Completing BitTorrent Decentralization

Njaal writes "With BitTorrent going trackerless, searching for and distributing .torrent files is a natural next step. The Socialized.Net (TSN) is a pure P2P search infrastructure which facilitates P2P searching and distribution of .torrent files. It comes complete with an Azureus (and Firefox) search plugin. TSN is written in Python and is made available under the GPL. Note that this is part of my PhD thesis, and is as such meant as a technology demonstrator."

Comments

Meaning of the disclaimer

[LiquidCoooled]

Note that this is part of my PhD thesis, and is as such ment as a technology demonstrator

really means:

Pleassseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee don't sue my ass.

Re:viva la bittorrent

[Anonymous Coward]

yay for eveolution. a great product getting better is alwways good news.

This is not an example of evolution but rather of Intelligent Design. An intelligence is required to implement the irreducibly complex decentralization.

Where did that come from?

[Lifewish]

Since when does P2P == stealing? Some people use it for copyright infringement, yes, but I regularly use it for downloading linux isos and legal media (Art of the Saber rocks).

All this means for me is that I can avoid doing too much damage to the hosting servers, which can only be a good thing for underfunded open source projects and the like.

Re:tried the search..

[fimbulvetr]

Looks like it tries to connect to localhost:8002, seems you need to install the daemon too:)

Re:Celebrating the freedom to steal

[FidelCatsro]

Its a technoligy designed to facilitate in the distribution of media , if you choose to abuse it then thats your fault .
Many people do use the technoligy to distribute copyrighted materials , many others use it to distribute GPL software and linux distros (which is how i get all my distros , via bittorent)
Having a system like this decentralises the network further , which is a brilliant thing as bandwidth is expensive , this will take the load off many networks if it picks up.
Celebrating the freedom to share is more apt , what you share is up to you (and any consiquences there of).

Re:"the other" browser

[mrchaotica]

What, you mean Konqueror?

Possibility of mainline integration?

[Sv-Manowar]

If this technology works as advertised (and obviously that has yet to be seen) it will only really work by the kind of mass adoption created by inclusion in the standard bittorrent clients. This is how the Azureus distributed database has worked out so well, because of the existing userbase being rolled over seamlessly to its inclusion by default.

If Azureus or other clients decided to include functionality like this, it would effectively leave programs like eXeem dead in the water and provide BitTorrent users with a closed 'single-stop' solution for finding and downloading files.

Re:P2P is not

[mrchaotica]

No, trackerless BitTorrent is legitimate too, because it allows people without the resources to run a tracker upload torrents.

Re:clearly, this is positive

[johansalk]

"Just a student"?... The guy is doing a PhD; many programmers have not even been in college.

Re:Unstoppable?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is going to make the MPAA and RIAA angry.

I bet in retaliation, they'll put out crappy music and movies.

Oh, wait...

thats the kind of Phd thesis I like...

[Stalyn]

one which helps me download pr0n faster.

What is BitTorrent now?

[iammaxus]

Trackerless torrents and search technologies like this seems to be changing BitTorrent into a conventional p2p system. Can anyone explain the diffrence? Is it just a regular p2p system with a highly efficient segmented downloading system?

Re:What is BitTorrent now?

[Daedalon]

There are quite a lot of differences in the three major P2P technologies. Here I try to cover the most important of each:

ed2k (eMule)

• + Easy linking. Links can be shared anywhere: in web pages, IRC, email. The single 100-200 character link contains everything that is needed to download the file.
• + Supports usage with and without a server (in eMule, ed2k server and serverless Kademlia)
• - If you run a server, you can't make it private
• - If you run a server, you cannot control what is shared there
• - Inefficient, seems to waste bandwidth

Direct Connect (DC++, Reverse Connect)

• + You can run servers (hubs) private
• + You can see what everyone is sharing in your hub
• + Using eMule-like links has recently become available, though clicking a link doesn't add the file in your queue, it only allows you to search for it
• + Efficient, you can download directly from someone very fast, even through intranet
• - No serverless mode
• - You don't have total control on what is shared in your server
• - Only in Reverse Connect you can download from multiple sources simultaneously

BitTorrent (Azureus, BitComet)

• + The most efficient p2p yet
• + Server (tracker) admin can have total control of what is shared choosing a directory where he uploads allowed torrents
• + A single .torrent file can contain instructions on how to download multiple files
• - No serverless mode
• - No searching
• - To share download instructions for a file(set), you have to be able to transfer a .torrent file, a plaintext link isn't enough

This has been the situation for a while. In ed2k nothing big has changed for a year. DC++ (incl. Reverse Connect) is evolving, but magnet (TTH) linking has been the only major change in years. When DC++ gets its support for ADC complete, the evolution of Direct Connect is predicted to get a major boost.

What trackerless BitTorrent does is to make every client a small tracker. So it doesn't just enable searching and serverless usage, it also makes sharing illegal files easier (more than it does for legal). Previously, to share content, you had to find a tracker that allows posting .torrents. To share copyrighted content, you also had to find a tracker that didn't care about legal aspects. So sharing legal and illegal content is now equally easy, while it previously was (at least in theory) a little bit easier to share legal content.

Overall, the changes of trackerless BitTorrent would still make it the best available p2p techonology. For certain special cases, Direct Connect could be better, and both DC and ed2k support easier linking than BT, but even that can change in the future: BT could implement a meta-p2p engine, so that you could share plaintext links that make your client download the right .torrent file and add it to your queue. This would make BT superior to eMule in every aspect.

Defining feature of P2P

[Anonymous Coward]

It is worth noting that every P2P software distributor sued by the RIAA has used built-in searching. Built-in searching is really the big thing that separates the internet from what people commonly call peer-to-peer networks (even though the internet is itself a P2P network).

With the conventional internet, you were stuck using a centralized search engine which is easy to censor. To censor a network with built-in searching, you have to censor the whole network.

Re:Defining feature of P2P

[Breakfast Pants]

The only one they successfully sued in court (i.e. didn't settle with) used centralized searching (Napster), so I don't quite see what you mean by every P2P software distributor sued by the RIAA has used built-in searching.

Re:This will kill Bittorrent

[dizzydogg]

Bittorent is designed for a massive swarm of people all downloading the same file at the same time. It won't die under these circumstances, it will thrive. The more people you have downloading the file, the more people are sharing the file. The reason bittorent is faster is because it forces you to share with others, and doesnt allow you to get away with not sharing the file like many p2p programs, where many people with "slow" connections or a cap on their monthly bandwidth turn off their uploads. Thats why so many people download off one guy with other p2p programs, because the file is never shared by so many people who dowload it, the few people who are sharing their copy's queue is swamped.

It's all because of bittorents tit for tat system, where if the seeders are swamped, you'll usualy get your upload speed returned to you from the other peers you are downloading with. If you upload at 5k/s, you download at 5k/s,but if you can do 30k/s you usualy get 30k/s. You swap the pieces you have for pieces your missing with the other downloaders. Your client remembers the people who traded with it succesfully and tries to make further trades with these people since your client can confirm that they are uploading, and thus you will get something in return. Meanwhile the seeders are feeding the rarest pieces to the people it sees as the ones who upload the most to others, and they swap with others and so on, until everyone has a complete copy.