Rip, mix, burn: The politics of peer to peer and copyright law

Whereas Lessig's recent work engages with questions of culture and creativity in society, this paper looks at the role of culture and creativity in the law. The paper evaluates the Napster, DeCSS, Felten and Sklyarov litigation in terms of the new social, legal, economic and cultural relations being produced. This involves a deep discussion of law's economic relations, and the implications of this for litigation strategy. The paper concludes with a critique of recent attempts to define copyright law in terms of first amendment rights and communicative freedom.

Author responsibilities in improving the quality of peer reviews: A rejoinder to Iivari (2016)

In this rejoinder to Iivari (2016), I discuss authors’ responsibilities in the process of ensuring quality reviews. I argue that one overlooked element in quality peer reviewing is authors’ unconstrained right to submit manuscripts in whatever form or quality they desire. As such, I suggest adding some constraints and offering more freedom to reviewers to maintain viability of the scholarly publication system. I offer three responses to Iivari’s suggestions and add two further suggestions for change.

Developing Peer-To-Peer Web Applications

As the virtual world grows more complex, finding a standard way for storing data becomes increasingly important. Ideally, each data item would be brought into the computer system only once. References for data items need to be cryptographically verifiable, so the data can maintain its identity while being passed around. This way there will be only one copy of the users family photo album, while the user can use multiple tools to show or manipulate the album. Copies of users data could be stored on some of his family members computer, some of his computers, but also at some online services which he uses. When all actors operate over one replicated copy of the data, the system automatically avoids a single point of failure. Thus the data will not disappear with one computer breaking, or one service provider going out of business. One shared copy also makes it possible to delete a piece of data from all systems at once, on users request. In our research we tried to find a model that would make data manageable to users, and make it possible to have the same data stored at various locations. We studied three systems, Persona, Freenet, and GNUnet, that suggest different models for protecting user data. The main application areas of the systems studied include securing online social networks, providing anonymous web, and preventing censorship in file-sharing. Each of the systems studied store user data on machines belonging to third parties. The systems differ in measures they take to protect their users from data loss, forged information, censorship, and being monitored. All of the systems use cryptography to secure names used for the content, and to protect the data from outsiders. Based on the gained knowledge, we built a prototype platform called Peerscape, which stores user data in a synchronized, protected database. Data items themselves are protected with cryptography against forgery, but not encrypted as the focus has been disseminating the data directly among family and friends instead of letting third parties store the information. We turned the synchronizing database into peer-to-peer web by revealing its contents through an integrated http server. The REST-like http API supports development of applications in javascript. To evaluate the platform’s suitability for application development we wrote some simple applications, including a public chat room, bittorrent site, and a flower growing game. During our early tests we came to the conclusion that using the platform for simple applications works well. As web standards develop further, writing applications for the platform should become easier. Any system this complex will have its problems, and we are not expecting our platform to replace the existing web, but are fairly impressed with the results and consider our work important from the perspective of managing user data.

Developing Peer-To-Peer Web Applications

As the virtual world grows more complex, finding a standard way for storing data becomes increasingly important. Ideally, each data item would be brought into the computer system only once. References for data items need to be cryptographically verifiable, so the data can maintain its identity while being passed around. This way there will be only one copy of the users family photo album, while the user can use multiple tools to show or manipulate the album. Copies of users data could be stored on some of his family members computer, some of his computers, but also at some online services which he uses. When all actors operate over one replicated copy of the data, the system automatically avoids a single point of failure. Thus the data will not disappear with one computer breaking, or one service provider going out of business. One shared copy also makes it possible to delete a piece of data from all systems at once, on users request. In our research we tried to find a model that would make data manageable to users, and make it possible to have the same data stored at various locations. We studied three systems, Persona, Freenet, and GNUnet, that suggest different models for protecting user data. The main application areas of the systems studied include securing online social networks, providing anonymous web, and preventing censorship in file-sharing. Each of the systems studied store user data on machines belonging to third parties. The systems differ in measures they take to protect their users from data loss, forged information, censorship, and being monitored. All of the systems use cryptography to secure names used for the content, and to protect the data from outsiders. Based on the gained knowledge, we built a prototype platform called Peerscape, which stores user data in a synchronized, protected database. Data items themselves are protected with cryptography against forgery, but not encrypted as the focus has been disseminating the data directly among family and friends instead of letting third parties store the information. We turned the synchronizing database into peer-to-peer web by revealing its contents through an integrated http server. The REST-like http API supports development of applications in javascript. To evaluate the platform s suitability for application development we wrote some simple applications, including a public chat room, bittorrent site, and a flower growing game. During our early tests we came to the conclusion that using the platform for simple applications works well. As web standards develop further, writing applications for the platform should become easier. Any system this complex will have its problems, and we are not expecting our platform to replace the existing web, but are fairly impressed with the results and consider our work important from the perspective of managing user data.

On the Implementation of a Streaming Video over Peer to Peer network using Middleware Components

Video streaming applications have hitherto been supported by single server systems. A major drawback of such a solution is that it increases the server load. The server restricts the number of clients that can be simultaneously supported due to limitation in bandwidth. The constraints of a single server system can be overcome in video streaming if we exploit the endless resources available in a distributed and networked system. We explore a P2P system for streaming video applications. In this paper we build a P2P streaming video (SVP2P) service in which multiple peers co-operate to serve video segments for new requests, thereby reducing server load and bandwidth used. Our simulation shows the playback latency using SVP2P is roughly 1/4th of the latency incurred when the server directly streams the video. Bandwidth consumed for control messages (overhead) is as low as 1.5% of the total data transfered. The most important observation is that the capacity of the SVP2P grows dynamically.

Design and analysis of a peer-to-peer based distributed clock synchronisation protocol for wireless sensor networks

Clock synchronisation is an important requirement for various applications in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Most of the existing clock synchronisation protocols for WSNs use some hierarchical structure that introduces an extra overhead due to the dynamic nature of WSNs. Besides, it is difficult to integrate these clock synchronisation protocols with sleep scheduling scheme, which is a major technique to conserve energy. In this paper, we propose a fully distributed peer-to-peer based clock synchronisation protocol, named Distributed Clock Synchronisation Protocol (DCSP), using a novel technique of pullback for complete sensor networks. The pullback technique ensures that synchronisation phases of any pair of clocks always overlap. We have derived an exact expression for a bound on maximum synchronisation error in the DCSP protocol, and simulation study verifies that it is indeed less than the computed upper bound. Experimental study using a few TelosB motes also verifies that the pullback occurs as predicted.

Give-and-take based peer-to-peer content distribution networks

Content Distribution Networks (CDNs) are widely used to distribute data to large number of users. Traditionally, content is being replicated among a number of surrogate servers, leading to high operational costs. In this context, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) CDNs have emerged as a viable alternative. An issue of concern in P2P networks is that of free riders, i.e., selfish peers who download files and leave without uploading anything in return. Free riding must be discouraged. In this paper, we propose a criterion, the Give-and-Take (G&T) criterion, that disallows free riders. Incorporating the G&T criterion in our model, we study a problem that arises naturally when a new peer enters the system: viz., the problem of downloading a `universe' of segments, scattered among other peers, at low cost. We analyse this hard problem, and characterize the optimal download cost under the G&T criterion. We propose an optimal algorithm, and provide a sub-optimal algorithm that is nearly optimal, but runs much more quickly; this provides an attractive balance between running time and performance. Finally, we compare the performance of our algorithms with that of a few existing P2P downloading strategies in use. We also study the computation time for prescribing the strategy for initial segment and peer selection for the newly arrived peer for various existing and proposed algorithms, and quantify cost-computation time trade-offs.

O "atual" direito autoral, as trocas peer-to-peer de músicas e vídeos pela internet e os projetos de lei que tratam dos crimes cibernéticos

Analisa o uso do aplicativo de compartilhamento de arquivos, os chamados peer-to-peer, em relação à privacidade e ao direito autoral dos usuários de internet.

Contributions to High-Throughput Computing Based on the Peer-to-Peer Paradigm

XII, 116 p.

基于双层ID空间的Peer-to-Peer���件系统设计与实现

提出并实现了一种建立在Peer-to-Peer 搜索策略上的自组织、自适应、高效和可靠的文件系统DISPFS(Double ID Space basedPeer-to-peer File System)。它在双层ID 空间中构造虚拟存储节点,不仅有效地取得了文件系统内的负载均衡、提高系统利用率,而且保证了动态环境中文件的可靠、快速获取。试验数据表明,DISPFS 在系统接近满负荷运行和文件插入/删除操作频繁的双重压力下依然保持优良的性能。

Scalable Peer-to-Peer Indexing with Constant State

We present a distributed indexing scheme for peer to peer networks. Past work on distributed indexing traded off fast search times with non-constant degree topologies or network-unfriendly behavior such as flooding. In contrast, the scheme we present optimizes all three of these performance measures. That is, we provide logarithmic round searches while maintaining connections to a fixed number of peers and avoiding network flooding. In comparison to the well known scheme Chord, we provide competitive constant factors. Finally, we observe that arbitrary linear speedups are possible and discuss both a general brute force approach and specific economical optimizations.

Seed Scheduling for Peer-to-Peer Networks

The initial phase in a content distribution (file sharing) scenario is a delicate phase due to the lack of global knowledge and the dynamics of the overlay. An unwise distribution of the pieces in this phase can cause delays in reaching steady state, thus increasing file download times. We devise a scheduling algorithm at the seed (source peer with full content), based on a proportional fair approach, and we implement it on a real file sharing client [1]. In dynamic overlays, our solution improves up to 25% the average downloading time of a standard protocol ala BitTorrent.

Writing to learn and learning to write across the disciplines: Peer-to-peer writing in introductory-level MOOCs

© Comer, Clark, Canelas.This study aimed to evaluate how peer-to-peer interactions through writing impact student learning in introductory-level massive open online courses (MOOCs) across disciplines. This article presents the results of a qualitative coding analysis of peer-to-peer interactions in two introductory level MOOCs: English Composition I: Achieving Expertise and Introduction to Chemistry. Results indicate that peer-to-peer interactions in writing through the forums and through peer assessment enhance learner understanding, link to course learning objectives, and generally contribute positively to the learning environment. Moreover, because forum interactions and peer review occur in written form, our research contributes to open distance learning (ODL) scholarship by highlighting the importance of writing to learn as a significant pedagogical practice that should be encouraged more in MOOCs across disciplines.

Effects of training peer tutors in content knowledge versus tutoring skills on giving feedback to help tutees’ complex tasks

This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of training tutors in content knowledge of a particular domain versus training them in tutoring skills of pedagogical knowledge when tutoring on a complex tutee task. Forty-seven tutor-tutee pairs of fourth year secondary school students were created and assigned to one of two treatments. Twenty-two tutors received training in content knowledge and the other twenty-five tutors in tutoring skills. Tutors formulated written feedback immediately after the training. Tutees first interpreted the tutor feedback and then used it to revise their research questions. The results showed that tutors trained in tutoring skills formulated more effective feedback than tutors trained in content knowledge. In addition, tutees helped by tutoring-skills tutors found the feedback more motivating than those helped by content- knowledge tutors. However, no differences were found in tutee performance on revision. The findings are discussed in terms of the set-up of this study and implications for improving the effectiveness of peer tutoring.