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It always seemed to me that the simplest way to protect content is to just upload a bunch of garbage with the same file name making it impossible to locate the

It always seemed to me that the simplest way to protect content is to just upload a bunch of garbage with the same file name making it impossible to locate the actual movie, app, etc. It doesn't seem like it would require a lot of sophistication either. It could probably be done effectively, even showing a 90-minute repeating trailer for the movie or something similar. I think a lot of people pirate simply because it's the easiest way to get a movie. If paying $9.99 becomes the easiest way, then a lot of casual pirates will just buy it. Virus writers seem to like this technique, uploading garbage to usenet. (50Kb files pretending to be a feature film, etc). I've always wondered why movie studios didn't do more of that.

lwat 14y ago
This doesn't work on sites like The Pirate Bay where trusted uploaders make it easy to find what you're looking for. If my torrent was uploaded by eztv then I know what I'm getting.
- jakejake 14y ago
  Definitely wouldn't change anything for people who are determined. But it probably would reduce casual pirating & it's so simple I just am surprised we don't see more of it. Not saying that I want it to happen, just surprised. It definitely works on usenet - virus spam can make some things impossible to find.
  - lwat 14y ago
    Not too many 'casual' pirates download from usenet. They just go to The Pirate Bay and the comments will always tell you a file is fake before you hit the download link. These fake torrents do exist in large numbers but they're trivial to avoid.
mh- 14y ago
they used to. back when p2p networks like Limewire, Kazaa, so forth were in their heyday
repsilat 14y ago
For films and the like it might be easy to get around this - the release teams could sign their releases. It might be theoretically difficult for them to get their public keys out into the ecosystem, but it would be pretty easy in practical terms. For arbitrary data you could possibly have a rating/tagging system. I guess the content industries could fudge the votes, but if the votes were tied to identity/pseudonyms they'd have to be clever to beat any kind of data analysis. The effectiveness would probably depend on how many garbage alternatives you provided, and how sophisticated/varied their uploading is. Too many bad files and voting and signing might not be practicable, and you'd have to resort to some kind of automated spam-detection. White-listed sources are workable in the worst case, but I'm sure there would be other, better ideas around.
- gcr 14y ago
  Signing pirated media? Would the release teams really want to give the RIAA the ability to cryptographically prove that they were the ones who released the material?
  - sneak 14y ago
    Last I checked, nobody's requiring government-issued ID for generating RSA keys.
    - dolbz 14y ago
      No but if you're caught with a hard drive full of pirated material AND the encryption keys for those releases then you're gonna have a hard time in court. The keys need not be government issued to prove you're responsible.
      - sneak 14y ago
        How exactly are they to prove that nobody else has those keys? I think you're overthinking it.
        14y ago
koko775 14y ago
> If paying $9.99 becomes the easiest way, then a lot of casual pirates will just buy it. That's half the story. Piracy is a hard habit to break - even when it does get easy to get content cheaply, some people take a while to come around.
aiham 14y ago
A lot of the time there is no option to even buy it, especially if you're not in the US.
pessimizer 14y ago
Been done many times, and that stuff is gradually purged from indexes by user feedback.
JonnieCache 14y ago
Reminds me of the time madonna flooded kazaa with mp3s of herself swearing like an entitled 14 year old girl. It was pretty funny. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/2962475.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/2962475.stm I still have a copy of the file somewhere.

lwat 14y ago

This doesn't work on sites like The Pirate Bay where trusted uploaders make it easy to find what you're looking for. If my torrent was uploaded by eztv then I know what I'm getting.

jakejake 14y ago
Definitely wouldn't change anything for people who are determined. But it probably would reduce casual pirating & it's so simple I just am surprised we don't see more of it. Not saying that I want it to happen, just surprised. It definitely works on usenet - virus spam can make some things impossible to find.
- lwat 14y ago
  Not too many 'casual' pirates download from usenet. They just go to The Pirate Bay and the comments will always tell you a file is fake before you hit the download link. These fake torrents do exist in large numbers but they're trivial to avoid.

mh- 14y ago

they used to. back when p2p networks like Limewire, Kazaa, so forth were in their heyday

repsilat 14y ago

For films and the like it might be easy to get around this - the release teams could sign their releases. It might be theoretically difficult for them to get their public keys out into the ecosystem, but it would be pretty easy in practical terms. For arbitrary data you could possibly have a rating/tagging system. I guess the content industries could fudge the votes, but if the votes were tied to identity/pseudonyms they'd have to be clever to beat any kind of data analysis. The effectiveness would probably depend on how many garbage alternatives you provided, and how sophisticated/varied their uploading is. Too many bad files and voting and signing might not be practicable, and you'd have to resort to some kind of automated spam-detection. White-listed sources are workable in the worst case, but I'm sure there would be other, better ideas around.

gcr 14y ago
Signing pirated media? Would the release teams really want to give the RIAA the ability to cryptographically prove that they were the ones who released the material?
- sneak 14y ago
  Last I checked, nobody's requiring government-issued ID for generating RSA keys.
  - dolbz 14y ago
    No but if you're caught with a hard drive full of pirated material AND the encryption keys for those releases then you're gonna have a hard time in court. The keys need not be government issued to prove you're responsible.
    - sneak 14y ago
      How exactly are they to prove that nobody else has those keys? I think you're overthinking it.
      - 14y ago

koko775 14y ago

> If paying $9.99 becomes the easiest way, then a lot of casual pirates will just buy it. That's half the story. Piracy is a hard habit to break - even when it does get easy to get content cheaply, some people take a while to come around.

aiham 14y ago

A lot of the time there is no option to even buy it, especially if you're not in the US.

pessimizer 14y ago

Been done many times, and that stuff is gradually purged from indexes by user feedback.

JonnieCache 14y ago

Reminds me of the time madonna flooded kazaa with mp3s of herself swearing like an entitled 14 year old girl. It was pretty funny. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/2962475.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/2962475.stm I still have a copy of the file somewhere.