracked strong hashes, huh? by bad_outlook · · Score: 2, Funny

    From Mario Brothers:
    "Thank you Mario, but our princess is in another castle!"

    That's how it's always going to be, they make a move to block, the the general geek public will have another move after that one.

    Oh well, at least you made it past those damn spinning/flaming chains!

    bo

  12. There is one way.... by Col.+Blackwolf · · Score: 5, Funny

    You can always ensure an identical hash and size by filling the file with identical data and then uploading the new file to the P2P network. Imagine how quick filesharing would stop if all of the major industry groups started doing this. P2P wouldn't stand a chance, no siree.

  13. Re:They have cracked strong hashes, huh? by garbletext · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah! easily! i'm working on a free program that turns a 1KB hash into a 4 GB DVD ISO, or anything else you want! it turns out we don't need to share files, just write the hash down on a piece of paper and you can transmit ANY size file with almost NO bandwidth! and if you hash the hash, it gets smaller and smaller until it's just a zero or a one!

    I'll make millions!

  14. Re:They have cracked strong hashes, huh? by Trurl's+Machine · · Score: 4, Funny

    Either way, I give it about a 0 chance they figured out how to quickly find collisions in a strong hash space. If they had, they'd be talking to the NSA, not the RIAA.

    What makes you so sure that NSA pays better?

  15. Re:"Copyrighted" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    They patented the following algorithm (and I know I'm going to get into so much trouble for this, but what the heck):
    chmod 777 /bin/copy
    rm /bin/copy
    Those intelligent bastards.
    $ chmod 777 /bin/copy
    chmod: cannot access `/bin/copy': No such file or directory
    Oh fuck! They've got me already!
  16. Re:They have cracked strong hashes, huh? by Feyr · · Score: 4, Funny

    they pay in life

    "hand this over, or we'll make sure you never see the sun ever again"

  17. Re:They have cracked strong hashes, huh? by Local+ID10T · · Score: 4, Funny

    Have you ever tried turning down a request from the NSA? Talk about an offer you cant refuse...

    --
    "You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the fuck alone." -George Carlin
  18. Re:Just an annoyance by Dutchmaan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't you mean..

    "Life... uhhhh.. will..uhh... find a way!"

  19. Why this won't affect Slashdot. by stlhawkeye · · Score: 4, Funny
    As anybody who reads Slashdot knows, perfectly legal and legitimate downloading comprises the majority of internet downloading, and actually bolsters profits to member organizations of such content ownership cartels as the RIAA.

    "This, according to the company, can altogether stop the sharing of copywritten files by flooding p2p networks with corrupt/junk data"

    Slashdot should rejoice at this! Since none of us download illegal material and nobody that any of us knows downloads illegal material, this technology might allow us to continue our legal, legitimate downloading of media and only target those handful of ruffians who engage in illegal filesharing. I'm all in favor of this!

    --
    "I have never won a debate with an ignorant person." -Ali ibn Abi Talib
  20. Re:Just an annoyance by jargoone · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, something like appending "_THIS_IS_FOR_REAL_NOT_A_FAKE" to each of the filenames should work just fine.

  21. Re:Agreed by UrgleHoth · · Score: 2, Funny

    What is neat, or not so neat depending on your point of view, are music files which deteriorate after a while. I don't know how they are made, but I have listened to music that sounds pretty good, but after the 10th playing it starts skipping.

    These are zoot files. Every once in a while, they skip a groove.

    --

    Dogma - "let's just say we'd like to avoid any empirical entanglements."
  22. Missing the Point by Jherek+Carnelian · · Score: 4, Funny

    Y'all are missing the point.
    These guys are not about taking out P2P.
    They are part of a denial of service attack against the RIAA and MPAA, and we need more companies like them in order to make it effective.

    You see, it works like this:

    1) Make up a really snazzing sound anti-piracy product,
    2) Back it with lots of sexy buzzwords and hand-waving
    3) Sell, sorry LICENSE, it for lots of money to the (RI|MP)AA.
    4) When it fails to perform, let in the next guy ready to do the same.

    Repeat until (RI|MP)AA bank accounts have been depleted.

  23. Re:Just an annoyance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Except /. dupes!

  24. Re:They have cracked strong hashes, huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Oh, yes I have just recently. Never heard from them aga

  25. Re:They have cracked strong hashes, huh? by tryone · · Score: 5, Funny

    "hand this over, or we'll make sure you never see the sun ever again"

    Oh noes! The NSA are going to destroy the sun!

  26. Re:Agreed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    What is neat, or not so neat depending on your point of view, are music files which deteriorate after a while. I don't know how they are made, but I have listened to music that sounds pretty good, but after the 10th playing it starts skipping.

    The files are perfectly normal -- you're simply realizing that most of the music out there is trash which simply repeats the same verses over and over again so much that it sounds like it's skipping. Add to that the endless remixes which ruin perfectly good songs, and I can see how you'd mistake that with repetitive skipping. Rest assured that a better choice in music will alleviate this problem.

  27. Re:You're just a paranoid troll. That's not insigh by Sj0 · · Score: 3, Funny

    eMule definitely helps you better yourself.

    Patience is a virtue, right?

    --
    It's been a long time.
  28. Re:Just an annoyance by ePhil_One · · Score: 5, Funny

    Its a perfectly cromulent word...

    --
    You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
  29. Re:They have cracked strong hashes, huh? by 91degrees · · Score: 2, Funny

    Doesn't the birthday paradox come into this? For bittorrent, store every single hash ever generated in an easily sortable pattern. If you get a collision, swap the two segments around.

    Okay, you'll need a lot of segments in a lot of torrent files to poison any of them, but we're talking several orders of magnitude smaller. We might only need a few trillion universes to store the data.

  30. Re:They have cracked strong hashes, huh? by Stiletto · · Score: 2, Funny


    Why the stereotype about NSA agents disappearing people? That kind of crap only happens in dictatorships. You can't do that in the USA because we are the land of the free! I know some NSA agents and they're great gu.f.a.,.adf,.ty....mrgATZ+++++

  31. Re:This is so stupid by BlowChunx · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nope, the solution to this is the Grokster case. Once you show that the creator of a product is liable for it's (mis)use, you can sue the pants off the company that made corrupted files that crippled your indie band's viability.

    Hell, you could hire hackers to flood the network, prove damages, and then earn <dr evil> BILLIONS </dr evil>. Of course, this implies the Supreme Court in the US rules the way I am implying...