Researchers from Microsoft have devised a brand new strategy to battle on-line piracy utilizing a proposed bounty system referred to as “Argus” that runs on the Ethereum blockchain.
As reported by TorrentFreak, the software program large’s analysis division just lately revealed an article detailing its blockchain-based bounty system titled “Argus: A Absolutely Clear Incentive System for Anti-Piracy Campaigns”.
Along with hurting copyright holders comparable to Microsoft and different tech giants, on-line piracy additionally presents a critical threat to customers that obtain unlawful software program. Actually, a report from Muso launched final 12 months, warned {that a} surge in site visitors to piracy web sites may result in a flood of PCs contaminated with malware. Customers may additionally find yourself paying considerably extra for the software program, movies or different on-line content material they pirated if it results in them turning into a sufferer of id theft.
Microsoft has lengthy labored to battle on-line piracy and the corporate is a part of the Software program Alliance (BSA) which tracks copyright infringements each on-line and in the actual world. Whereas the BSA is thought for paying bounties to people who report piracy, Microsoft believes that Argus can supply a extra clear strategy to battle piracy and reward these concerned in doing so.
Argus
In its new paper, which researchers at Alibaba and Carnegie Mellon additionally contributed to, Microsoft laid out its plans to make use of a blockchain-based system to make reporting piracy extra open and clear.
The corporate’s researchers defined within the paper how a scarcity of transparency hampers the effectiveness of current anti-piracy incentive campaigns, saying:
“Anti-piracy is basically a process that depends on accumulating information from the open nameless inhabitants, so how one can incentivize credible reporting is a query on the heart of the issue. Industrial alliances and corporations are operating anti-piracy incentive campaigns, however their effectiveness is publicly questioned as a result of lack of transparency. We consider that full transparency of a marketing campaign is important to actually incentivize individuals.”
Argus then again will enable customers to anonymously report piracy in change for a bounty. The system will hint pirated content material again to the supply through the use of a novel watermark that corresponds with a secret code. When pirated content material is then reported, the standing of the supply (licensee) will likely be modified to “accused” after which to “responsible” if an attraction is denied.
Microsoft’s new system has the potential to vary the net piracy panorama because it contains quite a few safeguards to stop abuse in addition to false accusations. Nonetheless, we’ll have to attend and see whether or not or not the corporate decides to go ahead with bringing Argus to market.
Through TorrentFreak
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