When Bram Cohen released The first version of BitTorrent in 2002 sparked a revolution in file sharing.
At the time, bandwidth was a scarce resource, making it impossible to simultaneously share large files with millions of people over the Internet. BitTorrent not only thrived in that environment, but the protocol remains effective to this day.
BitTorrent transfers are based on peer-to-peer file sharing without a central storage location. With updated additions to the protocol, such as the BitTorrent Distributed Hash Table (DHT), torrent files no longer require a tracking server, making them decentralized in nature.
However, in theory, it doesn't always work that way. People who use BitTorrent, for research purposes or to obtain the latest Linux distributions, often use centralized indexes or search engines. If these are disconnected, the .torrent files they offer are also disconnected.
Decentralized torrents
This problem is not new and solutions have existed for many years. It is sponsored by the University Tribledor torrent client, for example, and the BitTorrent protocol extension (BEP51), developed by 'The 8472', which also helps to address exactly this problem.
BEP51 allows information to be discovered and collected via DHT, without the need for a central tracker. These infohashes can be converted into magnet links and, when combined with relevant metadata, it is possible to create a comprehensive BitTorrent index that easily rivals most centralized torrent sites.
Some centralized torrent sites, such as BTDigg, have already done this. However, the good thing about the proposal involving DHT is that centralized sites are not required to act as search engines. With the right code, anyone can set up their own private, custom DHT tracker, torrent index, and search engine.
Bitmagnet: a decentralized private torrent index
bit magnet It is relatively new self-hosted tool that does exactly that. The software, which is still in an early stage of development, was publicly released a few months ago.
โThe project aims to reduce reliance on public torrent sites that are prone to being taken down and exposing users to ads and malware,โ lead developer Mike tells us.
Those who know how to create a docker container You can have an instance up and running in minutes, and for those concerned about privacy, the docker-compose file on GitHub supports VPN over Glued. Once Bitmagnet is up and running, it begins collecting data from DHT torrents, clearly categorizing what it finds, and making everything discoverable through its own search engine.
Decentralization is just one of the stated advantages. The developer was also pleasantly surprised by the large amount of content discovered and categorized through Bitmagnet. This easily surpasses the libraries of most traditional torrent sites.
"Run it for a month and you'll have a personal index and search engine that dwarfs popular torrent websites and includes a lot of content that can often only be found on private trackers that are difficult to join," Mike tells us.
After running the software for four months, the developer now has over 12 million torrents indexed. However, other users with more bandwidth and better connections already have many more. This also brings us to one of the main drawbacks; a lack of healing.
Healing
Unlike well-moderated torrent sites, Bitmagnet adds almost any torrent it finds to its database. This includes mislabeled files, malware-ridden versions, and potentially illegal content. However, the software attempts to limit abuse by filtering metadata for CSAM content.
There are plans to add more selection by adding support for manual publishing and federation. That would allow people with similar interests to connect, acting more like a trusted community. However, this is still a work in progress.
Another disadvantage is that it might take longer to index rare content since it has to be discovered first. Widely shared torrents tend to distribute quickly via DHT, but rare releases will take much longer to be picked up. Additionally, users may occasionally come across dead or incomplete torrents.
So far, these drawbacks don't stop people from trying the software.
While Bitmagnet is only available as an "alpha" version, it is generating a lot of interest. The Docker image has been downloaded almost 25,000 times and the repository has been featured by over a thousand developers so far.
Caution is advised!
Mike doesn't know how many people run an instance or how they use it. Bitmagnet is designed and intended for people to run on their own computer and network, but people could also turn it into a public search engine.
Of course, running a public search engine comes with legal risks. Once there is a lot of traffic, that will certainly alert anti-piracy groups.
Even those who use the software privately to download legitimate content may receive complaints. When tracking DHT, the software presents itself as a torrent client. While it doesn't download any content automatically, some rudimentary anti-piracy tracking tools could still (incorrectly) flag this activity.
There are no examples of this happening at the moment, but the potential risk is why Bitmagnet advises users to opt for vpn routing.
Impossible to close
All in all, Bitmagnet is an interesting tool that utilizes some of the underutilized powers of BitTorrent, which have become increasingly rare in recent years.
The idea behind Bitmagnet is similar to Magneticwhich first came out in 2017. While it appears to be no longer actively maintained, it is still available on GitHub. During these years, we have not seen any takedown notices targeting the software.
Mike hopes that her project You will also be free from copyright complaints. The developer sees it simply as a content-neutral tool, much like a web browser.
โI hope the project is immune to these problems, because the source code does not contain copyright-infringing material. How people choose to use the app is up to them: if you access copyrighted content through a web browser or BitTorrent client, that does not hold the providers of those apps responsible.โ
"Bitmagnet cannot be 'deleted'; even if the GitHub repository were threatened by an illegitimate deletion request, the code can easily be hosted elsewhere," Mike concludes.
