[ZS] Researchers To Release an Anonymous BitTorrent Client

mixter at gmail.com mixter at gmail.com
Mon Jun 4 07:05:31 PDT 2012


Not a super new idea, but a comprehensive anonymization package from a
single source is usually more secure.


http://torrentfreak.com/researchers-anonymous-bittorrent-client-120601/

Researchers at Delft University of Technology have taken up the
ambitious challenge of creating a BitTorrent client which secures the
privacy of its users. Their Tribler client is already completely
decentralized, meaning it will still work even in the event that all
BitTorrent sites are shut down. Anonymity is the next big step in its
evolution. bWebre going to take Internet privacy to the next level,b
the lead researcher says about the upcoming release.

BitTorrent users are increasingly looking for more anonymity but right
now their options are limited.

For a monthly fee they can sign up with a VPN or proxy to hide their
IP-address. Free options with decent speeds or without other
restrictions arenbt easily available.

This lack of fast, unlimited and free anonymous BitTorrent options is
what the Tribler team at Delft University of Technology are hoping to
change. Their Tribler client has been around for more than half a
decade already, and during that time itbs developed into the only
truly decentralized BitTorrent client out there.

Unlike traditional BitTorrent clients, Tribler does not rely on
central servers or third-party sites. Users can search, download and
moderate files from within the application itself, based on pure
peer-to-peer communication. Quite a remarkable achievement, but itbs
also just the beginning for the research team.

During a talk at the Stanford University this week, Dr. Johan Pouwelse
talked about the past and the future of Tribler, announcing the
ambitious play to add make BitTorrent transfers more private.

Talking to TorrentFreak, Pouwelse explained that the idea is to add a
proxy layer where proxies act as bcachesb of content. This can hugely
improve downloads speeds, but also makes BitTorrent downloads more
private.

bOur goal is to provide all users with the download speed which today
can only be found in private BitTorrent communities, combined with the
privacy that is currently only offered by paid VPN services,b said
Pouwelse.

The Triber team has been perfecting the technology for years and itbs
expected to be released in two or three months. Initial tests show
that even with the added anonymity, people donbt have to sacrifice
speed at all. Quite the contrary.

bExperimental results have shown that the performance of the proposed
mechanism is better than that of regular BitTorrent in a large number
of scenarios. At the same time, the proxy layer can be used to offer
the users a shield of plausible deniability enhancing their privacy,b
Pouwelse told us.

With the new code Tribler says it outperforms other clients such as
uTorrent in download speeds. Ultimately, the researchers hope to
compete with on-demand video services such as YouTube.

bBitTorrent has served us well for 11 years, but modern features such
as YouTube-like easy streaming, sharing of your 1 Terabyte harddisk
and solid anonymity are needed. The BitTorrent protocol simply does
not scale to safe private sharing of 1 Terabyte, which would begin to
bridge the gap between the wealth of content on YouTube versus the
weak archive capability of BitTorrent.b

Helped by money from European tax payers, the bunderstaffedb team say
they are now at a point where Tribler can compete with some of the
fastest centralized services. Their P2P streaming technology is
currently under consideration to become an official Internet standard
and is being actively tested by major broadcasting companies including
the BBC.

The Tribler proxy layer is expected to be implemented this fall, but
those who want to give the current version of Tribler a spin are
welcome download it here. The client is completely Open Source and has
a version for Windows, Mac and Linux.

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