Bitzi
Encyclopedia
Bitzi is a website where volunteers share reports about any kind of digital file, with identifying metadata
, commentary, and other ratings.
Information contributed and rated by volunteers is compiled into the Bitpedia data set and reference work, described by Bitzi as a "digital media encyclopedia". The Bitpedia is published through the Bitzi website and web services under an open content
license (Creative Commons
Attribution - Share Alike 2.0).
Founded by Gordon Mohr with Mike Linksvayer
the Bitzi service launched in 2001 and its standards and services have been adopted by a number of popular peer-to-peer file sharing systems. Bitzi is sponsored by a metadata publishing company of the same name based in San Francisco
.
to their contents, which gives a distinct "fingerprint" for each file. Bitzi calls the combination of standard hash functions used by its system "bitprints." An open source downloadable tool, the Bitcollider, calculates file hashes and extracts intrinsic metadata from common file media types to assist user contributions.
Bitzi cross-references multiple Uniform Resource Identifier
s (URIs) for files, primarily URIs used by peer-to-peer file-sharing networks and/or clients:
Other file-specific metadata is also collected, such as file size, alternate filenames, audio/video encoding details, user ratings, and free-form comments or descriptions. Users can displace flawed information with new contributions.
Data about specific files can also be programmatically retrieved via a REST
-style XML web service.
file sharing sphere, including the Magnet URI scheme and Tiger tree hash
es.
Many peer-to-peer file sharing programs, including LimeWire
/Frostwire
, older Bearshare
, and Shareaza
, offer an option to look up local files or network search results at Bitzi for more information about their contents or quality.
As peer-to-peer sharing networks are often plagued by mislabelled or corrupt files, Bitzi can sometimes provide additional confidence that a file is as expected, before a user begins a long download. In such a role, Bitzi serves to ameliorate some common attacks on peer-to-peer networks.
Metadata
The term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
, commentary, and other ratings.
Information contributed and rated by volunteers is compiled into the Bitpedia data set and reference work, described by Bitzi as a "digital media encyclopedia". The Bitpedia is published through the Bitzi website and web services under an open content
Open content
Open content or OpenContent is a neologism coined by David Wiley in 1998 which describes a creative work that others can copy or modify. The term evokes open source, which is a related concept in software....
license (Creative Commons
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
Attribution - Share Alike 2.0).
Founded by Gordon Mohr with Mike Linksvayer
Mike Linksvayer
Mike Linksvayer is vice president of Creative Commons.Linksvayer holds a B.A. in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has experience as a software developer and consultant. He joined Creative Commons as Chief technical officer in April 2003, and held that position until...
the Bitzi service launched in 2001 and its standards and services have been adopted by a number of popular peer-to-peer file sharing systems. Bitzi is sponsored by a metadata publishing company of the same name based in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
.
Technology
At Bitzi, files are identified by applying a strong hash functionHash function
A hash function is any algorithm or subroutine that maps large data sets to smaller data sets, called keys. For example, a single integer can serve as an index to an array...
to their contents, which gives a distinct "fingerprint" for each file. Bitzi calls the combination of standard hash functions used by its system "bitprints." An open source downloadable tool, the Bitcollider, calculates file hashes and extracts intrinsic metadata from common file media types to assist user contributions.
Bitzi cross-references multiple Uniform Resource Identifier
Uniform Resource Identifier
In computing, a uniform resource identifier is a string of characters used to identify a name or a resource on the Internet. Such identification enables interaction with representations of the resource over a network using specific protocols...
s (URIs) for files, primarily URIs used by peer-to-peer file-sharing networks and/or clients:
- sha1:/magnet: (GnutellaGnutellaGnutella is a large peer-to-peer network which, at the time of its creation, was the first decentralized peer-to-peer network of its kind, leading to other, later networks adopting the model...
) - kzhash: (GroksterGroksterGrokster Ltd. was a privately owned software company based in Nevis, West Indies that created the Grokster peer-to-peer file-sharing client in 2001 that utilized the FastTrack protocol. Grokster Ltd. was rendered extinct in late 2005 by the United States Supreme Court's decision in MGM Studios,...
) - tree:tiger:Hash treeIn cryptography and computer science Hash trees or Merkle trees are a type of data structure which contains a tree of summary information about a larger piece of data – for instance a file – used to verify its contents. Hash trees are a combination of hash lists and hash chaining, which in turn are...
(DC++DC++DC++ is a free and open-source, peer-to-peer file-sharing client that can be used to connect to the Direct Connect network or to the ADC protocol...
, ShareazaShareazaShareaza is a peer-to-peer file sharing client running under Microsoft Windows which supports the gnutella, Gnutella2 , eDonkey, BitTorrent, FTP, HTTP and HTTPS network protocols and handles magnet links, ed2k links, and the now deprecated gnutella and Piolet links...
). - ed2k: (eDonkey2000EDonkey2000eDonkey2000 was a peer-to-peer file sharing application developed by US company MetaMachine, using the Multisource File Transfer Protocol...
, eMuleEMuleeMule is a free peer-to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows. Started in May 2002 as an alternative to eDonkey2000, eMule now connects to both the eDonkey network and the Kad network...
, OverNetOvernetOvernet was a decentralized peer-to-peer computer network, usually used for sharing large files . Overnet implements the Kademlia algorithm. In late 2006, Overnet and all Overnet-owned resources were taken down as a result of legal actions from the RIAA and others...
)
Other file-specific metadata is also collected, such as file size, alternate filenames, audio/video encoding details, user ratings, and free-form comments or descriptions. Users can displace flawed information with new contributions.
Data about specific files can also be programmatically retrieved via a REST
Representational State Transfer
Representational state transfer is a style of software architecture for distributed hypermedia systems such as the World Wide Web. The term representational state transfer was introduced and defined in 2000 by Roy Fielding in his doctoral dissertation...
-style XML web service.
Relationship to peer-to-peer networks
Bitzi originated several popular standards in the peer-to-peerPeer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
file sharing sphere, including the Magnet URI scheme and Tiger tree hash
Hash tree
In cryptography and computer science Hash trees or Merkle trees are a type of data structure which contains a tree of summary information about a larger piece of data – for instance a file – used to verify its contents. Hash trees are a combination of hash lists and hash chaining, which in turn are...
es.
Many peer-to-peer file sharing programs, including LimeWire
LimeWire
LimeWire is a free peer-to-peer file sharing client program that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and other operating systems supported by the Java software platform. LimeWire uses the gnutella network as well as the BitTorrent protocol. A free software version and a purchasable "enhanced"...
/Frostwire
FrostWire
FrostWire is a free, open source BitTorrent client first released in September 2004, as a fork of LimeWire. It was initially very similar to LimeWire in appearance and functionality, but over time developers added more features, including BitTorrent support. In version 5, Gnutella support was...
, older Bearshare
BearShare
BearShare is a peer-to-peer file sharing application originally created by Free Peers, Inc. for Microsoft Windows, and now sold by MusicLab, LLC .- History :...
, and Shareaza
Shareaza
Shareaza is a peer-to-peer file sharing client running under Microsoft Windows which supports the gnutella, Gnutella2 , eDonkey, BitTorrent, FTP, HTTP and HTTPS network protocols and handles magnet links, ed2k links, and the now deprecated gnutella and Piolet links...
, offer an option to look up local files or network search results at Bitzi for more information about their contents or quality.
As peer-to-peer sharing networks are often plagued by mislabelled or corrupt files, Bitzi can sometimes provide additional confidence that a file is as expected, before a user begins a long download. In such a role, Bitzi serves to ameliorate some common attacks on peer-to-peer networks.
External links
- The bitzi.org website
- List of applications using Bitzi
- Bitcollider project at Sourceforge