Kazaa deploys an IOS before Morpheus

[snowman]

Seems that Kazaa & those FastTrack programmers that where hiding in LA have built and deployed a IOS inside Kazaa and I would assume Grokster. This seems beats Morpheus V2.0 to the punch as they hoped to do the same with REBOL's technology.

I clipped the whole aticle for future reference. Visit www.news.com for more.

***********************************************

Stealth P2P network hides inside Kazaa
By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
April 1, 2002, 5:35 PM PT
http://news.com.com/2100-1023-873181.html

A California company has quietly attached its software to millions of downloads of the popular Kazaa file-trading program and plans to remotely "turn on" people's PCs, welding them into a new network of its own.
Brilliant Digital Entertainment, a California-based digital advertising technology company, has been distributing its 3D ad technology along with the Kazaa software since late last fall. But in a federal securities filing Monday, the company revealed it also has been installing more ambitious technology that could turn every computer running Kazaa into a node in a new network controlled by Brilliant Digital.

The company plans to wake up the millions of computers that have installed its software in as soon as four weeks. It plans to use the machines--with their owners' permission--to host and distribute other companies' content, such as advertising or music. Alternatively, it might borrow people's unused processing power to help with other companies' complicated computing tasks.

Brilliant Digital CEO Kevin Bermeister says computers or Internet connections won't be used without their owners' permission. But the company will nevertheless have access to millions of computers at once, almost as easily as turning on a light switch.

"Everybody will get turned on in more or less a simultaneous fashion," Bermeister said. "This will be an opt-in program...We're trying to create a secure network based on end-user relationships."

The Brilliant Digital plan is the most ambitious yet from a string of companies that have tried to make money off the millions of people who are downloading and using free file-swapping programs such as Kazaa, MusicCity's Morpheus or LimeWire.

Nearly all of the file-swapping programs now routinely come bundled with so-called adware or spyware--programs that automatically pop up advertisements while people surf the Web or that keep track of where someone surfs, information that can then be sold to marketing companies. Despite growing concerns about this bundled software, usage and downloads of the file-swapping programs are at an all-time high.

But Brilliant's plan, by tapping into the computer resources of the file-swappers themselves, has fallen into a new realm where start-ups such as Kontiki and Red Swoosh are just starting to gain traction. Those companies are trying to use peer-to-peer technology to distribute content more quickly online, but they face a battle convincing people to install their software and become distribution points.

Brilliant, by contrast, already has potentially tens of millions of computers in its network, simply by piggybacking on top of Kazaa.

According to CNET Download.com, a popular software aggregation site owned by News.com publisher CNET Networks, the Kazaa software--and by extension the Brilliant software--was downloaded more than 2.6 million times last week alone. Brilliant has been distributing the core technology for its peer-to-peer service along with Kazaa since February, Bermeister said.

The Brilliant network is based on a piece of software called "Altnet Secureinstall," which is bundled with the Kazaa software. That technology can connect to other peer-to-peer networks, ad servers or file servers independently of the Kazaa software and can be automatically updated to add new features, according to Brilliant's filing.

When the software is "turned on," computers running the Brilliant software will form a new peer-to-peer network separate from but connected to Kazaa, the filing said. A few computers with fast connections will form the early core of the network and be asked to join first. Other ordinary computers and Net connections will be invited later, Bermeister said.

Brilliant's software will be able to understand and respond to searches inside Kazaa, since it is based on the same technology. But if it is successful, Brilliant will be able to host content and run "distributed computing" applications over the new network that is entirely separate from Kazaa or other file-swapping networks based on the same technology.

Working behind the scenes
Brilliant and Bermeister have played a central role in many of the events shaping the file-swapping world in the past few months.

Bermeister began distributing his company's 3D advertising software along with the Kazaa software last year. That's how he got to know the founders of Kazaa BV, the Dutch company that created the file-swapping technology originally used by Kazaa, Morpheus and Grokster.

When the Kazaa BV founders decided they didn't want to be in the network business, Bermeister introduced them to a former associate in Australia, Nicola Hemming. Her new company, Sharman Networks, bought the Kazaa software and continues to distribute it.

Bermeister is now drawing on his association with the Dutch programmers for his new venture. Brilliant has created a new company for the peer-to-peer service, called Altnet. It has licensed the Dutch programmers' technology from their new venture, called Blastoise. According to Brilliant's annual report, filed Monday, the Dutch programmers have taken a 49 percent stake in Altnet.

Brilliant has been subpoenaed in the record labels and big movie studios' copyright infringement lawsuit against Kazaa BV. No suit has been filed against Brilliant or Sharman Networks, however.

The immediate plans for Altnet, Brilliant and the new peer-to-peer network remain unclear.

Bermeister said the company had been testing the technology along with ad giants DoubleClick as a way to serve ordinary Web ads more quickly. Under this plan, an ad that a person sees on a Web site might be hosted by a nearby computer running Brilliant's Altnet instead of on a central ad server, as now typically happens with DoubleClick.

Brilliant's CEO was quick to note that people would be asked before their computers were used for this or other purposes. He said the software would show a pop-up box explaining the network's function and giving people a chance to turn it off. People who allow their computers to be used will be compensated somehow, possibly with gift certificates or free videos, the company's filing said.

However, people who accept "terms of service" already distributed with Brilliant's and Kazaa's software are already agreeing to let their computers be used without any payment at all.

"You hereby grant (Brilliant) the right to access and use the unused computing power and storage space on your computer/s and/or Internet access or bandwidth for the aggregation of content and use in distributed computing," the terms of service read. "The user acknowledges and authorizes this use without the right of compensation."

Anybody who declines this provision is not able to install the Kazaa file-swapping software.

A representative for Sharman, which distributes the Kazaa software, could not be reached for comment.

Privacy-rights advocates contacted for comment expressed some concern about the way the Altnet software has been distributed and about whether the millions of people who already have it installed on their computers will be tech-savvy enough to know what they're agreeing to when and if Brilliant does ask to use their computers.

"A lot of the people most likely to use this software are teenagers or college students. There's a lack of sensitivity about privacy in that age group," said Larry Poneman, CEO of Privacy Council, which helps companies manage privacy issues. "Do they really want to be commandeered and have their machines do things that aren't necessarily in their best interest?"

[ssj4_android]

Not really that much of a surprise. I think I cleared that junk off my computer. Anyone know what I can check to make sure?

[JackSpratts]

it's so awfull i'm surprised it hadn't happened sooner. it was just a matter of time.

we'll start seeing a real migration off fasttrack when that piece of hijackware lights up. the network's already slowed and this won't be helping. it's another major step backward for the internet. good link snowman.

- js.

[Smoketoomuch]

I just skimmed trough the article, and the first thing that occured to me is that this is not necessarily a bad thing. If Brilliant succeeds, they will very much depend on file-sharing - only if we are able to share our files and exchange whatever we want would we use their softwares. Which means, that Brilliant now has an active interest in keeping filesharing alive. I understand privacy conserns, but then, it is in the best interest of Brilliant now to make our privacy a top priority issue. If users in any way could be harrassed because they host copyrighted contents, even a few cases would create such a bad press and hype that the use of there software would be discontinued.

Hmm. Since their entire business model will depend on our satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the p2p "service", or rather, side effect, they will (if they have brains) do anything to improve it, make it competetive with other, free and open source p2p services like the Gnutella network, for instance. To my best knowledge, no company had such an investment (monetary) in a p2p programm. Moreover, the whole article is very carefully phrased ... of course there is no mention of the fact that they must provide top quality file-swapping service if they are to survive. On first reading, especially the use of idle processing power brings into mind those projects (Nasa, Cancer research) that are already running and have very positive connotations. What I wanted to say is that the way they put it, is quite safe from legal attacks. The first well phrased justification or example that supports their claim for similarity with the betamax case. In time, they can even justifiable say, that what the RIAA or MPAA wants (filtering out content) would endanger their business modell - but of course, to stand on equal ground with those industries, they have to grow and succeed.

When I think more about this, I'm sure I would find some negative aspects also, but for now, I wait in great anticipation...

[TankGirl]

If you want to know what Brilliant Digital Entertainment plans to do with your computer, read their annual business report from Yahoo! Finance. It makes very interesting and enlightening reading, especially the risk analysis part. The company has presently an accumulated deficit of $54.6 million and is desperate to make money with p2p.

Here is a quote about their business activities:

We launched our rich media 3D advertising banners - Brilliant Banners - into the market to offer advertisers and web sites an alternative to the current Graphics Interchange Format, or GIF, banners that are prevalent on web sites today. With the decline of industry wide banner advertising revenues and click through rates, we believe that our animated 3D banner advertisements perform better than GIF banners and may help reinvigorate certain online advertising campaigns. We license our rich media ad serving technologies, through our wholly-owned subsidiary B3D, Inc., to high traffic websites, including the P2P network, Sharman Networks, for the serving of Brilliant Banners. We are also introducing our ad format to third party ad serving companies, making our technologies available for them to commence selling and serving this new rich media ad format. In November 2001, we became a Rich Media Silver Vendor of DoubleClick, Inc. This rich media certification was awarded after our technology passed the DoubleClick tests for functionality, impression tracking and click tracking.

In February 2002, we formed Brilliant P2P, Inc., later renamed Altnet, Inc., to create a private, peer-to-peer network utilizing existing, proven technology to leverage the processing, storage and distribution power of a peer-to-peer network comprised of tens of millions of users. Altnet intends to license commercially available digital rights management technology to protect against infringement of the proprietary rights of the owners of the content distributed over the Altnet network. Altnet licensed the peer-to-peer technology necessary to operate the network from Blastoise, Ltd. doing business as Joltid. Blastoise is owned and operated by the developers of the FastTrack P2P technology, the underlying technology which operates the KaZaA and Grokster P2P networks. Pursuant to our agreement, Blastoise acquired 49% of the outstanding common stock of Altnet.

Peer-to-peer computing is the sharing of computer resources and services by direct exchange between computer systems, and not through a central server. Peer-to-peer computing applications include the exchange of digital files and other information, processing cycles (the cycles by which data is processed in the central processing unit of a computer), cache storage (temporary storage of files in the central processing unit of a computer), and disk storage. Peer-to-peer computing takes advantage of existing desktop computing power and networking connectivity, allowing users to access the collective power of individual computers to benefit the entire enterprise. Millions of computers are logged onto the Internet at any given time, each with excess processing power, excess storage capacity and unused bandwidth. Through Altnet, we intend to create a private peer-to-peer network to enable our clients to access and utilize this excess processing power, storage capacity and unused bandwidth for multiple applications.

From the risk analysis part:

OUR FAILURE TO MAINTAIN STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIPS WITH DISTRIBUTION PARTNERS COULD REDUCE THE NUMBER OF DIGITAL PROJECTORS WE ARE ABLE TO DISSEMINATE TO CONSUMERS, WHICH WOULD REDUCE THE NUMBER OF USERS THAT ARE ABLE TO VIEW OUR MEDIA CONTENT, DECREASE THE VALUE OF OUR BRILLIANT BANNERS TO ADVERTISERS AND LIMIT THE NUMBER OF USER'S FOR OUR ALTNET PEER-TO-PEER BUSINESS.

We distribute our Digital Projector and the software necessary to create and run our Altnet peer-to-peer business primarily by bundling it with Sharman Networks' KaZaA Media Desktop. We rely on computer users' demand for the KaZaA Media Desktop to increase the installed base of our (1) Digital Projector, which is necessary to view b3d-produced content such as our Brilliant Banners, and (2) Altnet software, which is necessary to connect users to our private peer-to-peer network. Our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected if we do not maintain our distribution relationship with Sharman Networks on acceptable terms or if this relationship does not achieve the projected distribution of our Digital Projector and Altnet software. Additionally, a disruption in the distribution of the KaZaA Media Desktop or a decrease in demand for the product by users would necessarily impact the future distribution of our technology. The KaZaA Media Desktop, as well as other peer-to-peer software products, is currently the subject of a lawsuit; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. et. al. v. Grokster, Ltd. et. al., filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California (Western Division) by twenty-eight entertainment companies claiming that, among other things, the KaZaA Media Desktop facilitates, contributes to and encourages copyright infringement. On November 18, 2001, there was an additional complaint filed, Lieber et. al v. Consumer Empowerment B.V., et. al. To the extent that Sharman Networks is precluded from distributing the KaZaA Media Desktop as a result of this litigation, it would prevent the further distribution of the Digital Projector and Altnet peer-to-peer software with the KaZaA product which could have a material adverse affect on our business and financial condition.

Technically Kazaa is a Trojan that has now provenly been used to secretly download and install new commercially geared software to the computers of millions of users. Besides the unpleasant prospect of handing out your computing resources and storage space openly to companies like DoubleClick - making protective software like AdAware utterly powerless - a greater worry here is general security. A popular p2p network with a remote controllable software switch to activate new features is almost too attractive a hacking target. What a golden oppurtunity for the RIAA or the MPAA to buy a dirty hack job to wipe out a few terabytes of mp3s and videos (or worse) and scare people away from p2p for a long long time. I for one will not run any FastTrack client anymore on my computer.

- tg

[Smoketoomuch]

Our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected if we do not maintain our distribution relationship with Sharman Networks on acceptable terms or if this relationship does not achieve the projected distribution of our Digital Projector and Altnet software. Additionally, a disruption in the distribution of the KaZaA Media Desktop or a decrease in demand for the product by users would necessarily impact the future distribution of our technology. The KaZaA Media Desktop, as well as other peer-to-peer software products, is currently the subject of a lawsuit; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. et. al. v. Grokster, Ltd. et. al., filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California (Western Division) by twenty-eight entertainment companies claiming that, among other things, the KaZaA Media Desktop facilitates, contributes to and encourages copyright infringement. On November 18, 2001, there was an additional complaint filed, Lieber et. al v. Consumer Empowerment B.V., et. al. To the extent that Sharman Networks is precluded from distributing the KaZaA Media Desktop as a result of this litigation, it would prevent the further distribution of the Digital Projector and Altnet peer-to-peer software with the KaZaA product which could have a material adverse affect on our business and financial condition.

Yes yes yes. So they are very well aware of just how much their business modell depends on the satisfaction of KaZaA and Grokster users. If they are clever, they can use this to their - and our - advantage as well. If what TG writes would occur, it would wipe out their business as well - so it is their very interest to develop technology that would protect us from such hack attempts, and their perusal of our bandwidth must be entirely transparent for us. There is no quarantee of course that this could work. They may be very well make pacts with doubleclick and other spyware companies. But they also can do it in a different way. For instance, if my spare bandwidth is used solely for distribution purposes, like sending chunks of different files trough my bandwidth, and not for tracking my surfing habits, I would consent to that. But you are right TG, it is very likely that they would not see us as the backbone of a distribution network, but also as potential consumers... On the other hand, the other idea, that is using idle processing power or "lenting" it for companies that don't have the means or the financial background to buy supercomputers sounds much better, since it is less likely that they can abuse us by it.

I think this "project" has very great potentials if they know how to use it and alienating us, the backbone of their business model, by abusing our trust is just not a clever way to do business. But seeing how Morpheus screwed up or the stupidity of RIAA, I'm not too optimist...

[TankGirl]

Originally posted by Smoketoomuch
I think this "project" has very great potentials if they know how to use it and alienating us, the backbone of their business model, by abusing our trust is just not a clever way to do business. But seeing how Morpheus screwed up or the stupidity of RIAA, I'm not too optimist...

I hear you Smoke and I agree that the technology of distributed computing combined with p2p holds great potential - if it is developed in an open and honest interaction with the p2p communities that are to provide the computing resources and bandwidth to the platform. But when it is introduced in such a sneaky way by a company who is the "Rich Media Silver Vendor of DoubleClick, Inc." and whose "technology passed the DoubleClick tests for functionality, impression tracking and click tracking" there is nothing good to be expected for the p2p from it. It does not help the p2p revolution; it just provides a perfect and virtually uncontrolled channel for adware/spyware companies to get access to our computers. The fact that company's Internet syndication partners include "Warner Bros. Online, Roadrunner and selected sites from the Universal Music Group" does not promise anything good either.

Well, I have to say that I am very skeptical that Brilliant Digital would succeed in what they are trying. Even in technical terms the challenge is very tough - not to talk about the music and movie industries' response to somebody building a distributed computing business on a free mp3/movie trading network. Should Brilliant Digital together with Kazaa and Grokster try to please the RIAA and the MPAA by wrapping files to proprietary formats and blocking copyrighted content the remaining FastTrack user base would evaporate in no time.

- tg

[Smoketoomuch]

Huh. I just finished reading your links (well, the part prior to RESULTS OF OPERATIONS) That is scary indeed. They need brain transplantation if they plan what you suspect, but it seems that they do. Or maybe not? I wonder how many of the millions who downloaded Kazaa would care about spyware - but they would certainly care about copy protection filter. I wonder who would be the first to harness the potential of the idea itself... It seems that we will have to wait for that a while longer.

[RDixon]

I distrusted Morpheus/Music City/ whatever they called themselves from day 1 and did not use it after the music city servers went proprietary.

In this day and age of file sharing a little paranoia is a good thing.

[snowman]

I can explain later but I belive this to be a good thing for FastTrack. It will allow the deployment of useful applications.

[colinmacc]

I paid for it, I paid for the hard drive, the memory, and the processor, and if "Brilliant" Digital or anybody else thinks that they've got a right to hijack my property and use it as an ad-server to annoy other users then they can go to hell.

[Mazer]

Originally posted by colinmacc
I paid for it, I paid for the hard drive, the memory, and the processor, and if "Brilliant" Digital or anybody else thinks that they've got a right to hijack my property and use it as an ad-server to annoy other users then they can go to hell.

My sentiments exactly. This company is already $54.6 million in debt andy they want to save money by using our computers to serve their content for free rather than using their own computers and bandwidth. What if these guys turn a profit? Will they still need us to do their job for them or will they buy their own ad servers and abandon us? With the pending lawsuits I'm sure they'll only use Kazaa only as long as they have to.

In the months to come they'll discover what a hassle it really is. If a small company like Napster couldn't answer to its user base of 30 million users, how will Brilliant Digital be able to handle 50 million people or more? In time they'll realize that it's much simpler to own and operate their own server farm than it is to coordinate the works of millions of freelance ad servers.

And the way I see it they're stealing a revolutionary idea and using it to make money. This network sounds a lot like Freenet in that your computer downloads, stores, and uploads unknown information without your permission or knowledge. But Freenet has a differnet philosophy, they want to promote security and anonymity for those who use the client, while Brilliant Digital wants to remain secure and anonymous from those who use their client.

And I have my concerns about the scalabilityof the network too. If you browse a web page that has a Brilliant Banner linked to it, it will send a query to Altnet for an ad, the query will filter throughout the network and each client in turn will send a response to your web browser. Imagine 10 million computers simultaneously sending a search response to your computer, it would be the biggest DDoS attack ever launched, and it would happen to every web surfer who came across a page with a Brilliant Banner on it. No way I'd let my computer be part of such a network.

[twinspan]

I posted a question about Altnet on the KazaaLite forum and here's what the KL hacker had to say:

• <Twinspan>
  posted 02 April 2002 08:35
  

  Just wondering if KazaaLite also got rid of Brilliant's Altnet trojan, allowing them to use your
  PC's processor and connection without permission or compensation.

• KaZaA Lite Webmaster
  Administrator
  Member # 1
  posted 02 April 2002 10:27
  

  This can be blocked with the help of the supertrick (see menu at the top of the website).

• <rogier>
  posted 02 April 2002 14:48
  

  it can prevent sending data using the supertrick, but kazaa(lite) still consumes cpu cycles
  it shouldnt imho

• KaZaA Lite Webmaster
  Administrator
  Member # 1
  posted 02 April 2002 16:26
  

  If you block the site before you start using KaZaA Lite, the prog won't be installed at all.
  
  You can now remove that BDE Viewer to prevent the usage of cpu cycles.

Dunno if this helps anyone.

KazaaLite Forum Thread
Supertrick

[JackSpratts]

is the app in the kazaa code or is it riding along separately?

the question now concerns grokster, specifically spyware-free grokster. it's difficult recomending that client when one isn't absolutely positive it's brilliant digital entertainment free.

since the company that now owns kazaa and controls the fasttrack code is partnered with the hijackware guys from bde, any ft client will be considered contaminated until proven otherwise.

- js.

[twinspan]

when I installed regular Kazaa, I made sure to have Norton Smart Sweep running. But the mainstream Kazaa bypassed it and it's installation wasn't monitored. However the BDE element was caught by Smart Sweep and easily uninstalled.

I'm no expert but that would lead me to think that BDE is not yet fully integrated into Kazaa, and therefore I would assume neither in Grokster.

[goldie]

Me thinks me Grokster's gonna take a very long walk off a very short cliff in the ~very~ near future.

Finger's over the uninstall button and getting miiiiiiiighty itchy to pull the trigger.

[JackSpratts]

Originally posted by goldenrod
Me thinks me Grokster's gonna take a very long walk off a very short cliff in the ~very~ near future.

Finger's over the uninstall button and getting miiiiiiiighty itchy to pull the trigger.

you and a lot of other users gr. i wouldn't want my future tied up in that platform right now for sure.

for what it's worth, support at grokster denies any bde trojans in grokster. i'm sure the people at grokster believe that but i'll bet steve griffin at morpheus didn't think kazaa could control his app either and look what happened to him...still, i hope they're right.

- js.

[HAL9000]

"Everybody will get turned on in more or less a simultaneous fashion," Bermeister said. "This will be an opt-in program...We're trying to create a secure network based on end-user relationships."

DoS?!

[snowman]

Obviously this type of system is the ultimate Internet DOS tool. These IOS systems have been around for decades and are not usually well received because of the security issues they raise. Two issues are normally pointed out. The first an attack on the permanent storage of an internal network and secondly on the oportunity to move unauthorized data in or out of a computer via a network.

The same can be said for systems that host roving agent programs. A lot of companies tried this and none have succeeded yet.

Can you imagine downloading a DOS type program that points at critical infastructure onto 50 million computers and having it start up all at once?

This stuff needs to be regulated. Forget copying CD's.

Who is going to vouche safe the programs that get downloaded by Brilliant? Are they going to be responsible if my computers kicks yours in the head? Not a chance - you are going to be mad at me not Brilliant. I will go visit the grey bar hotel not Briliant.

If Kazaa/Brilliant Digital program so much as steps one toe over the line there is going to hell to pay in both Northern LA and down under.

Think about it for a second. Microsoft with its zillions of dollars has extreem difficulty keeping IIS, IE and Outlook safe from hackers how in the world is Kazaa and/or Brilliant Digital ever hope of pulling it off.

Kazaa just left my test system never to return.

[goldie]

Originally posted by snowman


Kazaa just left my test system never to return.

I'm outta here!