Stefan Mileschin

Ooo ahh it be Argus

A new paper (PDF) published by Microsoft's research department proposes to tackle piracy with a blockchain-based bounty system titled "Argus".

The system allows volunteers to report piracy in exchange for a reward. It uses the Ethereum blockchain and is transparent, practical, and secure, while limiting abusive reports and errors.

Argus is a transparent system built on the Ethereum blockchain that allows people to anonymously report piracy in exchange for a bounty. Pirated content is traced back to the source through a unique watermark that corresponds with a secret code.

When a pirated copy is reported, the status of the source (licensee) is changed to "accused". The system provides an appeal option, but if that fails, the accused status changes to "guilty".

Argus is an open system but there are various safeguards to prevent abuse. Reporting the same pirated work multiple times under different aliases is useless, for example, as that will only reduce the reward.

The system relies on several checks to ensure that the system is open, while avoiding false accusations at the same time. And according to the researchers, the costs of using the blockchain are relatively low.

https://fudzilla.com/news/memory-and...ith-blockchain