Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#1

Post by sylwester » Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 9:18 AM UTC

Recently I was researching about DHTs and developed a DHT Sniffer in Go which connects to some known DHT Routers and sniffs all the annoucements. I've quickly added ZincSearch and it is now basically a search engine which can search for hashes, name or files contained in the torrents. It is able to index around 5-10k annoucements per second, so the index grows quite fast.

Now, I am thinking about releasing it as open-source for others to study, but not sure if I should, because it might be used for "evil".

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#2

Post by compressedgas » Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 9:24 AM UTC

Consider that such already is available as open source in Go even.

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#3

Post by navjack27 » Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 9:28 AM UTC

That would be very useful... Just release the code and building instructions.

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#4

Post by 2Gkashmiri » Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 9:59 AM UTC

yes please. you are not responsible for any "Evil" users of the software might do. This is not even about enabling bad stuff, this is just natural progression of technology.

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#5

Post by rrwo » Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 10:08 AM UTC

2Gkashmiri wrote: post #4

yes please. you are not responsible for any "Evil" users of the software might do. This is not even about enabling bad stuff, this is just natural progression of technology.

Nuclear and biological weapons are also part of the "natural progression of technology" but it's widely agreed that they shouldn't be released to anybody and everybody, and the people distributing those technologies have a moral responsibility.

If you think your software would be of more use to "evil" than not, then don't release it widely.

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#6

Post by qualudeheart » Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 10:43 AM UTC

Which evil usages are you concerned about? I think it would be very useful for the public.

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#7

Post by 0dayz » Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 11:08 AM UTC

I would recommend writing down the worst and best case scenarios that could happen with your software, then determine if you notice either that through severity or quantity the software outweighs the positives, don't release it.

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#8

Post by tmtvl » Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 11:10 AM UTC

Just AGPL it, I hear it's an effective ward against Alphabet.

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#9

Post by brobinson » Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 11:23 AM UTC

Let it rip. DHT has been around for so long now that whatever bad actors/evil use cases you're imagining have already happened. It sounds like a cool project, and I'd be interested to see it.

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#10

Post by loa_in_ » Sun, Oct 23, 2022, 11:34 AM UTC

rrwo wrote: post #5

2Gkashmiri wrote: post #4

yes please. you are not responsible for any "Evil" users of the software might do. This is not even about enabling bad stuff, this is just natural progression of technology.

Nuclear and biological weapons are also part of the "natural progression of technology" but it's widely agreed that they shouldn't be released to anybody and everybody, and the people distributing those technologies have a moral responsibility. If you think your software would be of more use to "evil" than not, then don't release it widely.

Yeah, it is everyone's moral responsibility to consider effects of our actions as far as we're able to.