You might have seen over the weekend that Dropbox is capable of telling whether you ’re sharing copyrighted files over its cloud service — without even actually looking at your stuff . But in fact , it ’s been capable to do that for eld .
Atweet this weekend from Darrell Whitelawspoke of a DMCA takedown in his personal folders on Dropbox , set off outrage . But the takedown is a event of computer software that the cloud avail has beenusing for at last two days .
The land site uses a technique known as “ file hashing against a black book ” to halt pre - selected files from being shared person - to - soul over its waiter . In many ways , it ’s kinda peachy ; it avoids Dropbox have in worry with the Feds , and never actually interrogate your data file , so it does n’t fall foul of violating its anti - infringement insurance either .
How does it work ? Well , Dropbox uses hashing — a simple algorithmic peter which maps data of arbitrary duration to information of a fixed length — to produce a singular identifier for every file you upload ( it also then cypher your file so others ca n’t read them ) . The hashish is unique to that peculiar filing cabinet .
But when DMCA charge are broadcast Dropbox ’s way — by record labels or content producers or whoever else — the files to which they relate are also hashed . If you ’ve been uploading the exact same files that Dropbox has have a ill about , Dropbox will match its hash to one on its list , and stop your sharing it . Like Dropbox excuse on its land site :
“ There have been some questions around how we handle copyright placard . We sometimes experience DMCA notices to take away links on copyright ground . When we receive these , we process them according to the law and handicap the identified link . We have an automated scheme that then keep other users from sharing the identical material using another Dropbox link . This is done by compare file hashes . We do n’t look at the file in your private folders and are committed to keeping your clobber safe . ”
unsubdivided , effectual , and all done without looking at a single one of your files . Not ideal if you happen to paddle in the casual illicit download , but at least Dropbox is n’t rifling through all of your other stuff to feel it . [ Engadget ]
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