Is FastTrack as decentralized as they claim?

[napho]

This guy says no.


Mark Ishikawa is CEO of BayTSP, an Internet security firm 'specializing in the tracking and reporting of stolen content on the Internet'. He has conducted research into how kazaa/FastTrack works. The research has found some damning evidence of some control that those involved with FastTrack have over the P2P network.

According to an AP article Mark Ishikawa has found that Kazaa software shows signs of "calling home" when it cannot find a supernode, or a regional directory running off users' computers. Mark traced these requests to a server on the Caribbean island of Nevis. On further investigation he found that the server was operated by a computing data centre. Despite his efforts the laws of Nevis prevented him from finding out the owner of the server. The server MIGHT be owned by Joltid who own the FastTrack protocol.

This backs up older RIAA research into FastTrack which found that FastTrack applications come loaded with a large list of IP addresses for supernodes. However if the list is somehow corrupted, the application causes the peer to contact another server controlled by KaZaA. Kazaa at the time of this RIAA research was owned by the same people who now own Joltid.

Significantly this does not 100% prove that any of the companies linked to FastTrack have complete control over the network. However it seems to indicate the form of control that those connected to FastTrack have is related to knowing the location of supernodes and the ability to alter them.

The 26 entertainment companies who are suing those connected with FastTrack also state that the removal of Morpheus from FastTrack demonstrates central control. Those who now own Joltid removed Morpheus from the network for unpaid bills. It is widely believed that they removed Morpheus from the network by altering the way supernodes communicate.

Mark Ishikawa may be called to testify in the FastTrack lawsuit.