The Dark Web and Cryptocurrencies: A Barrier to Anti-Piracy
Software piracy has been a key issue in the tech industry.
This problem dates back to the 70s and has caused dire effects on the businesses of software developers small and large alike.
In this taste, these professionals suffered problems undermining their craft, hindering their control over the preservation of copyrights.
The new millennium has seen incremental changes in this sector, significant achievements have been made to ensure that developers reap maximum benefits of their profession.
Nonetheless, the sophistication of communication technology, including the inception of cutting-edge technological innovations, have fueled software piracy.
An Intersection Between the Internet and Piracy
The advent of the internet can be blamed for this worrying trend. The World Wide Web supports the easy upload and download of software by users.
However, this aspect is not restricted by geographical factors and this reality has been found to catalyze online piracy across all fronts.
But how exactly does the internet complicate this problem?
Ideally, online platforms provide a sufficiently convenient medium for the exchange of information. This also includes the unlawful access of copyright software that may be difficult to regulate.
The internet’s borderless attribute impedes the efficient enforcement of ownership and licensing of intellectual property.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) provides that the year 2013 saw an alarming 43% of software used by personal computers being improperly licensed.
This factor presented significant economic implications to the tune of billions of dollars. Further, BSA correlated unlicensed software utility to cybersecurity threats orchestrated by seasoned criminals.
In recent years, an emergent front has rocked the digital world – organizations are struggling to guard their intellectual property from the cryptocurrency-supported dark web platforms. The dark web is riddled with “cyberthugs” and career fraudsters that have been abusing the legitimate purpose of the hidden web.
Companies and tech aficionados have moved to curb this problem by the enforcement of IP rights and the maintenance of robust online surveillance programs.
Still, the anonymity provided by darknet sites continue to create ample environments for the plying of illicit trades that range from drug trafficking to the sale of pirated content.
This outlook presents monumental obstacles to law enforcement and the entire business community.
A History of Anti-Piracy Rebellion
Various websites have been up in arms against government anti-piracy efforts. A look at specific historical examples explicates this premise.
In 2012, online sites protested against a proposed anti-piracy legislation by the United States government by “going dark.” Notably, Wikipedia was the first website to go dark. This move was joined by other online stakeholders that keep the internet afloat.
Google, the largest search engine on the surface web, placed censorship bars on their websites to show solidarity in protesting the legislation.
The protest was significant in scale and was felt across online platforms around the world. Numerous corporate and not-for-profit sites joined the bandwagon by shutting down or conveying messages of advocacy to garner public support against the anti-piracy legislation.
Interestingly, the protests occurred even in the face of a growing concern of the proliferation of online platforms that sustained illicit trades like the sale of stolen content.
The anti-piracy rebellion could not be separated from the dark web. In 2016, anti-piracy establishments had leveled significant pressure on internet service providers (ISPs) to ban torrent sites that had long been blamed for fueling the online piracy vice.
Among others, this occurrence did not go down well with Kickass Torrents, a website that forms the league of the most popular websites on the internet.
Consequently, Kickass Torrents responded to the censorship threats by moving their office from the surface web to the dark web.
This was done to conceal Kickass Torrents’ operations in the Tor network. Truly, the website has been a notorious stopover for online pirates that target various types of content that are availed online.
It is for this reason that copyright owners had become very ambitious in their call to have Kickass Torrents blocked by ISPs.
Generally, pirate sites enforce extreme measures to ensure that they operate outside the scope of copyright holders and anti-piracy agencies. The main method used by such sites is the application of encryption strategies that advance their anonymity to set back the law enforcement efforts leveled against their business models.
Subsequently, a July 2016 report by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) explicated the techniques used by online piracy sites to elude anti-piracy efforts.
The organization went on to identify Bitcoin and Tor as key threats to anti-piracy strategies that the organization had created in collaboration with Europol.
The report also focused on business models used by pirates with the intention of unraveling mysteries surrounding dark web involvement in the maintenance of online piracy rings.
The publication highlighted an expansive “shadow landscape” that was established to illicitly utilize intellectual property with the technical support of Tor and Bitcoin.
Why Is Bitcoin a Threat?
As explained within the report, the inherence of Bitcoin’s threat surrounds the virtue that the cryptocurrency is typically untraceable to its sources in the context of Bitcoin transactions.
This issue is disadvantageous to EUIPO owing to the fact that successful copyright enforcement is contingent on the ability to trace financial transactions.
EUIPO stated their dedication to actively monitor the trend with the intention of stepping up efforts directed towards the fight against online counterfeiting and piracy.
Most importantly, the EUIPO acknowledged the fact that Bitcoin provides enhanced anonymity when compared to conventional forms of currency.
What Can Be Done?
Law enforcement agencies and anti-piracy entities have shifted to internet-based portals to create strategies against the growth of software piracy. These platforms provided programmers with a base to license their creations and manage the distribution of the same. Nevertheless, these techniques have proved to present certain shortcomings since they cannot arrest software piracy entirely. This is because the entities mainly serve to regulate the obtainment of software.
Ardent software developers have been compelled to establish personalized piracy prevention strategies, a factor that is typically complicated and relatively expensive.
The solution to solving online piracy issues, in the dark web and cryptocurrency context, lies in the adage “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Certainly, the ability to apply cryptocurrency technology in anti-piracy efforts seems to be the holy grail of the dark web’s future. It is an undeniable truth that the Tor network can only be policed by employing techniques that form the fiber of dark web activity.
In this breath, the discovery of employing cryptocurrency blockchain techniques to validate software licenses seems to be a welcome idea in the fight against dark web-sponsored piracy.
The ReSOLV Model
The ReSOLV model employs blockchain technology in establishing the privacy of license data protected on the blockchain. Various studies have been used to demonstrate the success and practicality of this approach in tackling online piracy, and it is now considered to be a trusted method of anti-piracy and software authorization.
Indeed, it was found that the model satisfies all the vital requirements for solving the software piracy quagmire. This is because ReSOLV operates with the underlying idea that although software can be copied, such content may not be launched because of a pending authorization process that depends on public key cryptography.
This concept was clearly illustrated by a March 2018 article by Alan Litchfield and Jeff Herbert titled “ReSOLV: Applying Cryptocurrency Blockchain Methods to Enable Global Cross-Platform Software License Validation.”
The paper sought to provide a credible solution to the long-held problem of losing copyright protection by software creators, which is notably perpetrated by online pirates.
For a long time, the most common methods used in maintaining copyright-protected content has been the activation of software using key codes, the application of software license validation (SLV) via an online registration process, and the use of hardware devices to protect content from piracy issues.
The application of a decentralized SLV method provides a new solution to online piracy. The technique uses cryptocurrency blockchain technology, like that of Bitcoin, to protect copyrighted content.
Essentially, the method is applicable to both small-scale software developers and established vendors. This aspect is important owing to the universal tenets of software authorization. The validation process should be economical, compatible on a broad scale, and be user-friendly.
The method vouched by this paper is that of a technique that allows developers to create license keys that cannot be recreated. A tailor-made cryptocurrency blockchain may be utilized in providing SLV cost-effectively by applying the cryptocurrency blockchain theory. Blockchain offers endless possibilities in the context of creating a software protection apparatus that would make content more difficult to pirate.
Final Thoughts
Arguably, the dark web and the cryptocurrency industry present a potent threat for copyright owners.
This also extends to the fact that they are seemingly experts on eluding anti-piracy enforcement.
It is critical for governments to analyze the implications of the hidden web and virtual monies in the fight against online piracy.
By so doing, the ability to use blockchain-based approaches for protecting intellectual property would go a long way to mitigate the ramifications of global piracy.