API and database access
It’s available. We can provide access to the database for research purposes only. We will not reveal any of our user’s personal data.
What we have
This site illustrates the possibilities. It collects information from roughly 4%-6% of all torrent downloads all over the world. About 50% of all downloads made through private trackers serving local networks. About half of the rest are semi-private. In spite of having open registration, there are many other restrictions. So I’d say we "see" about 20% of all public tracker downloads.
What we can do
We can see more. We can gather information from private torrent networks as well. That would be more expensive, but it’s doable. It looks like we can track any download with almost 100% probability.
On other hand, studying torrent protocols has two sides. We found a very simple way to make peer-to-peer downloads absolutely untraceable. The general idea is somewhat similar to what BitCoins does. That would be a nightmare for the recording industry. Unfortunately, we see no other application of such a technology.
We are also trying to apply this database to advertising. About 10% of all online shoppers, in the US, are torrent users as well. Knowing what they download might be useful market research.
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