Princeton senior investigates what kinds of files are available on mainline public BitTorrent tracker sites.
We all know BitTorrent is currently probably the most popular way for people to share files online, but not clear is the type and nature of those files. Sauhard Sahi, a Princeton senior, decided to answer these questions.
“Sauhard chose a (uniform) random sample of files available via the trackerless variant of BitTorrent, using the Mainline DHT,” reads a description of his efforts. “The sample comprised 1021 files. He classified the files in the sample by file type, language, and apparent copyright status.”
First are the results about the types of files available. Note that they only surveyed the Mainline trackerless BitTorrent system and did not take number of downloads into consideration, meaning that some may have never been downloaded, only that they were available.
The breakdown:
46% movies and shows (non-pornographic)
14% games and software
14% pornography
10% music
1% books and guides
1% images
14% could not classify
Sauhard also assessed the nature of the files, copyright-infringing or non-copyright infringing. For this they made “judgment calls” based on whether the files appeared to be (1) in the public domain, (2) freely available through legitimate channels, or (3) user-generated content.
He found that all of the 476 movies or TV shows in the sample were infringing, as were 141 of the 148 files in the games and software category. Of the 145 porn files one claimed to be an amateur video, and it was “given the benefit of the doubt as likely non-infringing.” As for the 98 music trackers, nearly all were likely infringing.
Some 13 of the fifteen files in the books/guides category were also likely copyright-infringing.
Moreover, using these standards he found that a startling 99% of all files were copyright-infringing!
“This result should be interpreted with caution, as we may have missed some non-infringing files, and our sample is of files available, not files actually downloaded,” cautions Ed Felten, the instructor who oversaw Sauhard’s work. “Still, the result suggests strongly that copyright infringement is widespread among BitTorrent users.”
Copyright holders are going to love this one.
Stay tuned.
jared@zeropaid.com
Related
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STUDY: 100% of anti-filesharing copyright brown nosers are ASSHOLES.
There. Didn’t have to do much research for that one.
The data was gathered via the Mainline DHT, not mainline torrent sites
I can also lie!I can also lie!I can also lie!I can also lie!I can also lie!I can also lie!I can also lie!I can also lie!
I wonder how many of that was dummy, viruses and fake files.
copyright is worthless on the net
How exactly did it get from “14% could not classify ” to “99% infringing files” ?
Only 1021 files in the sample?? That’s pretty weak…
WOw, should be interesting to see how that turns out.
RT
http://www.web-privacy.cz.tc
It’s a matter of perspective. It used to be that art music and literature could enter the public domain between 20-50 – 70 years now it’s 120.
The person who created it gone; the corporation and the estate will still be milking the corpse long after the creator is passed. Robbing you of your cultural heritage and adding another monthly fee to your pile of monthly fees.
It’s piracy on both sides.
DDarkley….take a statistics class. 1021 files is a lot more than is needed to have an accurate survey.
Bit Torrent sites should be shut down, period. Everyone knows that the vast majority of what is downloaded is illegal.
This country is too full of spineless pieces of shit (like most of the people who’ve commented) who feel like they are entitled to other peoples hard work w/o paying for it.
Just like the rest of you pro-copyright maximalists. The best offence is a weak insult. It’s one reason why few take people like you seriously because many of you act like spoiled children.
“… 1021 files is a lot more than is needed to have an accurate survey.”
Accurate survey? Try at least 2000 people for an accurate survey. But this is about files, so 20000 is minimal for even some accuracy.
“Bit Torrent sites should be shut down, period. Everyone knows that the vast majority of what is downloaded is illegal.”
Supposedly this “everyone” comes entirely from the pro-copyright side: imbeciles.
“This country is too full of spineless pieces of shit (like most of the people who’ve commented) who feel like they are entitled to other peoples hard work w/o paying for it.”
Ha. Indeed your utterly nonsensical rambling comes solely from biased sampling. It looks like you will need to take that statistics class.
@Chris
a) 14% “not classified” turning into “99% infringing” tells me the people doing the survey did indeed fail statistics class.
b) Bit Torrent “sites” these days carry neither content nor tools necessary for downloading. Any legislation allowing a bittorrent site to be shut down would by necessity mean that I could shut you down for even mentioning the word “Bit torrent”, “spineless”, or “shit”.
c) Any legislation allowing the above, aside from it’s disturbing effect on every non-bittorrent site on the internet, would require multilateral global legislation. Which would in turn allow Iran, Russia and China to make demands of the US and EU on what sort of web page content were to be available.
d) Aside from “ordinary” bittorrent, I2P, OFF Brightnets, and Stealthnet are already out there, waiting to take over once the current p2p-model goes obsolete. Which fact has rendered your solution completely meaningless already.
To sum it up, the spineless bastard, and morally offensive weasel in this gathering would rather be the one who decided to allow global cencorship mainlined by China, Iran, and the RIAA/MPAA.
And that means you, when you bark for abolishing human rights as the solution in order to clamp down on bittorrent use/abuse, are the worse offender by far.
“Copyright holders are going to love this one.”
Miss the point much?
Let’s fix that, shall we:
“Oh everyone is going to love this one”
Yo, what’s that nigga’s R-Squared?!?
Sid