intellectual
property

How is Intellectual Property shown in Deep Web?

From The Pirate Bay. “File:the Pirate Bay Logo.svg.” Wikimedia Commons, 26 Aug. 2007, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Pirate_Bay_logo.svg.


Intellectual property is a subtle topic in Deep Web. Intellectual property refers to patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and copyrights [1]. Intellectual property, such as films, are available on the deep web through sites like The Pirate Bay, another deep web website, but this site is not featured directly in the documentary. However, the content available on The Pirate Bay is protected by intellectual property law.


It is hard to search for intellectual property and enforce their protections on the deep web as websites that host this material are not accessible by browsers such as Google or Firefox, so to look for protected material, someone has to take extra steps beyond Googling to search for this content.

Peer-to-Peer Networks

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks describe how computers ( the “peer” or “node”) share storage, processing power, or other computing resources across multiple computers in order to run a program [2]. A feature of P2P networks is they do not have a central controller, so if a node of the P2P network malfunctions, a functional node could replace the malfunctioning node. Deep web sites like The Pirate Bay use P2P file sharing to exchange protected material and avoid detection from law enforcement.


Another type of P2P technology is Bitcoin, a P2P currency network featured frequently in the documentary [3]. Bitcoin uses a blockchain ledger to record transactions. Bitcoin transactions are also public, which allows users to see the transactions. This ledger is distributed and replicated across different computers, which makes it a P2P network. The image below provides a cursory description of the process of a Bitcoin transaction. Steps 3 and 4 are what make Bitcoin a P2P network.


Pharmaceuticals were bought from the Silk Road through Bitcoin purchases facilitated by blockchain. The US government believes Dread Pirate Roberts purchased hits on six individuals using Bitcoin. Although it seems like Bitcoin is used only for criminal activity, that is not the case. Users are able to make legal purchases at virtual and some brick-and-mortar stores with Bitcoin.



This diagram shows how blockchain works. Steps 3 and 4 demonstrate how is a P2P network. Bitcoin transactions are shared with users across different devices and these transactions are publicly recorded and validated by each user [4].

References

  1. Bently, Lionel. “WHAT IS ‘INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY’?” Cambridge law journal 71.3 (2012): 501–505. Web.

  2. The Ohio State University . “Peer-2-Peer Networking.” Cybersecurity, 25 July 2018, https://cybersecurity.osu.edu/cybersecurity-you/avoid-threats/peer-2-peer-networking.


  1. Mödinger, D., Lorenz, J.-H., van der Heijden, R. W., & Hauck, F. J. (2020). Unobtrusive monitoring: Statistical dissemination latency estimation in Bitcoin’s peer-to-peer network. PloS One, 15(12), e0243475–e0243475. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243475

  2. Single Grain Team. “Chapter 1: Blockchain Explained: The Ultimate Peer-to-Peer Network.” Single Grain, Single Grain, 4 Oct. 2021, https://www.singlegrain.com/blockchain/blockchain-explained/.