BBC Online

Image: justinbaeder

Researchers have found a way to enforce good manners on file-sharing networks by treating bandwidth as a currency. The team has created a peer-to-peer system called Tribler in which selfless sharers earn faster upload and download speeds but leechers are penalised. The technology is being assessed by a European broadcasting body looking at ways of piping TV across the net.

Tribler has also been used to turn Sony’s PlayStation 3 into a video-sharing device. While file-sharing networks are good ways to help lots of people get hold of large files often they have far more people taking from the system than they do giving. Read more…