Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) is reportedly considering using the Ethereum blockchain to combat internet and software piracy.
In a paper published by the tech giant’s research department, Microsoft said it had been studying a blockchain-based system that will incentivise users to participate and reinforce anti-piracy campaigns.
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The system, named Argus, is also aiming to rely on the transparent nature of blockchain networks in order to provide a trustless incentive mechanism as well as protect the data of users that report piracy.
“Anti-piracy is fundamentally a procedure that relies on collecting data from the open anonymous population, so how to incentivize credible reporting is a question at the centre of the problem… We believe that full transparency of a campaign is necessary to truly incentivize people. It means that every role, e.g., content owner, licensee of the content, or every person in the open population, can understand the mechanism and be assured about its execution without trusting any single role,” the paper said.
Argus is designed to backtrace pirated content to its source using an algorithm that functions in the same manner as a watermark, its incentive system is also designed to prevent repeated reporting of pirated content by the same user.
The new system will use the Ethereum blockchain network as the foundation of its network, similar to many other blockchain-based applications which in turn have fuelled Ethereum’s growth and the value of its cryptocurrency.
In late morning trading in London on Monday, Ethereum was up 4.1% in the last 24 hours at US$3,295, while Microsoft shares were down 0.2% at US$292.28 in pre-market deals on Wall Street.