

Ask HN: Changes to BitTorrent protocol that will stop lawsuits? - alexandro

Is it possible to tweak BitTorrent protocol that will make it much more "lawsuit proof" ? Things that come to mind:<p>- "Fake" streams or chunks. If small percentage of  clients sends "fake" chunks (chunks they don't really have) then there will be always "benefit of doubt" in court whether or not that this specific IP client had copyrighted material or only pretended.<p>- Streaming via "proxies". Some clients on the network will only forward chunks without persisting them locally.<p>- "Broken parts" (variation on "proxy"). Seeding is never done from locations that have 100% of the file. Though I don't know how it will stand in court.
======
jesstaa
\- Fake chunks are detected by the bittorrent client using the hashes in the
torrent file. This would do nothing but slow the torrent down.

\- via proxies is reasonable since you can legally proxy data you don't own
copyright too.

\- The problem with any changes to a protocol with no other purpose than to
get around laws is that courts will decide that bittorrent is specifically
designed for copyright infringement and thus ban it's use or be more likely to
side with copyright holders.

~~~
nextparadigms
What about encryption?

------
shii
The first idea would slow everything down for no reason.

If you want to pirate and are using torrents and getting lawsuits/letters,
frankly, You Are Doing It Wrong.

Ways to do it right:

    
    
       > stop using public trackers
       > stop torrenting from home
       > use straight downloads via http or uucp
       > join small dcc hubs, private p2p networks, private torrent trackers
       > stop torrenting new releases from public trackers (most likely way to get a letter/lawsuit)
       > get a sane isp
       > bonus round tip: automate everything so it's less of hassle to watch torrents/nzbs/etc. there's some great tools nowadays. or get netflix or something.

