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A University of Tulsa (UT) research team has patented software designed to prevent illegal downloading of music over the Internet.
The new software sends illegal downloaders on a wild goose chase in a P2P pond full of cyber-quacking decoys.
Gnutellassassin on Board
Earlier this month, the U.S. Patent Office awarded patent number 6,732,180 to UT computer science professor John Hale and doctoral student Gavin Manes for software that systematically injects decoys into P2P file-sharing networks, such as Gnutella (news - web sites), BitTorrent and Kazaa.
Many copyrighted songs show up on such peer-to-peer networks freely available for download without remuneration to the recording artists.
The software combats such copyright infringement by "essentially flooding the networks with alternative content that appears authentic," said UT spokesperson Rolf Olsen.
The anti-P2P piracy technology exploits the very characteristics that make peer-to-peer environments easy targets for copyright violators.
Anyone can connect to such a network anonymously, so decoys masquerading as legit content are hard to detect, easy to place and quick to download.
The decoys quack with white noise, low-quality recordings, or advertisements urging users to legally buy the song they are after.
"The beauty of this approach is that it does not impede legitimate uses of P2P networks," Hale told NewsFactor. "It can surgically target pirated media."
Pirate2Pirate
The recording industry reports that P2P piracy in 2003 cost record labels and artists some US$700 million in lost compact-disk sales.
To stem the losses, the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) continues to blitz pirates with lawsuits, but the effectiveness of this approach ultimately will wane, because "the next generation of peer-to-peer systems offers superior connectivity, enhanced search facilities and even greater anonymity," Manes explained.
A decoy that adapts to its changing environment -- like the "Predator" of movie fame -- offers a better way to combat a problem -- like the equally infamous "Alien" -- that only continues to grow and evolve.
"Our invention is extremely resilient in terms of its ability to adapt to different networks, clients and protocols," Manes told NewsFactor. "As long as a user can sign on to a network and trade files -- even anonymously -- our solution is effective."
So effective, in fact, that the inventors and the university "are commercializing the technology and exploring new options for licensing the patent," Olson told NewsFactor.
Hale testified twice before Congress last year on the hazards of file-sharing networks and sees the situation getting worse, in spite of the industry lawsuit onslaught.
"It really is a massive problem, and one that calls for a combination of legislation, technology and awareness," Hale said. "But as far as technology goes, we believe we may have the most viable countermeasure that will stand the test of time."
record companies!
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