Researchers push internet bandwidth as 'currency'

Last Updated: Thursday, August 30, 2007 | 6:22 PM ET

CBC News

U.S. and Dutch computer scientists have unveiled a peer-to-peer video download service that they hope will turn internet bandwidth into a currency.

The software, an advanced version of a video file-sharing program called Tribler, exploits the power of peer-to-peer technology, which is based on forming networks among individual users.

It ensures fast downloads by forcing users to contribute fast uploads, said Johan Pouwelse, an assistant professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and the technical director of Tribler.

"Our platform will provide fast downloads by ensuring sufficient uploads," he said in a release. "The next generation of peer-to-peer systems will provide an ideal marketplace not just for content, but for bandwidth in general."

Computer scientists at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, in collaboration with researchers in the Netherlands, hope the system will create a form of e-commerce where the more a user uploads — or "earns" — the more they will get to download, or "spend."

The system would thus empower individuals or groups of users to run their own "marketplace" for any computer resource or service, the researchers said.

David Parkes, the John L. Loeb associate professor of the natural sciences at Harvard, said peer-to-peer services have received a bad reputation because they are associated with illegal file-sharing, but the technology itself can be used to create innovative — and legitimate — new applications.

"Successful peer-to-peer systems rely on designing rules that promote fair sharing of resources amongst users," he said. "Thus, they are both efficient and powerful computational and economic systems."

While services such as Kazaa and BitTorrent have become associated with illegal file sharing, some legitimate applications have used peer-to-peer technology successfully, with the best example being the phone calling application Skype.

The researchers said their ideal model would also promote social networks, where users could pool their individual bandwidth credits and greatly reduce their collective download times.

"In the case of sharing and playing video, our network-based system already allows a group of 'friends' to pool their collective upload 'reserve' to slash download times," Pouwelse said. "For internet-based television this means a true instant, on-demand video experience."

The scientists said one of the biggest challenges facing such a decentralized service is in policing it against misuse. They suggested an internal "web of trust" could be established to ward off offences, where users could report on the behaviour of their peers to others on the network.

"This idea is not new, but previous implementations have been costly and are dependent on a company and/or website being the enforcer," Parkes said. "Addressing the trust issue within open peer-to-peer technology could lead to future online economies that are legal, dynamic and scaleable, have very low startup costs, and minimal downtime."