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Grad Student Project Uses Wikis To Stash Data, Miffs Admins

Anonymous writes "Two graduate students at the Ivy League's Brown University built a P2P system to use abandoned wiki sites to store data. The students were stealing bandwidth from open MediaWiki sites to send data between users as an alternative to BitTorrent. There was immediate backlash as site operators quickly complained to the University. The project appears to be shutdown, but many of the pages still remain on the web. The project homepage was also taken down and the students posted an apology this afternoon." The same submitter links to two different forum discussions on the project.

18 of 268 comments (clear)

  1. Forget the wikis... by fucket · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...I want to hear more about these MILF admins.

  2. Kobayashi Maru by retech · · Score: 3, Funny

    Does no one appreciate outside the box thinking anymore? What a shame!

    Khaaaaaan!

  3. SlashdotFS by goombah99 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apparently they don't know about SlashdotFS. This system uses an english hidden markov model sentence constructor to generate plausible comment text and save it as reply's on slashdot. The path through the markov model is variable having multiple word choices at each node so it can encode arbitrary data and can be decoded by replaying the message through the same network model.

    It was just a toy till 2003 when a pair of graduate students realized the information density could be dramatically enhanced by introducing spelling, gramatical errors, typo's and l337-speak into the model.

    Comments encoding these are usually late posts in the discussion threat and frequently replied to by grammar nazi's.

    It's now one of the major Warez dumping sites since it is particularly useful for immutable data of low value.

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re:SlashdotFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      'SlashdotFS' coments encodin in sohveet russsia, but duz it runn 0n lunix?

    2. Re:SlashdotFS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Hans Reiser is working on it. One added benefit is you can encrypt data so to the outside observer it just looks like you're posting body dump sites.

    3. Re:SlashdotFS by Voyager529 · · Score: 2, Funny

      But can it run crysis?

      Perhaps, but you'd need a Beowulf cluster of them to run Crysis and Vista. Problem is, the Beowulf cluster is too easily Slashdotted.

    4. Re:SlashdotFS by dangitman · · Score: 5, Funny

      Comments encoding these are usually late posts in the discussion threat and frequently replied to by grammar nazi's.

      Replied to by the grammar Nazi's what?

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
  4. Re:Why???? by Lehk228 · · Score: 3, Funny

    because if you fill the onion tubes with torrents how are the pedos going to trade their child porn?

    --
    Snowden and Manning are heroes.
  5. Re:Theft? by tagno25 · · Score: 5, Funny

    True. But if I don't lock my front door, that doesn't mean it's ok for you to take my stuff.

    But if you are in the UK I can come in and watch the TV if it is on.

  6. Re:"Abandoned" my pasty white ass by physicsphairy · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's not a high-volume site, but it sure as hell isn't abandoned.

    I see you are still in denial about how much time you spend posting at Slashdot.

  7. Some say rubbish, I say Brilliant by ZeroNullVoid · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is the best school project I have heard of since I was at university....

  8. Re:Theft? by Jafafa+Hots · · Score: 5, Funny

    Someone oughta think of a way to post chop data files and post them to the usenet - after all, it's just sitting there all abandoned like.

    --
    This space available.
  9. Re:Theft? by MrMista_B · · Score: 4, Funny

    You sir, are someone I'd trust with the internet.

  10. Re:What the Page Originally Said by fractoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    Next step; using Google Cache to stash data. :D

    --
    Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
  11. Re:Theft? by fractoid · · Score: 4, Funny

    Only if you document the entire incident on video and upload it so that we can verify that no breaches of justice took place. :P

    --
    Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
  12. Re:Theft? by palegray.net · · Score: 2, Funny

    I assure you, more than justice is going to be breached. Better get the handcuffs ready.

  13. Re:What the Page Originally Said by schmiddy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Note from Bot #1536: Moderators, please mod to +5 so that all bots see this post.

    • filename: X-Men.Origins.Wolverine.2009.WORKPRiNT.XviD-NoRar.avi
    • chunk: 1050
    • total chunks: 10342
    • encoding: base64
    • Post-Id: wADP1bX99oZfbC13udF

    499Vm0C+Yq/ 8Tix8fxSTmuRLmVlhPkJ7oDVazbUpuoM2MR 4nf9RAidWI+Twy5tZeArnSZSm+f ikLjPW14Xw4N9f 5nZqFiQiVOcESYUHbwbod/ NBzGeJ6rAY6o+fikLjPW14 Xw4N9fSc0L4jbXI2AjGQKy Ftiimwe1cJ6LMMXCCnsyoVT PA2ZH95XQ1aeyN98/nerWrL tbiUPrnkbK3NJyLiN2j/OKp yR1Y7R1gZIzKYqBhUPiyITY L3f3AdXw1vflQpNOg2QbOeI nhLdu2AaJLXqX8VhV7MeTV58 IWePNlD+wUWKL0CS+6Wt+zG/ a0qbKvpTuKnoeyWp1UcvLlfEq iU1FOyjxaR5BA1hUcAeHaQG 0pPbGK74MTXe9NVYa0E2vtTP 5iNe3t76DLPjCM0P7r+KJJea SF6BQKBLhzpXPeZVCsmXHPHC hIAsOV4huZFE+fX5cAwwNpE+ Y8ZbNqNN/Drj/eRzXLIghkNl Wn1iEB7aEn7e brQ9MUGAYasx0Lx7WYzmwU1T k5GhYb4j5QNqi7nDMSeXuY1l FTJmbMKpPoTpn22aWPEEuVvO j2umDm+GWLk4kPU8ODRg1Uep Sifu72YkEpExpg

    Anti-Slashcode text: had a very accurate perception of what was good for herself. So, she appropriated the greater part of the weekly stipend to her own use, and consigned the rising parochial generation to even a shorter allowance than was originally provided for them.

    --
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  14. Re:What the Page Originally Said by catmistake · · Score: 3, Funny

    REQ: Star Trek (workprint) (AAC/mp4 2000kb/s)

    TIA !!!!!