Abstract
One-Click Hosters (OCHs) such as Rapidshare and now defunct Megaupload are popular services where users can upload and store large files. Uploaders can then share the files with friends or make them publicly available by publishing the download links in separate directories, so-called direct download or streaming sites. While OCHs have legitimate use cases, they are also frequently used to distribute pirated content. Many OCHs operate affiliate programmes to financially reward the uploaders of popular files. These affiliate programmes are controversial for allegedly financing piracy, and they were prominently cited in the criminal indictment that lead to the shutdown of Megaupload, once among the world’s 100 largest web sites. In this paper, we provide insights into how much money uploaders of pirated content could earn on a range of direct download and streaming sites. While the potential earnings of a few uploaders are non-negligible, for most uploaders these amounts are so low that they cannot rationally explain profit-oriented behaviour.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Antoniades, D., Markatos, E., Dovrolis, C.: One-click hosting services: A file-sharing hideout. In: Proc. IMC 2009 (November 2009)
Cuevas, R., Kryczka, M., Cuevas, A., Kaune, S., Guerrero, C., Rejaie, R.: Is content publishing in BitTorrent altruistic or profit-driven? In: Proc. Co-NEXT 2010 (November 2010)
Howe, J.: The shadow Internet. Wired 13(01) (January 2005)
Jelveh, Z., Ross, K.: Profiting from piracy: A preliminary analysis of the economics of the cyberlocker ecosystem. Tech. rep., NYU-Poly, Brooklyn, USA (January 2012)
Karaganis, J.: Meganomics: The future of “follow-the-money” copyright enforcement (January 2012), http://torrentfreak.com/meganomics-the-future-of-follow-the-money-copyright-enforcement-120124/
Mahanti, A., Williamson, C., Carlsson, N., Arlitt, M.: Characterizing the file hosting ecosystem: A view from the edge. In: Proc. IFIP PERFORMANCE (October 2011)
McCandless, D.: Warez world. Telepolis (July 2001)
Rehn, A.: The politics of contraband: The honor economies of the warez scene. Journal of Socio-Economics 33(3), 359–374 (2004)
Sanjuàs-Cuxart, J., Barlet-Ros, P., Solé-Pareta, J.: Measurement based analysis of one-click file hosting services. Journal of Network and Systems Management (May 2011)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lauinger, T., Kirda, E., Michiardi, P. (2012). Paying for Piracy? An Analysis of One-Click Hosters’ Controversial Reward Schemes. In: Balzarotti, D., Stolfo, S.J., Cova, M. (eds) Research in Attacks, Intrusions, and Defenses. RAID 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7462. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33338-5_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33338-5_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-33337-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-33338-5
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)