BayTSP, a Californian company specialising in on-line information monitoring and compliance services for a variety of industries has announced a new tool to monitor piracy on-line.
The software, called FirstSource, allows ISP"s to track users offering pirated content on their networks. The system actively monitors traffic and identifies the user that performed the initial upload. Matching file names against a pre-assessed list, the software verifies the content is in fact copyrighted work, and then notifies ISP administrators. They system builds an infringement database, logging information on exactly what users have shared / uploaded; user specific information like IP addresses are also stored as evidence.
FirstSource monitors two of the most popular p2p networks, eDonkey and Bit Torrent. Worryingly, the system can also be instructed to issue DMCA take-down notices to users automatically. Previous attempts at automating this process have proved un-successful and in-accurate.
"Pirated copies of movies and software typically appear on-line within hours of release," said Mark Ishikawa, CEO of BayTSP. "Identifying and taking action against the first uploaders can greatly slow the distribution of illegally-obtained intellectual property and might make users think twice before doing it." The software highlights a continued battle between on-line users downloading pirated content and media associations; developments of software like FirstSource and the recent success in taking off-line popular file sharing hubs has tipped the scales towards the media associations. However, one site does seem determined to fight back. As we reported previously, bit-torrent hub LokiTorrent had launched a legal defence fund to fight back against an MPAA lawsuit; so far, the site has received $40,000+ in donations.
In other Bit Torrent news, a tool has emerged that can send corrupt ratio information to tracker websites. Often, sites limit a users ability to download new content until they have a "good" (i.e. uploads > downloads) ratio. Although effectivly in preventing "leeching" (downloads > uploads), this type of limit is often un-popular with users. The tool, made by oollee and called "Ratio ****er" , is said to affect many popular tracker websites that use ratios; it exploits a bug in the way trackers take data from bit torrent clients. So far, no tracker appears to have fixed the issue.