Broadcatching

Broadcatching refers to the use of RSS feeds and BitTorrent peer to peer file sharing as an alternative to distributing multimedia content on the Internet. It is a play on words, in reference to broadcasting.

Broadcatch is a word coined by Fen Labalme in 1983. “Broadcatch connotes a many to one gathering of information, using a network of personalized agents to ideally sift through all available information and return just that which is of possible current interest from trusted, authenticatable sources and in a form and style amenable to the user.”

While potential illegal uses abound (as is the case with any new file-distribution method), this idea lends itself to a great number of ideas that could turn traditional distribution models on their heads, giving smaller operations a new opportunity for content distribution. Similar to Linspire, the system leans on the cost-saving benefit of BitTorrent, where expenses are virtually non-existent; each downloader of a file participates in a portion of the distribution. On the other hand, properly implemented multicasting would provide the same functionality with even smaller amounts of bandwidth.

RSS feeds layered on top keep track of the content, and because BitTorrent does cryptographic hashing of all data, subscribers to the feed can be sure they’re getting what they think they’re getting, whether that winds up being the latest Sopranos episode, or the latest Sveasoft firmware upgrade.

Despite ample discussion, one of the first practical applications of this idea has only surfaced recently. Programmer Andrew Grumet has announced the release of a beta version of an RSS and BitTorrent integration tool for Radio Userland’s news aggregator, available here.

The source of this article is Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.