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diff --git a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/06.25.07/Tue/filerights.txt b/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/06.25.07/Tue/filerights.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 4d43bdf..0000000 --- a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2007/06.25.07/Tue/filerights.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,24 +0,0 @@ -The team behind TorrentSpy, a torrent search site, has rolled out a new copyright protection scheme which TorrentSpy claims can be used to track infringing material on the web. The [FileRights service][2], as it's know, will use md5 hashes to track suspect files and eliminate them from search engines that subscribe to FileRights. - -The idea behind the project is to eliminate the need to file DMCA takedown notices against every site hosting a file by creating a central database capable of tracking files. - -Our own Treat Level blog [has some more background on FileRights][2] and wonders how the technology might work in practice -- in short, it won't. - -The smallest alteration to a file will make that file essentially unique and largely untrackable by the database, which is in fact the basis of hash signatures. - -Hash signature verification, frequently used for downloading files to ensure that the file your download is in fact the file you wanted, relies on total symmetry to validate. For instance, file servers like SourceForge use pre-computed MD5 checksums for the files you download to verify that what arrives is in fact the file requested. - -However, a number of tools have appeared which generate MD5 collisions, making it possible to generate an alternative file with the same checksum. - -Since FileRights is essentially looking at the process in the opposite direction the problem is compounded. FileRights must stop people from altering the hash *or* the file itself. - -One simple bypass that seems likely is to take the file and re-compress it with a different compression engine (correct me if I'm wrong about that). - -Couple that with the fact the FileRights will require copyright holders to add the hash themselves and you have a system that's little more effective than the current one. - -Additionally, TorrentSpy and Isohunt are currently the only two torrent search/trackers signed on for the service. It seems unlikely that other torrent trackers will embrace FileRights since most are based outside the U.S. where the MPAA and RIAA have less legal sway. - -Given that TorrentSpy is currently being sued by the MPAA and others, FileRights feels more like a symbolic gesture of goodwill to copyright holders than a genuinely effective system. - -[1]: http://www.filerights.com/Default.aspx "FileRights" -[2]: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/06/torrentspy-foun.html "TorrentSpy Founders Create Copyright Filtering Company"
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