ISP Level Anti-Piracy System Neutralized By BitTorrent
Written by enigmax on October 28, 2008Two arch rivals from the KaZaA copyright infringement case have teamed up to produce what is being touted as a formidable anti-piracy system, converting pirates into paying customers. Installed at the ISP level so that users can’t easily bypass it, ‘Copyrouter’ is defeated by BitTorrent.
During recent weeks, a ‘new’ anti-piracy system has been mentioned many times in the press. ‘Copyrouter’ gained most of its press for its ability to deal with the menace of online child porn, but of course, systems like this are almost always created with ‘dual-use’ in mind. There is money to be made in protecting minors, but this is peanuts when compared to the bounty associated with stopping or monetizing illicit file-sharing. The creators of Copyrouter understand this. However, they won’t be making a penny from BitTorrent users, or stopping them from accessing whatever they like.
The company behind Copyrouter is Brilliant Digital Entertainment, headed up by Kevin Bermeister and Michael Speck, previous arch-rivals in the infamous KaZaA case. Within a month they will be trialling the Copyrouter system on an unnamed ISP’s network in Australia.
Using technology known as ‘Deep Packet Inspection‘, the Copyrouter system sits at the ISP level, with access to a list of hash values of infringing files that have been previously found on the Internet. The system then compares these stored ‘digital fingerprints’ to files being accessed or sent by users on the particular ISP where Copyrouter is installed (similar to CopySense). If the system finds a match, transmission of any infringing files would be stopped and the user would either be presented with a warning screen indicating there is a problem, or (and this is where the money-making comes in) directs the user away from pirated content onto legitimate (and presumably chargeable) content.
However, there is a problem. Copyrouter works with applications such as those on the Gnutella network like LimeWire, and also works with DCC+, Soulseek and KaZaA (if anyone uses it anymore) but simply cannot do anything about BitTorrent transfers. BitTorrent uses ’swarming’ technology, whereby small pieces of a file are sent out and received, to and from multiple users. This method of shifting data makes it impossible for Copyrouter to examine and compare the fingerprint of files being transferred as we have argued before, which means that the entire BitTorrent ‘revenue stream’ is off-limits to Brilliant Digital, a real problem since BitTorrent is the Internet’s most popular P2P protocol.
“I don’t think there’s anyone in the Internet space,” Brilliant’s Michael Speck told MSNBC “who doesn’t think fighting child sexual exploitation is good business.” Agreed Mr Speck. But there can’t be that many people in the Internet space who believes that piracy isn’t the main target of Copyrouter either.
Brilliant won’t miss much with its inability to monitor BitTorrent for exploitation as it’s the ‘cleanest’ of all P2P networks when it comes to protecting young folk. Torrent site admins already do Copyrouter’s job for it in this respect. At no charge.
Previously: UK Music Groups Launch Super Anti-Piracy Coalition
Next: Top 10 Most Pirated TV Shows on BitTorrent
48 Responses
awesome….
They are using abused little children to get after filesharers, that’s sick.
The filesharers themselves will report child explotation evil, dont worry about that.
This will be done by reporting abuse, so “Brilliant software” dont try that guilt, integrity angle; me old son.
These anti-piracy initiatives are coming thick and fast, the industry must be in real trouble….
It seems like the artists are starting to realise that with the advancement in internet tv and self-publishing the web is the place to be for getting noteriety.
It’s starting to become a competition as to which artist is going to be the next web star.
RIAA your finished admit it your clinging on by your nails arent you..
BRrbrbrrhhahahahahhhhhhhhhha.
unnamed ISP’s network in Australia.
Have you heard of DDOS.
Take away the money, and there’s no incentive to call p2p-ers unjustifiably defamatory names, even if only by association. Honestly, money makes the world less honest. Honest.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7065205277695921912
the latest finger-printing technology available today is capable of picking up very small pieces of a file and identify it. so, why wouldn’t bittorrent also be affected?
“I don’t think there’s anyone in the Internet space,” Brilliant’s Michael Speck told MSNBC “who doesn’t think fighting child sexual exploitation is good business.”
Paedophiles perhaps?
In fact, BT is “fingerprinting” chunks itself by computing hashes for them, albeit I’m not sure to what extent those would be globally unique. If they were to a reasonable extent though, filtering software could use those very hashes already supplied by the protocol.
Either way, I guess it’s not the general lack of technology but rather the computational overhead involved in looking into every tiny chunk and perform checks on it which makes tracking BT kind of a tough job.
Because bittorrent only downloads chunks of files. It’s basically a file broken up into hundreds even thousands of pieces.
5032bit 20-Certificate Encryption
Comeoncomcast 1
Copyrouter 0
Its called an SSL Tunnel
I hear the Class Action Lawsuits already
I wonder if itll block Streaming radio? or better yet youtube?
I visited Google and downloaded thier copyrighted logo Will it pick that up? or what about porn? I cant do without my 30-second clips =P
Overdue news imo:
http://www.inquisitr.com/6438/bryan-adams-hires-the-web-sheriff/
Someone else wants to lose his fans, you should help the poor guy :f
This child porn stuff is hoax: one has to be totally dumb to share such files on an open network such as Gnutella with the IP in clear. Usenet is also clean : “First, by using the New York Attorney General’s information, 99.9997% of Usenet has been found to be free of child sexual abuse images,” the latest blog post on Giganews reads.”
from http://www.slyck.com/story1777_Giganews_Boosts_Aid_to_Fight_Exploitation_of_Minors
BTW, how on earth can copyrouter can work on Gnutella or Direct Connect when file transfers are encrypted? All major file sharing applications already support this feature.
Almost every network today uses swarming, and Gnutella even goes the step further than BitTorrent, allowing for (almost) arbitrary sized chunks identified by a Hash Tree.
If you cut a 1 GiB file down into 16kiB pieces, you would need all hashes to block it.
So how do they really do it?
File chunking coupled w/ encryption obviously defeat any signature comparison blocking concept, it hardly takes an elite h4cker to figure that out…
Those who fail to see the big picture (the IP paradigm shift on the horizon) are bound to play this carrot-and stick game forever…
You can toss money around all you want…
This points toward a simple reason why BitTorrent is unaffected:
“When the architecture of the internet that has our technology recognises one of those proven illicit files, it blocks it, disconnects the link to it and adds to the search results the opportunity to purchase the legitimate material,” he said.
- http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/biztech/kazaa-foes-join-up-to-fight-pirates-and-porn/2008/10/28/1224956013205.html
They talk about “search results” and BitTorrent has no search function.
If you are interested in learning more about deep packet inspection then https://www.dpacket.org provides a good resource.
I have not much to say about this other than the obvious, but should it be said anyways, since it has not yet been said? - That if any ISP uses it against any P2P, people should just get off of this ISP. I know that there was this one demonstration against deep-packet inspection which did not have much turn-out, but I think that at the heart of it, the issue is one of copyright: that as long as there is any motive towards stopping P2P, any means, including violating people’s privacy, will be taken. Yes, the measures taken now against P2P may fail today, but what is stopping those people from coming up with some better technology someday that can actually successfully block out torrents entirely? The simple solution is a change in copyright law, is it not? The solution to the problem of the blocking of P2P is not to get around them - it is to stop people from wanting to block it in the first place. I am sure that the first step towards getting anything to change is to form associations and groups - there is strength through unity. United we stand.
Roze
http://www.10ch.org/
copyrouter is an interesting name for something that is focusing on stopping child abuse…
“RIAA your finished admit it your clinging on by your nails arent you..”
Clinging by their nails… and two strings of dental floss (not the multithreaded ones either!)
Just waiting for them to fall, so i can kick them on their heads, or better still jump on their heads.
Cheers!
http://www.eZee.se
Ok, but can this be used to prevent me from downloading from usenet? because that would truly suck.
Anyone know?
lol @ 4 its a fuckin ISP dickhead!
here in the uk we already have a problem with bt running net-intelligence on there servers and this slows your download speed …
if the idiots who make films and music were not ripping people in the uk off with over charging for stuff…ie to go to the cinema = £10 minimum{for a adult}
and music cds at £15-20 a pop there would be a hell of a lot less p2p traffic …so untill they start charging us a sensible price for stuff …like they do in the states…..they can all go stick a broom up were the sun dont shine …:] p2p forever…peace
DCC+ . . . do you mean DC++ ?
If so that implemented downloading in segments a while ago, presumabley helping against this type of detection ?
WTF? It uses hash values to identify files?
1)Hash value collisions, meaning two files that have the same hash value. Since a hash is inherently smaller than the actual file, given a large enough set of files, two or more files will have the same hash value. For example, the simple hash function
[file in hexadecimal] mod 0×100
The above takes takes the value of the file in hex, divides it by 0×100 (256 in binary), and that is the hash value. However, probabilistically speaking, for every 257 file, two will have the same hash value. The more complicated the hash function gets, the less a chance of a collision, but the more of a strain on the server. Because the server will have to hash the vaule of every file, every image, every video every user’s computer requests, the server has to either be incredibly powerful, or the hash function will have to be simple Depending on the type of hash function used, a predictable amount of legit files will be marked as illegaal. It’s called the law of large numbers.
2)Because hashes are value that is the result of a mathematical function that simplifies the file in question, it’s therefore possible to COMPLETELY screw up the hash value by resizing images, change the volume/sampling rates, compressing the files together with a filler file containing garbage, or, *gasp*, ENCRYPTING the freaking file with a password, like the word “apple”.
” Ok, but can this be used to prevent me from downloading from usenet? because that would truly suck.
Anyone know?”
Not if you turn on SSL encryption (and use alternate ports to evade tracking).
fucking kazzaa traitor!
Despite what enigmax and Arne Babenhauserheide have written, BitTorrent has a weak point – the torrent files themselves. In this bootstrapping process, you acquire a list of the names and lengths of files, trackers used, block size and hash values for the blocks, infohash, etc. The torrent file can be fingerprinted and replaced on the fly.
Websites such as The Pirate Bay and isoHunt provide searching for, and copies of, torrent files. It should be noted that both now provide secure website access, in part due to threats of such eavesdropping. Not only does secure website access provide strong encryption, it also provides strong authentication. This picks up on something zigzag wrote. To contend with the encryption of some P2P protocols, CopyRouter will systematically perform man-in-the-middle attacks. Making an encrypted connection to what you believe is another peer is pointless if the connection is, in fact, to an intercepting CopyRouter box.
Brilliant Digital Entertainment are attacking the search phase and are looking to replace identified content with their own, before a single byte of original content is transferred. CopyRouter should not be affected by the mechanism ultimately used to transfer that content between peers. If a P2P system sends any of its upfront hash values in the clear, it will be possible for CopyRouter to detect them.
BitTorrent’s strength comes from the fact that it isn’t a single protocol – the torrent files are acquired separately. While MSE/PE doesn’t provide particularly strong security, it does include a degree of authentication between peers, by using the infohash as a pre-shared key. A direct attempt to obtain that pre-shared key can be made impossible by transferring it using SSL/TLS.
No doubt the Australian ISP trialling is none other than Telstra. Why? Telstra is Australia’s largest ISP, it makes sense.
Dwayne.
http://probablysucks.com
i dont know much about file sharing apps or their mechanics i just know they work lol
limewire is junk IMO too much fake shit and virus filled but don’t you use multiple sources in that too? so how can this copything detect it?
Ha Ha ha stupid anti-piracy idiots! Bit Torrent ROCKS once again!
Jiff
http://www.anonymity.cz.tc
So first Australia wants to filter their internet puny 20Mbps, and now they want to do THIS? O.o
- facepalm - this is increasingly making me sick of being an internet user.
YAY!!!!
our slow, crappy internet, with silly net quota’s get even slower!!!
@#28
ofc it’ll be telstra, they are the evil overlords of australian internet
apparently minimum acceptable speed for my $100 a month ADSL2+ connection (up to 20Mbps) is 80kbps!!!
@27
Won’t work unless they get a signed private and public key, and as they don’t own the domain, they wouldn’t
Well, simply hash the *.torrent file … and Voila! :)
Just put up a website detailing who the people are who work at these stupid companies.
That way we can mock them to their faces, emails, and phones rather than ranting on our own websites that they never read.
Anyway, BitTorrent support protocol encryption between peers, so packet inspection is useless at that point.
“Torrent site admins already do Copyrouter’s job for it in this respect. At no charge.”
with the notable exception of thpiratebay who refuse to take down anything including child pornography and child autopsy
torrentfreak proud to be a pirate
Your dumb retard: If you knew anything about hashing you would know that many algorithms can produce a hash that’s impossible to duplicate with different files.
bt users should run full encryption always.
copyrouter is good for stopping child porn
copyrouter does not work on bittorrent
thus, bittorrent is good for sharing child porn???
tsk tsk torrent freak, tsk tsk.
on a serious note though, do you even need to download torrent files? can’t you just like right click a link and add it manually through your torrent client?
Not sure how many ISPs would go for this, as they are generally tech savvy, and implementing such a system would be costly (as we are all fully aware).
However, politicians can be easily fooled by technologists, so I’m sure they’ll be able to at least milk some money out of this.
Most politicians have no idea what Skype is, never mind the intricacies of P2P protocols.
this bullshit system won’t work, more and more people are using strong encryption systems, bittorrent is coming to it and freenet is here to last, so they will never ever be able to find anything in the end, they’ll lose
enigmax, I can only laugh at your incompetence. You don’t really know anything at all about Gnutella, do you? Gnutella had implemented swarming long before BitTorrent became popular which was only around 2003 along with Suprnova. Gnutella can do everything BitTorrent does and even much more. It isn’t one bit less efficient that BitTorrent. It’s just that people LOVE HYPE and Monopolies. Mac OS X! iPhone! iTunes! eBay! PayPal! Obama! You see people only ever want exactly ONE thing, no matter how good and worthwhile the alternatives are. The only real problem ever with Gnutella was the spam in search results but BitTorrent has no search function. Duh! Oh and don’t tell me garbage about fairness. BitTorrent was never fair. Every single client supports leeching with a horrible ratio of 1000:1. BitTorrent is simply the Windows of P2P. It’s not all that great and in part even completely retarted but because nobody bothers to look further because it works somehow more or less, they are stuck with it and some even think it invented it all.
If i remember correctly wouldnt compressing files in a .rar or .zip archive change the hash value of the file(s) making it nearly impossible to tell that there is illicit media contained in the archive and ‘copyrouter’ could only go by the name of the file
Just tried to do what #42 said
Don’t see any open option by right clicking.
if 42 is worried about having the torrent file saved or not.
who is the real pedo here?
Two words to the RIAA.
Up yours.
This DPI in most probability works by the following: Hashing is done by specialized hardware, so it does not slows down routing. Hashing not the complete file, only fixed size of blocks of it, and checking not only the hash values, but their order of appearance too!! So a collision is after checking n blocks is the probability of the original hash collision on the power of n. Pretty unlikely, but that is why it will never work on torrent and it will never work on encrypted transfers either. That’s a lot of money thrown out the window…
(And if they are not doing it like this, they are damn fools because hash functions do collide that’s the whole point.)
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