System and method for monitoring bittorrent content and the computers that share bittorrent content

Abstract

In one embodiment, one or more BitTorrent management pages, such as an index site or a Rich Site Summary (RSS) feed, may be scanned for indicia of a torrent file that is associated with one or more search terms. After the torrent file is located, information associated with the torrent file may be utilized to initiate the downloading of one or more portions of the content indicated by the torrent file over a network from swarm computers utilizing a BitTorrent Protocol. As the content is being downloaded from the swarm computers, identification information associated with each swarm computer may be obtained. Data associated with the torrent file and the identification information may be stored at a database. Thereafter, a client may search the database to locate one or more swarm computers that may be sharing, for example, unauthorized or illegal information.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for monitoring a network, the system comprising:
 one or more network interfaces connected to communicate data over the network;   a processor coupled to the network interfaces and adapted to execute one or more processes; and   a memory configured to store a process executable by the processor, the process when executed operable to:
 scan a BitTorrent management page for indicia of a torrent file associated with one or more search terms, wherein the BiTorrent management page is a type of BitTorrent management page of a plurality of types of BitTorrent management pages, 
 initiate download of one or more portions of content associated with the torrent file from one or more swarm computers over the network, 
 obtain identification information associated with the one or more swarm computers, and 
 store selected torrent information associated with the torrent file and the identification information associated with the one or more swarm computers on one or more storage devices. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the type of the BitTorrent management page is an index site. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the type of the BitTorrent management page is a Rich Site Summary (RSS). 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the BitTorrent management page is associated with a Peer-to-Peer network. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the indicia is a key associated with the torrent file. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5  wherein the process when executed is further operable to:
 utilize the key to download the torrent file from a decentralized network. 
 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6  wherein the decentralized network is a Distributed Hash Table network. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the process when executed it further operable to:
 cross-compare the selected torrent information associated with the torrent file and the identification information associated with the one or more swarm computers with other information and other identification information obtained from scanning a Peer-to-Peer network utilizing the one or more search terms. 
 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the one or more swarm computers includes at least one of a leecher and a seeder. 
     
     
         10 . A system comprising:
 a database configured to store information associated with each of one or more torrent files, wherein the information includes (1) indicia identifying the one or more torrent files and (2) swarm identification information identifying at least one of a leecher requesting to download the torrent file and a seeder sharing the torrent file, and wherein the information is obtained based on a scan of a BitTorrent management page for the indicia identifying the one or more torrent files and wherein the BiTorrent management page is a type of BitTorrent management page of a plurality of types of BitTorrent management pages; and   a processor configured to:
 receive one or more search terms for a particular torrent file from a client over a computer network, 
 compare the one or more search terms with the indicia associated with the one or more torrent files stored in the database and the identification information, and 
 in response to a match, return, over the computer network, matching identification information associated with one or more torrent files and matching swarm identification information associated with one or more swarm computers. 
   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the type of BitTorrent management page is an index site. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the type of BitTorrent management page is a Rich Site Summary (RSS). 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the at least one BitTorrent management page is associated with a Peer-to-Peer network. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the torrent file is associated with a key hosted by the BitTorrent management page. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14  wherein the processor is further configured to:
 utilize the key to download a torrent file from a decentralized network. 
 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15  wherein the decentralized network is a Distributed Hash Table network. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15  wherein the decentralized network is a Peer Exchange network. 
     
     
         18 . A method comprising:
 scanning a BitTorrent management page for indicia of a torrent file, wherein the BiTorrent management page is a type of BitTorrent management page of a plurality of types of BitTorrent management pages;   initiating download of one or more portions of content associated with the torrent file from one or more swarm computers over the network;   obtaining identification information associated with the one or more swarm computers; and   storing selected torrent information associated with the torrent file and the identification information associated with the one or more swarm computers on one or more storage devices.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the type of BitTorrent management page is an index site. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18  wherein the type of BitTorrent management page is a Rich Site Summary (RSS).