| Comment | The Darknet and the Future of Content Distribution
Peter Biddle, Paul England, Marcus Peinado, and Bryan Willman
Microsoft Corporation1
Abstract
We investigate the darknet ñ a collection of networks and technologies
used to share digital content. The darknet is not a separate physical
network but an application and protocol layer riding on existing
networks. Examples of darknets are peer-to-peer file sharing, CD and
DVD copying, and key or password sharing on email and newsgroups.
The last few years have seen vast increases in the darknetís
aggregate bandwidth, reliability, usability, size of shared library, and
availability of search engines. In this paper we categorize and analyze
existing and future darknets, from both the technical and legal
perspectives. We speculate that there will be short-term impediments
to the effectiveness of the darknet as a distribution mechanism, but
ultimately the darknet-genie will not be put back into the bottle. In view
of this hypothesis, we examine the relevance of content protection and
content distribution architectures. |
