Major Flaws Found In Recent BitTorrent Study

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Major Flaws Found In Recent BitTorrent Study

Posted by Soulskill on Monday July 26, 2010 @07:51AM from the seeding-facts dept.

Caledfwlch writes with a followup to news we discussed a couple days ago about a study that found only 0.3% of torrents to be legal. (A further 11% was described as "ambiguous.") TorrentFreak looked more deeply into the study and found a number of flaws, suggesting that the researchers' data may have been pulled from a bogus tracker. Quoting: "Here's where the researchers make total fools out of themselves. In their answer to the question they refer to a table of the top 10 most seeded torrents. ... the most seeded file was uploaded nearly two years ago (The Incredible Hulk) and has a massive 1,112,628 seeders. The torrent in 10th place is not doing bad either with 277,043 seeds. All false data. We're not sure where these numbers originate from but the best seeded torrent at the moment only has 13,739 seeders; that's 1% of what the study reports. Also, the fact that the release is nearly two years old should have sounded some alarm bells. It appears that the researchers have pulled data from a bogus tracker, and it wouldn't be a big surprise if all the torrents in their top 10 are actually fake." They also take a cursory look at isoHunt, finding that 1.5% of torrent files come from Jamendo alone, "a site that publishes only Creative Commons licensed music."

16 of 167 comments (clear)

Honestly... by Theoboley · 2010-07-26 07:53 · Score: 5, Insightful

Does this really surprise anyone?

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Stupidity only gets you so far, then you've gotta try
1. Re:Honestly... by jgagnon · 2010-07-26 07:56 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  It probably surprises the people that thought they could get away with presenting bogus data. ;)
  
  --
  Remember to maintain your supply of /facepalm oil to prevent chafing.
2. Re:Honestly... by Monkeedude1212 · 2010-07-26 08:07 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Problem is, most people who visit this site already know what this article is stating. They knew the study was bogus from the start because they are more in tune with torrents than the people doing the study. The issue arises when the "Recent Study" slamming torrents makes the 6:00 news and it makes a nice segway into how to combat piracy - however this article, showing that the data was incorrect and that they are either embellishing or straight up lieing, will get no mention on mainstream media whatsoever. The people who need to see this news won't see it, and the people who see this news already know. More tragic than ironic.
3. Re:Honestly... by Peach+Rings · 2010-07-26 08:46 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  The report gave the percentage of legal torrents as so low that some CC music site alone exceeds their entire sum of legal torrents on the entire internet. That doesn't mean that really only 98% of torrents are illegal, that means that their dataset is ludicrously inaccurate and the entire study is completely invalidated.
  Who modded this interesting?
The best-seeded torrents... by Tenek · 2010-07-26 08:02 · Score: 5, Interesting

Every few months when a WoW patch comes out and millions of computers torrent a few hundred MB. Hulk's got nothing on Night Elves.
1. Re:The best-seeded torrents... by jgagnon · 2010-07-26 08:05 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  The patch that removes clothing completely from that game will bring the entire Internet to a standstill.
  
  --
  Remember to maintain your supply of /facepalm oil to prevent chafing.
Imagine that by TheSpoom · 2010-07-26 08:03 · Score: 5, Insightful

Industry group ending in 'AA' pays to have study conducted that supports their views, doesn't care so much about accuracy.
News at eleven.

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It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
1. Re:Imagine that by commodoresloat · 2010-07-26 08:13 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  News at eleven.
  I've got plans tonight and won't be home to catch the news at 11. Can someone upload a torrent for me?
Old content is interesting... by CajunArson · 2010-07-26 08:07 · Score: 4, Insightful

One major problem with Bit Torrent is that you only get easy access to what is "popular" at any given time. I've gotten some TV show episodes (not available in the US) downloaded in a reasonable amount of time when I start the download within 24 hours of the original show being aired... but try to get the same episode 30 days later and availability drops in a hurry. Despite all the pro-P2P propaganda about how it "democratizes" data, it's really more a mob-rule popularity contest for grabbing the shiniest download.

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AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
1. Re:Old content is interesting... by MindlessAutomata · 2010-07-26 08:12 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Get on a better site.
2. Re:Old content is interesting... by JustinRLynn · 2010-07-26 08:15 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  That's the thing about pure democracy, it is essentially the tyranny of the majority. This means that as a necessary consequence of a purely democratic download system only the most popular is the easiest to download. It's very similar to a free market, in that respect, in that it is exceedingly easy to get say, captain crunch cereal, versus something rarer, like say, unbleached nightshade flower. In a system where nothing is limited you can get anything you want, but it doesn't go hand-in-hand with being able to get whatever you want easily.
3. Re:Old content is interesting... by camperdave · 2010-07-26 08:28 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  It doesn't matter. There will only be two people seeding Mork and Mindy, no matter which tracker you use.
  
  --
  When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
4. Re:Old content is interesting... by Peach+Rings · 2010-07-26 08:49 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Two peoples private machines sitting there serving only you unpopular content for free out of good will isn't enough for you? 2 seeders is plenty, especially with hard-to-find content.
Re:Moral Of The Story by Nadaka · 2010-07-26 08:08 · Score: 5, Funny

Seedy research can plant misinformation.
Torrents can be both legal and illegal at once by Dalzhim · 2010-07-26 08:22 · Score: 5, Insightful

Some country's laws may flag a torrent as illegal while other countries consider it as legal.
As an example, someone could be downloading a copyrighted song for backup purposes while owning a legitimate copy and these fools will automatically classify this kind of download an infringement.
Re:TorrentFreak? Really? Consider the source. by ernesto99 · 2010-07-26 10:31 · Score: 4, Informative

Ernesto here from TorrentFreak. I do have an academic background and used to teach statistics and research methods to (PhD) students. Not that it matters much, the comments I've made are pretty straightforward.