In the patent (pdf), which was awarded yesterday, the ISP points out that BitTorrent is a very effective way of sharing files online. However, AT&T also signals some drawbacks, including the fact that some torrent swarms stop working because there are no complete copies of the file available.

“As more and more peers download a complete copy of the file, the performance of the torrent deteriorates to the point that it becomes difficult for the file to be located and downloaded. As a result, current BitTorrent systems are not desirable for downloading older files,” the patent reads.

Since there are often many swarms downloading the same content via different trackers, it could be that the file lives on elsewhere. Similarly, other peers might be willing to start seeding the dead torrent again. AT&T’s patent pairs these sources to increase the availability of files downloaded via BitTorrent.

The patent proposes to add “collaboration information” which may be obtained from each peer when it joins a torrent swarm. If a torrent has no active seeds available, this information can point the downloader to “dormant peers” or external trackers that still have active seeders.

“If the file is not available at an active peer, the tracker node has two options; it may contact some of the listed dormant peers to see if they are willing to make the file available, and/or it may contact a remote tracker node listed for the file,” the patent reads.

“If the file is made available by a dormant peer and/or at a remote torrent, the local peer can then establish a peer-to-peer communication with the dormant peer or a peer on the remote torrent, and download the file therefrom. As a result, the local peer can locate and download files that are not available on its current torrent from both dormant peers and peers in other torrents.”

The idea to point people to other trackers is not new. Most torrents come with multiple trackers nowadays to ensure that a file remains available for as long as possible. AT&T’s proposed invention would automate this feature.

The idea to contact “dormant peers” is more novel. In short, that means that people who previously downloaded a file, but are no longer seeding it, can get a request to make it available again.

Whether the ISPs has any real life applications for their invention is yet unknown. The current patent was granted this week, but the first application dates back to 2005, a time when BitTorrent wasn’t quite as mainstream as it is today.

The patent certainly doesn’t mean that the ISP encourages sharing copyrighted files. Among other anti-piracy innovations, AT&T previously patented systems to track content being shared via BitTorrent and other P2P networks and report those offenders to the authorities.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Every day thousands of “fake” torrents are uploaded from malicious sources, often labeled with the names of popular movies or TV-shows. Needless to say, those who download these torrents don’t get what they were looking for. Instead they are redirected to scam websites or lured into installing malware.

This malware problem is far from new, but most recently it has gained the attention of Symantec, one of the largest computer security vendors in the world.

Last week the company filed a patent application for a technology that aims to counter the problem. Symantec says that since most torrent sites do a bad job at keeping malicious torrents off their sites they have come up with a solution.

“While the BitTorrent protocol represents a popular method for distributing files, this protocol also represents a common means for distributing malicious software. Unfortunately, torrent hosting sites generally fail to provide sufficient information to reliably predict whether such files are trustworthy,” Symantec writes.

Symantec has developed a system than evaluates the trustworthiness of files that are downloaded via BitTorrent. Unlike traditional virus scans, where the file itself is malicious or not, the technology uses the reputation of other downloaders, and several other factors to make the evaluation.

“For example, if an entity has been involved in several torrent transactions that involved malware-infected target files, the reputation information associated with the entity may indicate that the entity has a poor reputation, indicating a high likelihood that the target file represents a potential security risk.”

The factors on which the trustworthiness of a file is based include the original uploaders, torrent sites, trackers and other peers. For example, if an IP-address of a seeder is linked to several malicious torrents, it will get a low reputation score.

The picture below shows an overview of these variables, with a reputation score ranging from 0 to 100% for each.

When a file is categorized as a potential threat based on the reputation score, several “security actions” can be taken. These range from shutting down the download to blocking access to the file in question.

“Examples of such security actions include, without limitation, alerting a user of the potential security risk, blocking access to the target file until overridden by the user, blocking network traffic associated with the torrent transaction, quarantining the target file, and/or deleting the target file,” Symantec writes.

The security vendor believes that its system is able to prevent or at least reduce the distribution of malware through BitTorrent.

While this may be the case, there certainly are downsides too. Symantec’s automated categorizing systems have sometimes provided false positives, which in this system would lead to the blocking of legitimate files. TorrentFreak learned that the hard way earlier.

Symantec is not the only computer security vendor to take an interest in BitTorrent recently. McAfee previously submitted a patent for a system that can detect and block pirated material from any website, and present users with authorized and legal alternatives instead.

At the moment it’s unclear whether Symantec has already developed the technology, or whether it has plans to bring it to the market in the near future. So for now, BitTorrent users have to follow common sense if they want to avoid trouble, which usually involves reading comments.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

This massive network use and its legal implications have received plenty of interest from Internet providers over the years, and AT&T now believes it has found a good way to deal with the ongoing threat.

A new patent awarded to the Intellectual Property division of the Texas-based company describes a system that can classify unauthorized file-sharers on its network, place them in a “risk category”, and take appropriate action to counter their defiant behavior.

Titled “Methods, devices and computer program products for regulating network activity using a subscriber scoring system,” one of the patent’s main goals is to target and stop online piracy.

“Internet piracy may account for significant bandwidth usage, which may be problematic for a service provider,” the company explains. “Thus far, copyright protection measures that have been deployed by, for example, the entertainment industry, have failed to curtail increases in Internet piracy.”

“For example, millions of downloads may result from just one file that is posted on a shared network. Thus, efforts to date have been insufficient in protecting a user and/or a service provider from the results of unwanted network activity, which may pose significant risks to the user, network and/or service provider.”

By analyzing network usage patterns the provider can give customers a Subscriber Reputation Score (SRS) based on which they can be classified into several risk categories. Depending on the type of threat AT&T can then take appropriate countermeasures.

The system can be used for a variety of problematic network activities, but online file-sharing is used as one of the main examples in the patent.

“The SRS may be used to identify subscribers engaged, whether volitionally or otherwise, in high-risk network activities such as, for example, file sharing and/or Internet piracy. In this regard, mitigating services may be provided and the network and/or the subscriber may be protected from such high-risk network activity,” the company explains.

When subscribers are placed in the high risk file-sharing category the ISP may choose to limit their network access, which includes blocking access to known pirate sites.

“Some embodiments provide that subscriber protection may include providing a walled-off and/or secured portion in the network in which the subscriber can have limited access to the network. For example, in some embodiments, access to risky network resources, such as, for example, illegal file sharing websites, may be denied,” the patent reads.

Whether the provider has intentions to test or implement the scoring system in the real world is unknown. One thing is clear though, AT&T has an above average interest in online piracy, which is reflected in the company’s patent portfolio.

Earlier this year the ISP also patented systems to track content being shared via BitTorrent and other P2P networks, and report offenders to the authorities.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

When it comes to targeting infringement Facebook has a better track record than its Russian counterpart VKontakte, which may be due to its progressive anti-piracy measures.

TorrentFreak has learned that one of the anti-piracy strategies developed by the company uses the social profile information of Facebook users and their connections to others as a factor in determining whether a shared file is copyright-infringing or not. Facebook was granted a patent for its invention today, but it’s not known whether the technology is already being used on a wide-scale.

The patent in question is named “Using social signals to identify unauthorized content on a social networking system” and in the introduction Facebook describes the wealth of personal and social information the company can tap into.

“”[...] users have been voluntarily divulging more of their personal information, such as their friends, geographic location, preferred television shows and movies, hobbies, and activities to social networks,” Facebook notes, adding that they can also see who people communicate with and who they are connected to.

Taken together this is a treasure trove of information, but one that’s currently underutilized. With its new anti-piracy tool, however, Facebook hopes to use this intelligence to predict whether shared content is legitimate or not.

“While all of this information is recorded and stored, it has not been used to predict the nature of any content items that users interact with. In particular, the social activity surrounding a piece of content on a social network has not been used to predict whether the content is unauthorized,” Facebook writes.

The patented technology can be used to detect a wide variety of unauthorized content, but piracy in particular is a problem for social networks, Facebook explains.

“Some users abuse the content posting feature by posting content items that infringe on copyright laws or otherwise violate the social network’s terms of use. For example, users might use the content sharing feature to post chapters from popular novels, episodes of television shows, or links to web pages on external domains that might contain similar copyrighted content.”

By using social signals to detect copyright infringing links and files, Facebook believes that operators of social networking sites can “minimize legal liabilities.”

To come to an accurate estimate of the infringing nature of a file, the patented system can use all social indicators available to it, including what people “like” and where the live.

“The social networking system may collect social signals about the content such as the diversity of the viewers of the content, the relationship between the viewers and another user or other entity that is featured or tagged in the content, and the relationship between the viewers and the user who posted the content,” Facebook writes.

“The social signals are then used to calculate a series of aggregated metrics to generate a prediction for whether the content is an unauthorized use of the social networking system.”

The final step is to delete the allegedly pirated files or links, or hand them over for a more detailed review.

Facebook doesn’t reveal whether the patented system is already in use or which personal details of Facebook users are considered. However, according to its privacy policy the company can use all available user information to protect “rights or property” of Facebook and others.

Nonetheless, not all Facebook users will be happy to see that everything they do is being carefully screened for hints of piracy.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

This massive network use has received plenty of interest from Internet providers over the years, but AT&T is planning to take it to the next level.

A new patent awarded to the Intellectual Property division of the Texas-based company describes a system that can accurately measure the flow of both legitimate and infringing file-sharing traffic.

Titled “Method and apparatus for automated end to end content tracking in peer-to-peer environments,” the patent covers an advanced monitoring system that can detect how often a certain title is downloaded. AT&T says this information can then be used to address network congestion or counter piracy.

The flow-chart below shows the various steps involved in the detection and tracking process.

The system described by AT&T focuses specifically on torrents, which are gathered from search engines and other websites through RSS feeds. Discovered content is collected in a database and the system then downloads the torrent and records information on the people who are downloading.

In the patent AT&T notes that peer-to-peer traffic accounts for a large percentage of traffic generated on the Internet, some of which results in a loss of revenue for copyright holders.

“For example, some content may be legitimately purchased and downloaded by users via P2P. However, some content may be pirated and illegally copied and distributed P2P violating copyright laws and reducing revenue for the content producers and distributors,” the company explains.

AT&T’s system will be able to detect what is most downloaded on P2P-networks, suggesting that this information can be used to track and counter piracy.

“The present disclosure automatically tracks content that is downloaded in a peer-to-peer environment. In doing so, the present disclosure automatically identifies the most popular content titles to monitor and tracks and identifies a number of unique peers for each of the content titles.”

In addition, there is a content analysis component that will verify whether the downloaded files are indeed what the title suggests. This will be useful to filter out spam files and viruses that are mislabeled as popular videos or music.

“Based upon the verification, the list may be modified if the content titles actually being downloaded do not match the content titles in the list. For example, the content titles in the list may be looking for a recently released movie; however, the actually downloaded content titles may be a television show that had an identical title or may be a peer attempting to disseminate a virus under a disguise of the content title and so forth.”

The patent doesn’t go into detail on the intended purpose of the tracking, but AT&T specifically mentions that it can be used to track infringing downloads and address network congestion.

“The present disclosure may be used to determine which content titles are being illegally distributed and by whom. In another example, the present disclosure may be used to determine which content title downloads are creating the most network congestion. This information may in turn be used for capacity planning and the like,” the patent reads.

While there are many outfits that track BitTorrent and other file-sharing traffic, until now we are not aware of any ISPs that have shown interest in this type of monitoring. AT&T is certainly the first company to be granted a patent for such a specific P2P monitoring system.

It’s worth noting that AT&T participates in the six-strikes copyright alert system where P2P users are also monitored. The main difference is that under that program the monitoring is carried out by a the third-party company which only tracks a list of titles supplied by the MPAA and RIAA.

Whether the provider has intentions to actively scan for and throttle pirated content being shared using BitTorrent is unknown. With the patented system it could certainly do so, and if it targets infringing traffic only it does not violate FCC’s net neutrality rules.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Thus far these efforts have been in vain, but anti-virus vendor McAfee has now presented a technology that will please rightholders. A new patent published by the California-based company describes a system that can prevent users from accessing pirate content.

Titled “Detect and prevent illegal consumption of content on the internet,” the patent covers a blocklist-type system that can either warn consumers, completely block access to web pages, or offer purchasing advice.

The flow-chart below shows the various steps involved.

According to McAfee there are many reasons for consumers and corporations to be concerned with the downloading of illegal content, ranging from legal risks to malware and virus threats.

“One major reason for concern is possible violation of an Intellectual Property right and the potential cost ramifications associated with such a violation,” the company explains.

“A second major concern could relate to potential threats cause by some unauthorized distributions. For example, it is not uncommon for an unauthorized distribution of material on the Internet to include malicious material.”

McAfee presents their solution as an extension to its widely used SiteAdvisor tool, targeted at both individual consumers and business clients. Threats can be detected in search engines where pirate results get a warning label, but also on social networks including Facebook.

In addition to blocking access to pirated content the technology also has the capability to point users to legal alternative sources for the same, or similar content.

“By informing a user of illegal sources and possible alternatives, a user can obtain the desired electronic distribution without violating an author’s intellectual property rights,” McAfee writes.

Those who click on a pirate link will be pointed to a new screen where users can learn more about the warning. Depending on how the software is set up users may then take the risk and click through to the site. This is similar to how Google, Firefox and other online services already respond to links pointing to malware threats.

By preventing people from inadvertently visiting pirate websites, McAfee hopes that the technology will educate consumers on how to make the right choices when looking for entertainment online.

Whether there are any concrete plans to roll out the system is unknown at this point. The most likely option is that it will be added to McAfee’s existing security products.

If so, we can expect copyright holders to push for a wide adoption of the software.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Digital Rights Corp is one of the companies that facilitates these settlement demands. The company scours BitTorrent networks for people who download titles owned by the copyright holders they work with, and then approaches these alleged pirates via their Internet providers.

The company usually asks for $10 or $20 per infringed title, and conceals these demands in DMCA notices so they can bypass the courts. Under the DMCA Internet providers are obliged to forward copyright infringement notices to their customers, so Digital Rights Corp can contact the alleged pirates without knowing who they are.

A clever system, and one that’s at the base of a new patent filed by Digital Right Corp’s CTO Robert Steele.

The patent starts with a general description of the monitoring and notification process.

“The present disclosure provides a system, a method, and a computer program that may mine a data stream of infringement data over a period of time, process the mined data to find correlations in the data, and identify specific sets of IP addresses and ports associated with acts of copyright infringement,” it reads.

Once the IP-addresses are obtained the account holder’s ISP is contacted, as can be seen in the figure below.

The above process is similar those already employed by a wide variety of anti-piracy outfits, and also identical to the technology that will be used for the upcoming “six-strikes” system in the U.S. However, the patent goes further than just tracking down alleged copyright infringers. It also allows for settlement demands.

“The system, method, and computer program may be further configured to provide a settlement offer that may be accepted to resolve obligations incurred as a result of an identified act of copyright infringement.”

The patent further describes how Internet providers could respond to repeated infringements, provided they’re willing to participate. This includes redirecting people’s Internet connection to a settlement landing page, or disconnecting the account altogether.

“The actions may include, e.g., sending a subsequent infringement notice, redirecting the infringer to a redirect webpage, or suspending service to the infringer,” the patent explains, again illustrated with a nice flow-chart.

While Digital Rights Corp is not the first to use this kind of system, they are the first to apply for a patent this specific. Although we’re not sure of their intentions should the application be granted, this could spell trouble for many competing anti-piracy groups.

Put differently, could this be a case of copyright trolls trying to troll copyright trolls?

Also, since the first part of the patent more or less describes how the technology behind the six-strikes scheme works, it could potentially cause trouble for the system the MPAA, RIAA and ISPs have worked on for so long.

For the public, even those who are frequent copyright infringers, not much will change. Digital Rights Corp and others are already sending out these settlement requests, but Internet providers will never voluntarily agree to disconnect their subscribers.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

The San Francisco based company claimed to have suffered significant losses and demanded compensation for the ongoing patent infringement.

The original patent at the center of the lawsuit is titled “Media file distribution with adaptive transmission protocols.” It describes a file-sharing system consisting of a file database, a transfer client and a distribution server.

“By making, operating, using and/or selling [uTorrent and BitTorrent Mainline] and or other software, BitTorrent has infringed and continues to infringe, contribute to the infringement, or induce the infringement of at least claim 1 of the ’944 patent,” the complaint read.

Judged by a layman’s eye the patent did not appear to apply to BitTorrent, but depending on the judge’s decision the case could have a disastrous impact on the BitTorrent community. More than 100 million people use uTorrent every month, half of all active BitTorrent users in the U.S. and Europe.

Luckily for them, it didn’t go that far.

Last week District Court Judge William Alsup signed a joint motion to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning the case is closed and can’t be refiled in the future. Each party further agreed to bear its own attorney fees and other costs. Additional details on the motivations behind the dismissal were not provided.

BitTorrent Inc. is happy with the outcome but didn’t wish to comment any further on the case.

“We were very pleased that the plaintiff dismissed its case with prejudice,” was all the company’s spokesperson told TorrentFreak.

Tranz-Send Broadcasting Network have also dismissed the case against Kontiki Inc., who it accused of a similar patent violation.

Kontiki offers a media content delivery technology that is hybrid of central servers and P2P transfers. Unlike BitTorrent Inc, Kontiki’s user base mostly consists of businesses who can use the software to stream and distribute video. According to the complaint, this software also infringes on the aforementioned patent.

The dismissal comes as a surprise. Court documents filed two weeks ago show that Tranz-Send anticipated that the case would be heard by a jury during a full trial. BitTorrent and Kontiki on the other hand preferred an early summary judgment and requested compensation for the costs they incurred during the process.

Despite the above and for reasons unknown, all parties eventually decided that dismissing the case was the best option.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

It’s when independent experts say that extending terms hurts the economy and stifles innovation that people should sit up and take notice. All too often though, such experts are ignored because they are just people that know the subject, rather than fund politicians campaign contributions. Moreover, they focus on facts and case histories, rather than vague associations or made-up figures.

Two such experts are Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine, economists at the Washington University in St Louis. Boldrin, chairman of the university economics department, points out that what goes by the name ‘Intellectual Property’ is in fact “an intellectual monopoly that hinders rather than helps the competitive free market regime that has delivered wealth and innovation to our doorsteps.”

“From a public policy view, we’d ideally like to eliminate patent and copyright laws altogether,” says Levine, the John H. Biggs Distinguished Professor of Economics. “There’s plenty of protection for inventors and plenty of protection and opportunities to make money for creators. It’s not that we see this as some sort of charitable act that people are going to invent and create things without earning money. Evidence shows very strongly there are lots of ways to make money without patents and copyright.”

In a short video clip, Levine states that copyright shouldn’t been seen as a charitable act, which is a lesson Commissioner McCreevy needs to learn. Also, he states that Intellectual Monopoly is the more appropriate term, and that the property label is a recently-given propaganda title, a subject Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation has covered in the past.

The views of the economists are presented in their new book, “Against Intellectual Monopoly”, where they suggest that the copyright and patent systems in the US should at least be brought back into line with their constitutional establishment – that of promoting the progress of science and the useful arts. In the book, they put the case quite simply – “In the decades to come, sustaining economic progress will depend, more and more, on our ability to progressively reduce and eventually eliminate intellectual monopoly.”

It might be that the Pirate Party has some intellectual support for their positions, and perhaps a Missouri party will soon be in the making.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

However, after we published the article, Viralg responded to an email we sent earlier. It appears that they believe that the value of the sale doesn’t necessarily lie in the technology.

This section from the eBay auction gives a clue:

3. If your business is involved in developing and/or selling a P2P program, you can make it better and avoid any problems that this technology can give to your network.

A brief email from Viralg suggests that they feel that a ‘p2p related community’ might want to buy the patents – but why would p2p’ers want them?

Here are some details from the Canadian patent:

1. A method for limiting the use of unauthorized digital content in a content-sharing network in which digital content is distributed as files, wherein each file comprises content information and is associated with characteristic information and verification information, the method comprising:

(a) determining a first file whose content information is copyrighted;

(b) repeatedly distributing a second file in the content-sharing network, wherein the second file is associated with characteristic information and verification information that match the characteristic information and verification information, respectively, of said first file, and wherein the second file comprises content information that does not match the content information of the first file.

It seems that Viralg feel that their patent gives them the monopoly on a particular type of file corruption and that if these patents were bought by a pro-p2p outfit, they could get legal protection if anyone ever tried to use this technique against them.

Viralg told us: “Let say at some P2P related community buy those patent applications… after that no body can’t mess with hash codes…”

Maybe one million p2p’ers will put $1 each for these papers?

Ok, maybe not.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.