CYBERLINKS
Free riders who don't share in the digital community

By Patti Hartigan, Globe Staff, 8/25/2000

You've heard that the entertainment industry is all atwitter over Napster and Gnutella and Scour Exchange, the so-called peer-to-peer file-sharing networks that allow folks to swap music and video files with millions of their closest friends. You've heard that people are trading like crazy in this benevolent digital community where the motto is, ''My CD is your CD.''

Well, here's something you may not have heard. The systems are full of free riders who don't like to share.

That's right. According to a recent study, 70 percent of Gnutella users take files from others but don't give away any of their own. Apparently, some people weren't listening that day in the sandbox when the teacher taught all the good little boys and girls the virtues of sharing. Or perhaps they misunderstood the immortal words of Polonius - ''Neither a borrower nor a lender be'' - and thought he said, ''To take is human, but to give endangers your hard drive.'' Or something like that.

At any rate, it really shouldn't come as any surprise that Napster and Gnutella are full of freeloaders. Human nature is no different on the Internet than it is in real life - despite all that idealistic chatter about the great digital democracy. It's why utopian communities never work: Some folks bear the brunt of the load, while everybody else coasts. When was the last time you threw a potluck dinner, and a few people brought lobster and caviar while others showed up with the gastronomic equivalent of a can of soup (or empty-handed, even worse)?

The authors of the Gnutella study call this phenomenon the ''tragedy of the digital commons'' and suggest that it could lead to the collapse of the file-sharing craze. ''The social dilemma rears its ugly head,'' says Bernardo A. Huberman, co-author of the study and a research fellow at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. He and his colleague, Eytan Adar, monitored Gnutella for 24 hours earlier this month and discovered two different kinds of free riders: those who don't share at all and those who share undesirable files that nobody ever downloads (like the people who donate junk to the local library and keep all the good books for themselves).

The study also claims that the top 1 percent of Gnutella users contribute 40 percent of the total files shared, and the top 20 percent of users provide 98 percent of all files traded. Gnutella was designed as an alternative to Napster, which is being sued by the Recording Industry Association of America for copyright infringement. Unlike Napster, Gnutella does not have a central server; the idea is that if there is no central repository, there is no one to sue. But when a few users are responsible for the bulk of the shared files, those traders become vulnerable, the study claims. ''If you hide in a crowd and you are among the 17 people wearing a red jacket, everyone will notice,'' says Huberman.

So what to do? Teach the kids how to share? Watch the lawyers get richer? Huberman, for one, doesn't think file-sharing networks will grow as fast as the entertainment industry fears - unless someone develops an incentive to encourage people to cooperate. One thing's for sure. Peer pressure alone doesn't work. When you opt out of sharing on Scour Exchange, a window pops up with this message: ''Sharing your files helps the community. Are you sure you want to disable file sharing?'' According to an unofficial study I conducted among friends, the answer is usually yes.

Huberman himself is a case in point. He says he only used Napster once, when he tried unsuccessfully to locate a certain Schumann quartet. Did he share his files? ''No,'' he admits, laughing. ''I was a free rider as well, I guess - but I was just testing the system.'' That's what they all say.

Roger, we hardly knew ye.

The fugitive hiding out in Berlin was nabbed Monday, only a week after he went underground. The contestant in an interactive game was apprehended after bounty hunters gleaned information about him on the game's Web site, www.RealityRun.com.

And guess what? Roger isn't really Roger. He says he is a ''normal Dutch guy,'' but he doesn't live in Amsterdam. He lives near Frankfurt and speaks fluent German, even though the game's organizers claimed that his German was nicht sehr gut. Disinformation on the Internet? Shocking!

Don't expect Roger to divulge his real name now. ''I signed a contract to keep my mouth shut,'' he says. He's now working as a consultant to the game's organizers, who plan to repeat the manhunt in several cities before a final Reality Run in New York next year. As for his sudden celebrity, Roger says he was touched by conversations in the Reality Run chat rooms. ''People said, `I love you.' It was incredible. It wasn't love in the McDonald's way. It was real.'' Really. Roger. Over and out.

Oh, the irony.

A few months ago, the Web animation company Camp Chaos produced an animated series poking fun of the recording industry's response to Napster. That series got the attention of executives at Warner Bros. Records, who hired the firm to produce a series for its annual meeting. In the new cartoon, record execs Howie Klein and Phil Q hire Tony Soprano to send Napster for a ride down the river.

Everything was fine until Sunday, when Camp Chaos posted the series on its Web site; suddenly it wasn't a laughing matter. Warner Bros. demanded that the files be taken down. Camp Chaos president Bob Cesca says he thought he had negotiated a lower fee in order to maintain the rights for Web distribution. The Warner Bros. folks contend that the films were commissioned for private viewing only. Cesca complied: ''I'm not into the idea of getting into a battle with Warner Bros.,'' he says.

But it's already too late. Thousands of people have already downloaded the first two films, and they're being traded on Scour Exchange and Gnutella. Cesna isn't sure if he will be able to post the rest of the series, though, which leaves a lot of unanswered questions. Will Tony nab Napster? Will Phil Q and Howie K defend their honor? And what about all those free riders? Will they learn to share or will the network implode?

As they say in Hollywood, To Be Continued.

Note to readers: Cyberlinks will go on hiatus for a few months; it will be back next year.

This story ran on page C9 of the Boston Globe on 8/25/2000.
© Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.