BitTorrent protocol encryption: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:59, 5 March 2017

Revision as of 21:12, 5 April 2017

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==Criticism==

[[Bram Cohen]], the inventor of [[BitTorrent (protocol)|BitTorrent]], opposed adding encryption to the BitTorrent protocol. Cohen stated he was worried that encryption could create incompatibility between clients. He also stressed the point that the majority of ISPs don't block the torrent protocol. In 2006 Cohen wrote "I rather suspect that some developer has gotten rate limited by his ISP, and is more interested in trying to hack around his ISP's limitations than in the performance of the internet as a whole".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bramcohen.livejournal.com/29886.html |title=Obfuscating BitTorrent |last=Cohen |first=Bram |authorlink=Bram Cohen |publisher=Bram Cohen blog |date=2006-01-29 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060207023731/http://bramcohen.livejournal.com/29886.html |archivedate=2006-02-07 |df= }}</ref> Many BitTorrent community users responded strongly against Cohen's accusations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forum.utorrent.com/viewtopic.php?id=5742|title=Debate over Protocol Encryption|publisher=uTorrent.com forum|date=2006-02-04}}</ref>

Cohen later added encrypted connections to his [[BitTorrent (software)|Mainline client]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bittorrent.com/versionnotes.html|title=BitTorrent Mainline Version History|publisher=BitTorrent.com|date=2006-10-15|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070225131829/http://www.bittorrent.com/versionnotes.html|archivedate=2007-02-25}}</ref> with the ability to receive but not originate them.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} Notably, when µTorrent was purchased by BitTorrent, Inc. and then became the next mainline release, the ability to originate encrypted connections was retained, but it became turned off by default. In an interview in 2007, Cohen stated "The so-called ‘encryption’ of BitTorrent traffic isn’t really encryption, it’s obfuscation. It provides no anonymity whatsoever, and only temporarily evades traffic shaping."<ref>[http://torrentfreak.com/interview-with-bram-cohen-the-inventor-of-bittorrent/ "Interview with Bram Cohen, the inventor of BitTorrent"]. TorrentFreak. 2007-01-17. Retrieved 2013-04-07.</ref>