A document published by Microsoft’s research department proposes combating piracy with a blockchain-based reward system called Argus. It will allow users to report cases of illegal content use in exchange for monetary rewards. As you know, Microsoft has vast experience in fighting piracy. The company is part of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), which monitors various software copyright infringements both online and offline. BSA also offers cash rewards, however, according to Microsoft, it is not effective enough.
An article published by the Redmond giant talks about a completely transparent anti-piracy campaign incentive system built on the Ethereum blockchain that allows people to anonymously report piracy. Pirated content is traced back to its source using a unique watermark that matches the secret code. When a pirated copy of a particular software is reported, the source is assigned the “accused” status. The system provides for the possibility of appealing the incident, and if this fails, the status of the accused is changed to “guilty”.
Despite its openness, Argus has a variety of safeguards against abuse. For example, a user may repeatedly report the same piracy case under different pseudonyms, but this will only diminish the reward. The system carries out several checks to avoid false accusations, and the applied watermarking technology is protected from unauthorized access. At the same time, the cost of using the blockchain is relatively low.
“Given the safety and practicality of Argus, we hope that real anti-piracy campaigns will be truly effective by moving to a fully transparent incentive mechanism,” the researchers said.
It’s unclear if Microsoft plans to test the system in real-world conditions. In theory, it can work not only with software, but also with various multimedia content. It is worth noting that this idea is not new, many years ago a similar solution was proposed by the South African company Custos. A Microsoft study notes that Argus outperforms Custos in assessing the severity of piracy. The Argus system and documentation will be presented at the International Symposium on Reliable Distributed Systems, which will be held at the end of September.
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