Question

Describe Fasttrack(Kazaa, Kazaalite, Grokster) peer-to-peer in depth

Answer 1

FastTrack is a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) protocol that is used by multiple programs or application software such as MLDonkey and XNap. Grokster, Kazaa, Kazaa Lite, and Trustyfiles are the defunct or non-functioning clients. File sharing programs such as the Grokster, Kazaa, iMesh, and Morpheus use the FastTrack P2P protocol. The file-sharing network protocol was the most popular one in 2003. It was primarily used to exchange music mp3 files. Back then in 2003, there were about 2.4 million concurrent users in the FastTrack network. Three FastTrack-based networks exist that use mutually incompatible versions of the protocol with each having the most popular clients like Kazaa and its variations such as Kazaa Lite, Grokster, and iMesh.

FastTrack's technology:
It uses supernodes for improving scalability. It employs the UUHash hashing algorithm so downloading can happen from multiple sources. The protocol uses an encryption mechanism and the creators did not document it. All closed source software was its first client. But, for the encryption algorithms, initialization data is sent in the clear, and there is no public-key encryption that is used. Hence, reverse engineering was easy. Open-source programmers successfully reverse-engineered the portion of the protocol dealing with client-supernode communication. However, the supernode-supernode communication protocol remains unknown.

Programs that have been and still are FastTrack clients:
* Kazaa and variants such as Kazaa Lite.
* KCeasy
* Grokster
* iMesh
* Morpheus
* The KDE-based Apollon.
* giFT-FastTrack, which is a giFT plugin.
* MLDonkey, which is a free multi-network, multi-platform file sharing client.

Kazaa:
Kazaa Media Desktop was a P2P file-sharing application that used the FastTrack protocol. It was used for exchanging MP3 music files and other file types, like videos, applications, and documents all, over the public Internet. The Kazaa Media Desktop client was available to be downloaded for free. The Kazaa website became inactive by August 2012.

The client's Stable release was 3.2.7 in 2006. It runs on Microsoft Windows Operating System (OS). It is proprietary licensed client software. Skype was based on Kazaa's Peer-to-Peer backend, letting users for making a call directly connecting them with each other.

Kazaa was identified as a spyware application by StopBadware.org in 2006, identifying components such as Cydoor spyware, B3D adware, Altnet adware, the best offers adware, InstaFinder hijacker, TopSearch adware, RX Toolbar spyware, and New.net hijacker.

Kazaa Lite:
It was the Kazaa Media Desktop application's unauthorized modification. It excluded spyware, malware, and adware. It slightly extended functionality and additional features. It was available for free. It was widely used similar to the official Kazaa client. It connected to the same FastTrack network. It let to exchange files with all Kazaa users. Kazaa Lite is a Kazaa's third-party modification. It is a P2P file-sharing computer program. Third-party programmers created it modifying the original Kazaa application's binary. Its different upgrades or versions were Kazaa Lite, K++, and K-Lite.

Grokster:
A privately owned software company called Grokster Ltd. created the Grokster P2P file-sharing client. It used the FastTrack protocol. It was similar to Kazaa in its look and feel. It is a second-generation peer-to-peer file sharing program. Grokster permitted all users for trading files directly amongst themselves, with no transactions ever passing through a centralized server. 90% of the files that were shared on Grokster were illegally downloaded. Supreme court decision led to its shutdown and it closed its site.