Welcome,

This repository was created in 2012 to contribute to debate around the PirateBay Website blockade in the Netherlands. The code allowed me to monitor bittorrent swarms, collect IP addresses and compare distributions in different ISPs. This in turn allowed me to do a before-after analysis, which led to the conclusion that the website blockade does not have any effect on bittorrent downloading behavior. This was later confirmed with independent panel research.

This research was possible because BitTorrent is a very transparent protocol. When you're downloading, you expose a lot of information about yourself and your peers: https://www.1sand0s.nl/2014/04/what-you-expose-when-downloading-a-torrent/

This code repository is now archived and preserved for informational use only. There are several security issues in its dependencies.

This code has led to several academic publications about the blockade of the Pirate Bay website in The Netherlands:

• J. Poort, J. Leenheer, J. van der Ham, C. Dumitru (2014). Baywatch- Two approaches to measure the effects of blocking access to The Pirate Bay. Telecommunications Policy. https://jvdham.nl/publication/poort-2014-408861/

• J. Poort, J. Leenheer, J. van der Ham, C. Dumitru (2013). Baywatch- two approaches to measure the effects of blocking access to The Pirate Bay. Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam/CentERdata, Tilburg University/System and Network Engineering, University of Amsterdam. https://jvdham.nl/publication/poort-2013-398317/

• J. van der Ham, H. Rood, C. Dumitru, R. Koning, N. Sijm, C. de Laat (2012). Review en herhaling BREIN steekproeven 7–9 april 2012. System and Network Engineering, Universiteit van Amsterdam. https://jvdham.nl/publication/vanderham-2012-369914/

Later this research led me to a joint work on the ethics of collecting IP addresses of bittorrent downloaders in this context:

• A. Wynsberghe, J. van der Ham (2014). _Ethical Considerations of Using Information Obtained from Online File Sharing Sites – the Case of the Piratebay. _ETHICOMP2014. https://jvdham.nl/publication/wynsberghe-2014-417758/

• A. van Wynsberghe, J. van der Ham (2015). Ethical considerations of using information obtained from online file sharing sites – the case of the Piratebay. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, special issue 20 years of ETHICOMP.

The blockade is currently (2023) still in effect, and it seems the court procedures have resulted in a final verdict in 2020: https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/#!/details?id=ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2020:1421