A preliminary design for a privacy-friendly free P2P media file distribution system

Abstract

In most P2P business models, in which users purchase the media, it is necessary to securely identify the user in order to facilitate payment. This paper presents a technique for allowing the widespread sharing of certain media formats including music using a method that keeps track of media possession and other marketing information, but in a way that does not require user identification. For the user, the main attraction of this scheme is that their identity is not a requirement, usage of reduced-quality media within this system is free and that extended media search is facilitated as an attraction to remain within the system. The content creators and distributors are compensated by this system by them having access to potentially large-scale actual usage and music trading statistics. The preliminary system design presented here, can cleanly coexist with a full-quality music purchase business model, also described briefly. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.