Resisting free-riding behavior in BitTorrent - 17 views

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  #1 Paul Francis on 25 Mar 12

   

  Wang, J., Shen, R., Ullrich, C., Luo, H., & Niu, Changyong. (2008). Resisting free-riding behavior in BitTorrent. Future Generation Computer Systems, 26, 1285-1299. Doi: http://dx.doi.org.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/10.1016/j.future.2009.05.014
  
  This article offers the workings of BitTorrent from a technical standpoint. If you want to understand exactly how BitTorrent works along with the strengths and weaknesses that come with it this is the article for you. More specifically, this article focuses on the unfairness of BitTorrent. Users are able to download the files they want while reciprocating little or nothing.
  
  Written by experts in computer science, the article is full intimidatingly complex mathematics and graphs, however many parts, including the introductions and conclusions of the entire piece and its sections yield more comprehensible information.
  
  The most interesting aspect of the article is the proposition being made by the authors. They suggest a huge modification to the way BitTorrent works, suggesting that users should be more tightly restricted and forced to reciprocate in order to be able to download. They perform simulations and conclude that their "quota-based encrypted block trading protocol" would make for a vastly improved BitTorrent.
  
  From a more scholarly and less technical standpoint, we could examine if such a change would be an ultimately positive thing. Perhaps the choice of being able to reciprocate has import beyond the hard maths of efficiency, and some users may cease to use BitTorrent entirely if it were modified in such a way as is being suggested here. Especially since, I would argue, collaboration on the Internet is usually characterised by optionality.

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Wang, J., Shen, R., Ullrich, C., Luo, H., & Niu, Changyong. (2008). Resisting free-riding behavior in BitTorrent. Future Generation Computer Systems, 26, 1285-1299. Doi: <a href="http://dx.doi.org.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/10.1016/j.future.2009.05.014" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/10.1016/j.future.2009.05.014</a> <br /> <br /> This article offers the workings of BitTorrent from a technical standpoint. If you want to understand exactly how BitTorrent works along with the strengths and weaknesses that come with it this is the article for you. More specifically, this article focuses on the unfairness of BitTorrent. Users are able to download the files they want while reciprocating little or nothing. <br /> <br /> Written by experts in computer science, the article is full intimidatingly complex mathematics and graphs, however many parts, including the introductions and conclusions of the entire piece and its sections yield more comprehensible information. <br /> <br /> The most interesting aspect of the article is the proposition being made by the authors. They suggest a huge modification to the way BitTorrent works, suggesting that users should be more tightly restricted and forced to reciprocate in order to be able to download. They perform simulations and conclude that their "quota-based encrypted block trading protocol" would make for a vastly improved BitTorrent. <br /> <br /> From a more scholarly and less technical standpoint, we could examine if such a change would be an ultimately positive thing. Perhaps the choice of being able to reciprocate has import beyond the hard maths of efficiency, and some users may cease to use BitTorrent entirely if it were modified in such a way as is being suggested here. Especially since, I would argue, collaboration on the Internet is usually characterised by optionality.</div>

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  #2 owen_davies on 10 Apr 12

   

  This article gives a technical breakdown on how bit torrent programs function, and it also gives an insight to how unfair they can be to some users. The fact that people are able to choose whether they are going to contribute to helping the community or not, I found was a big factor in the overall functionality of bit torrent.
  
  As Paul originally found through his analysis of the article, the proposition the author makes that a change to bit torrent should happen and that all users must seed and in a sense return the favour may not necessarily be the right answer. Bit torrent at the moment is the most utilised form of Internet traffic and if it were to be changed so that users were forced to reciprocate with other users, they may want to find something that is less restrictive and could see the decline in overall bit torrent activity.
  
  This article again relates to the numerous bit torrent articles that I researched; the views are also similar in findings and overall approach. I feel that the article is very opinionated and provides a look into how the community functions, however as Paul also expressed and through my own personal experience, I'm not sure whether changing bit torrent to restrict free riding is something that would necessarily help it to function.

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">This article gives a technical breakdown on how bit torrent programs function, and it also gives an insight to how unfair they can be to some users. The fact that people are able to choose whether they are going to contribute to helping the community or not, I found was a big factor in the overall functionality of bit torrent. <br /> <br /> As Paul originally found through his analysis of the article, the proposition the author makes that a change to bit torrent should happen and that all users must seed and in a sense return the favour may not necessarily be the right answer. Bit torrent at the moment is the most utilised form of Internet traffic and if it were to be changed so that users were forced to reciprocate with other users, they may want to find something that is less restrictive and could see the decline in overall bit torrent activity. <br /> <br /> This article again relates to the numerous bit torrent articles that I researched; the views are also similar in findings and overall approach. I feel that the article is very opinionated and provides a look into how the community functions, however as Paul also expressed and through my own personal experience, I'm not sure whether changing bit torrent to restrict free riding is something that would necessarily help it to function.</div>

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  #3 Chin Sing Wong on 10 Apr 12

   

  This is another article that talk about resist/prevent free-rider behaviors in BitTorrent file sharing network. This paper more analyse from a technical standpoint, propose a quota-based encrypted block trading protocol. According to the simulation result, BitTorrent reflects a better downloading performance, however, it might increase substantially unfairness in uploading blocks among the leechers. Quota-Encryption makes it impossible for free riders to cheat and it also robust against aggressive/conservative strategic peers.
  This paper is the second article I have command that relevant to resist free-rider behavior in file sharing network. This will be a valuable reference for me as more and more BitTorrent communities have work out resist free-riders. In the paper Evaluating and improving the fairness policy of the P2P file sharing network eMule/eDonkey (Gruenbacher & Scoglio. 2012), the authors also argue the fairness of contribution from peers. They have similar purpose, methods, and approach.
  Whether resisting or rewarding, free-riding is an issue therefore authors intend to develop new technology to against them. However, The transmitted data merely contains information about the time required to download files of different size. In particular, only a hash of the info hash is transmitted, which means that it is not feasible to determine what has actually been downloaded.
  
  
  
  Reference:
  Li, Y., Gruenbacher, D., & Scoglio, C. (2012). Evaluating and improving the fairness policy of the P2P file sharing network eMule/eDonkey. PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKING AND APPLICATIONS, 5, 40-57. Doi: 10.1007/s12083-011-0106-6

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">This is another article that talk about resist/prevent free-rider behaviors in BitTorrent file sharing network. This paper more analyse from a technical standpoint, propose a quota-based encrypted block trading protocol. According to the simulation result, BitTorrent reflects a better downloading performance, however, it might increase substantially unfairness in uploading blocks among the leechers. Quota-Encryption makes it impossible for free riders to cheat and it also robust against aggressive/conservative strategic peers. <br /> This paper is the second article I have command that relevant to resist free-rider behavior in file sharing network. This will be a valuable reference for me as more and more BitTorrent communities have work out resist free-riders. In the paper Evaluating and improving the fairness policy of the P2P file sharing network eMule/eDonkey (Gruenbacher & Scoglio. 2012), the authors also argue the fairness of contribution from peers. They have similar purpose, methods, and approach. <br /> Whether resisting or rewarding, free-riding is an issue therefore authors intend to develop new technology to against them. However, The transmitted data merely contains information about the time required to download files of different size. In particular, only a hash of the info hash is transmitted, which means that it is not feasible to determine what has actually been downloaded. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Reference: <br /> Li, Y., Gruenbacher, D., & Scoglio, C. (2012). Evaluating and improving the fairness policy of the P2P file sharing network eMule/eDonkey. PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKING AND APPLICATIONS, 5, 40-57. Doi: 10.1007/s12083-011-0106-6</div>

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