Distributed systems and natural disasters: BitTorrent as a global witness

Zachary S. Bischof; John S. Otto; Fabian E Bustamante

doi:10.1145/2079360.2079364

Distributed systems and natural disasters: BitTorrent as a global witness

Zachary S. Bischof^*, John S. Otto, Fabian E Bustamante

^*Corresponding author for this work

Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Peer-to-peer (P2P) systems represent some of the largest distributed systems in today's Internet. Among P2P systems, BitTorrent is the most popular, potentially accounting for 20 - 50% of P2P file-sharing traffic. In this paper, we argue that this popularity can be leveraged to monitor the impact of natural disasters and political unrest on the Internet. We focus our analysis on the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and use a view from BitTorrent to show that it is possible to identify specific regions and network links where Internet usage and connectivity were most affected.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the Special Workshop on Internet and Disasters, SWID'11
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2079360.2079364
State	Published - Dec 1 2011
Event	Special Workshop on Internet and Disasters, SWID'11 - Tokyo, Japan Duration: Dec 6 2011 → Dec 9 2011

Other

Other	Special Workshop on Internet and Disasters, SWID'11
Country/Territory	Japan
City	Tokyo
Period	12/6/11 → 12/9/11

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Computer Networks and Communications

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10.1145/2079360.2079364

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title = "Distributed systems and natural disasters: BitTorrent as a global witness",

abstract = "Peer-to-peer (P2P) systems represent some of the largest distributed systems in today's Internet. Among P2P systems, BitTorrent is the most popular, potentially accounting for 20 - 50% of P2P file-sharing traffic. In this paper, we argue that this popularity can be leveraged to monitor the impact of natural disasters and political unrest on the Internet. We focus our analysis on the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and use a view from BitTorrent to show that it is possible to identify specific regions and network links where Internet usage and connectivity were most affected.",

author = "Bischof, {Zachary S.} and Otto, {John S.} and Bustamante, {Fabian E}",

year = "2011",

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doi = "10.1145/2079360.2079364",

language = "English (US)",

isbn = "9781450310444",

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T1 - Distributed systems and natural disasters

T2 - Special Workshop on Internet and Disasters, SWID'11

AU - Bischof, Zachary S.

AU - Otto, John S.

AU - Bustamante, Fabian E

PY - 2011/12/1

Y1 - 2011/12/1

N2 - Peer-to-peer (P2P) systems represent some of the largest distributed systems in today's Internet. Among P2P systems, BitTorrent is the most popular, potentially accounting for 20 - 50% of P2P file-sharing traffic. In this paper, we argue that this popularity can be leveraged to monitor the impact of natural disasters and political unrest on the Internet. We focus our analysis on the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and use a view from BitTorrent to show that it is possible to identify specific regions and network links where Internet usage and connectivity were most affected.

AB - Peer-to-peer (P2P) systems represent some of the largest distributed systems in today's Internet. Among P2P systems, BitTorrent is the most popular, potentially accounting for 20 - 50% of P2P file-sharing traffic. In this paper, we argue that this popularity can be leveraged to monitor the impact of natural disasters and political unrest on the Internet. We focus our analysis on the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and use a view from BitTorrent to show that it is possible to identify specific regions and network links where Internet usage and connectivity were most affected.

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DO - 10.1145/2079360.2079364

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:84855709344

SN - 9781450310444

BT - Proceedings of the Special Workshop on Internet and Disasters, SWID'11

Y2 - 6 December 2011 through 9 December 2011

ER -

Distributed systems and natural disasters: BitTorrent as a global witness

Abstract

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