BitTorrent accounts for 35% of traffic on the Internet?!

Sir Sirius · Post by **Sir Sirius** » 2004-12-15 04:15pm

This is a little old, but since I didn't find this on the archive board and found this to more then just a little surprising I decided to post this.

Yahoo! News wrote:Thursday November 4, 3:01 AM

LIVEWIRE - File-sharing network thrives beneath the radar

By Adam Pasick

LONDON (Reuters) - A file-sharing program called BitTorrent has become a behemoth, devouring more than a third of the Internet's bandwidth, and Hollywood's copyright cops are taking notice.

For those who know where to look, there's a wealth of content, both legal -- such as hip-hop from the Beastie Boys and video game promos -- and illicit, including a wide range of TV shows, computer games and movies.

Average users are taking advantage of the software's ability to cheaply spread files around the Internet. For example, when comedian Jon Stewart made an incendiary appearance on CNN's political talk show "Crossfire," thousands used BitTorrent to share the much-discussed video segment.

Even as lawsuits from music companies have driven people away from peer-to-peer programs like KaZaa, BitTorrent has thus far avoided the ire of groups such as the Motion Picture Association of America. But as BitTorrent's popularity grows, the service could become a target for copyright lawsuits.

According to British Web analysis firm CacheLogic, BitTorrent accounts for an astounding 35 percent of all the traffic on the Internet -- more than all other peer-to-peer programs combined -- and dwarfs mainstream traffic like Web pages.

"I don't think Hollywood is willing to let it slide, but whether they're able to (stop it) is another matter," Bram Cohen, the programmer who created BitTorrent, told Reuters.

John Malcolm, director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the MPAA, said that his group is well aware of the vast amounts of copyrighted material being traded via BitTorrent.

"It's a very efficient delivery system for large files, and it's being used and abused by a hell of a lot of people," he told Reuters. "We're studying our options, as we do with all new technologies which are abused by people to engage in theft."

Can this actually be accurate?

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-12-15 04:28pm

wouldn't surprise me at all if this was accurate. bittorrent sites are extremely prolific, and sometimes the size of files being distributed is gigantic. in the 5-10 gig+ range.

Damaramu · Post by **Damaramu** » 2004-12-15 05:56pm

Heh. A friend of mine out in California just received a "stop downloading copyrighted material" letter from the MPAA.

Fool...heh, I warned him.

Shark Bait · Post by **Shark Bait** » 2004-12-15 06:10pm

my university trys to strongly discourage bittorrent usage because it eats so much bandwith and everyone hates a slow connection.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2004-12-15 07:47pm

As does mine; Thank god for Internet 2 and i2hub and if your college doesn't have Internet 2, then it just plain sucks, sorry.

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2004-12-15 09:48pm

Gah, I know UCF has Internet2, but I have no clue how to use it. Ah well...

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-12-16 12:11am

You may be able to directly access Internet2 as long as you're on the University network (or VPN into it). I know that if I'm @ USF I can transparently access I2.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2004-12-16 01:25am

Xenophobe3691 wrote:Gah, I know UCF has Internet2, but I have no clue how to use it. Ah well...

Yep, and if you want to enjoy the joy that is i2hub just download it, share like, a gigs worth of files (anything it doesn't matter, it's just to show a sign of good faith, that you are participating in the sharing) and make sure your nickname has your school's initials (it has a full list of them if you aren't sure). You don't have to worry about doing anything fancy, your school most likely has software on it's end to do all the dirty work.

Give it a shot, worst case senario, you waste like 25 seconds of your life...

Sriad · Post by **Sriad** » 2004-12-16 06:49am

Sir Sirius wrote:This is a little old, but since I didn't find this on the archive board and found this to more then just a little surprising I decided to post this.
Yahoo! News wrote:Thursday November 4, 3:01 AM

LIVEWIRE - File-sharing network thrives beneath the radar

By Adam Pasick

LONDON (Reuters) - A file-sharing program called BitTorrent has become a behemoth, devouring more than a third of the Internet's bandwidth, and Hollywood's copyright cops are taking notice.

[...]

According to British Web analysis firm CacheLogic, BitTorrent accounts for an astounding 35 percent of all the traffic on the Internet -- more than all other peer-to-peer programs combined -- and dwarfs mainstream traffic like Web pages.
Can this actually be accurate?

I can believe it. I've downloaded a good 20-ish gb of...er, material of dubious legality (anime fansubs mostly, and current tv shows) on bit torrent and uploaded a similar amount over the last six months. I don't know what the rest of my internet use totals are, but I'd be suprised if it was as high as 80gb, which would be twice my torrented ul and dl total.

Tatsumi · Post by **Tatsumi** » 2004-12-16 10:20am

Half my current computer was probably downloaded from BitTorrent

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-12-16 10:57am

Tatsumi wrote:Half my current computer was probably downloaded from BitTorrent

Would you mind lending me your electrical data to manufactured matter converter for the weekend? I've got a few projects I'd like to bang out with that kind of capability.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2004-12-16 11:22am

Darth_Zod wrote:wouldn't surprise me at all if this was accurate. bittorrent sites are extremely prolific, and sometimes the size of files being distributed is gigantic. in the 5-10 gig+ range.

BitTorrent is the best thing since the whole peer to peer concept first took off.

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2004-12-16 01:42pm

InnocentBystander wrote: Yep, and if you want to enjoy the joy that is i2hub just download it, share like, a gigs worth of files (anything it doesn't matter, it's just to show a sign of good faith, that you are participating in the sharing) and make sure your nickname has your school's initials (it has a full list of them if you aren't sure). You don't have to worry about doing anything fancy, your school most likely has software on it's end to do all the dirty work.

Give it a shot, worst case senario, you waste like 25 seconds of your life...

Alright, thank you very much, I'll try it out when I go back up there in three weeks or so.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-12-16 02:00pm

His Divine Shadow wrote:
Darth_Zod wrote:wouldn't surprise me at all if this was accurate. bittorrent sites are extremely prolific, and sometimes the size of files being distributed is gigantic. in the 5-10 gig+ range.
BitTorrent is the best thing since the whole peer to peer concept first took off.

damned skippy. bittorrent makes kazaa look like the piece of shite that it is. i've found a wealth of material thanks to bt that i would've never otherwise came across.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2004-12-16 02:22pm

Darth_Zod wrote:
damned skippy. bittorrent makes kazaa look like the piece of shite that it is. i've found a wealth of material thanks to bt that i would've never otherwise came across.

Yep, fixing my damaged CD only took 3 hours

Xenophobe3691 · Post by **Xenophobe3691** » 2004-12-16 03:11pm

I never really found many torrent links, so I never really used it much.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-12-16 03:21pm

Xenophobe3691 wrote:I never really found many torrent links, so I never really used it much.

there's literally an assload of sites if you actually take the time to look. . . though considering the sheer size of several of them you don't need that many.l

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2004-12-16 05:18pm

Xenophobe3691 wrote:I never really found many torrent links, so I never really used it much.

Try these keywords, they might work.

Suprnova
Loki Torrent
The Pirate Bay

Dillon · Post by **Dillon** » 2004-12-16 09:15pm

John Malcolm, director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the MPAA, said that his group is well aware of the vast amounts of copyrighted material being traded via BitTorrent.

"It's a very efficient delivery system for large files, and it's being used and abused by a hell of a lot of people," he told Reuters. "We're studying our options, as we do with all new technologies which are abused by people to engage in theft."

Oh goddamnit. I just discovered the wonder of Bit Torrent two weeks ago, and now they're going to try and shut it down. Just my luck.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2004-12-16 09:53pm

World-wide, those fucking cunts can't touch me.

Tatsumi · Post by **Tatsumi** » 2004-12-17 08:39am

Sea Skimmer wrote:
Tatsumi wrote:Half my current computer was probably downloaded from BitTorrent
Would you mind lending me your electrical data to manufactured matter converter for the weekend? I've got a few projects I'd like to bang out with that kind of capability.

Sure no problem, address please?

Jackass...you know what I mean, half my computer software...

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2004-12-17 09:01am

Hah, how can the goosestepping bastards shut down bittorrent? Unlike Kazaa or Napster, there's no central client or server, so they can only attack individual dumps, and if the servers are located outside the US, they can't do shit.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-12-17 10:10am

observer_20000 wrote:
John Malcolm, director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the MPAA, said that his group is well aware of the vast amounts of copyrighted material being traded via BitTorrent.

"It's a very efficient delivery system for large files, and it's being used and abused by a hell of a lot of people," he told Reuters. "We're studying our options, as we do with all new technologies which are abused by people to engage in theft."
Oh goddamnit. I just discovered the wonder of Bit Torrent two weeks ago, and now they're going to try and shut it down. Just my luck.

i wouldn't worry about it. at most they'll make file sharing take a new direction. they'll never be able to shut it down completely without regulating the entire internet.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2004-12-17 11:22am

HemlockGrey wrote:Hah, how can the goosestepping bastards shut down bittorrent? Unlike Kazaa or Napster, there's no central client or server, so they can only attack individual dumps, and if the servers are located outside the US, they can't do shit.

Very easily. You see, when you are on BitTorrent your IP address is highly visible. Therefore, all they have to do is show that you were downloading, say, Gladiator, and send out the Cease and Desist letter. Furthermore, BitTorrent is dependant on trackers. If said trackers are in nations with compatible copyright law and they have a presense in said nation they can sue them.

After all, Napster didn't actually hold any information other than who had what, yet they still got screwed.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2004-12-17 11:28am

observer_20000 wrote:
John Malcolm, director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the MPAA, said that his group is well aware of the vast amounts of copyrighted material being traded via BitTorrent.

"It's a very efficient delivery system for large files, and it's being used and abused by a hell of a lot of people," he told Reuters. "We're studying our options, as we do with all new technologies which are abused by people to engage in theft."
Oh goddamnit. I just discovered the wonder of Bit Torrent two weeks ago, and now they're going to try and shut it down. Just my luck.

I laugh at this notion, it is absurd. It will be a great day for CS majors when they can do that. Why you ask? Because they'll have invented a processor fast enough to process all the information on the internet, and use that to figure out who is using BT, and with that kinda processing power who gives a damn if your algorithm is O(n^256) and n is in the quintillions

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

BitTorrent accounts for 35% of traffic on the Internet?!

BitTorrent accounts for 35% of traffic on the Internet?!

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