FastTrack is a peer-to-peer protocol, used by the Kazaa (and variants, Grokster and iMesh) file sharing programs. Morpheus used to use it but has since been kicked off the FastTrack system. A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a network that relies on the computing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than concentrating it in a relatively few servers. ... In computing, a protocol is a convention or standard that controls or enables the connection, communication, and data transfer between two computing endpoints. ... Kazaa Media Desktop (once capitalized as KaZaA, but now usually left as Kazaa) is a controversial peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol. ... Grokster Ltd. ... The correct title of this article is iMesh. ... File sharing is the activity of making files available to other users for download over the Internet, but also over smaller networks. ... Morpheus is the name of a file sharing client for Microsoft Windows, operated by the company StreamCast (formerly called MusicCity), that originally used the OpenNAP peer-to-peer (P2P) platform. ...

As of early 2003, the FastTrack was the most popular file sharing network, being mainly used for the exchange of music mp3 files. It has more users than Napster had at its peak. Popular features of FastTrack are the ability to resume interrupted downloads and to simultaneously download segments of one file from multiple peers. 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... MPEG Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a popular digital audio encoding and lossy compression format invented and standardized in 1991 by a team of engineers working in the framework of the ISO/IEC MPEG audio committee under the chairmanship of Professor Hans Musmann (University of... Second version (revised 2001) of Napster logo: Cat wearing headphones. ...

As of early 2006, the network had approximately 2.7 million concurrent users [1]. 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

History

The FastTrack protocol and Kazaa are the brainchild of Niklas Zennström from Sweden, Jaanus Friis from Denmark and Estonian programming Jaan Tallinn, the same team that created Skype. It was introduced in March 2001 by their Dutch company Consumer Empowerment. It appeared during the end of the first generation of P2P networks – Napster shut down in July of that year. Niklas Zennström Niklas Zennström, born 1966, is a Swedish entrepreneur. ... Skype (IPA pronunciation: , rhymes with type) is a proprietary peer-to-peer Internet telephony (VoIP) network, founded by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the creators of KaZaA and competing against established open VoIP protocols like SIP or H.323. ... Look up March in Wiktionary, the free dictionary March is the third month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Second version (revised 2001) of Napster logo: Cat wearing headphones. ...

As of 2004, three FastTrack-based networks exist, using mutually incompatible versions of the protocol. The most popular clients on each are Kazaa (and its variations), Grokster, and iMesh. References to "the FastTrack network" usually apply only to Kazaa's. 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

For more information about the various lawsuits surrounding Kazaa and Sharman Networks, see Kazaa. Kazaa Media Desktop (once capitalized as KaZaA, but now usually left as Kazaa) is a controversial peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol. ...

Technology

FastTrack is a so-called second generation P2P protocol. It uses supernodes to improve scalability. The supernode functionality is built into the client; if a powerful computer with a fast network connection runs the client software, it will automatically become a supernode, effectively acting as a temporary indexing server for other, slower clients.

In order to be able to initially connect to the network, a list of supernode IP numbers is stored in the program. The client attempts to contact these, and as soon as it finds a working supernode, it requests a list of currently active supernodes, to be used for future connection attempts. The client picks one supernode as its "upstream" and uploads a list of files it intends to share to that supernode. It also sends search requests to this supernode. The supernode communicates with other supernodes in order to satisfy search requests. The client then connects directly to a peer to download the file; this transfer is done using HTTP. An IP address is a unique number, akin to a telephone number, used by machines (usually computers) to refer to each other when sending information through the Internet using the Internet Protocol. ... HTTP (for HyperText Transfer Protocol) is the primary method used to convey information on the World Wide Web. ...

To allow downloading from multiple sources, FastTrack employs the UUHash hashing algorithm. While UUHash allows very large files to be checksummed in a short time, even on slow computers, it also allows for massive corruption of a file to go unnoticed. Many people, as well as the RIAA, have exploited this vulnerability to spread corrupt and fake files on the network. UUHash is a hash algorithm employed by clients on the FastTrack network. ... The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a special interest group representing the U.S. recording industry, and the body responsible for certifying gold and platinum albums and singles in the USA. For more information about sales data see list of best selling albums and list of best selling...

Clients

The FastTrack protocol uses encryption and was not documented by its creators, and the first clients were all closed source software. However, initialization data for the encryption algorithms is sent in the clear and no public key encryption is used, so reverse engineering was made comparatively easy. In 2003, open source programmers succeeded in reverse-engineering the portion of the protocol dealing with client-supernode communication, but the supernode-supernode communication protocol remains largely unknown. In cryptography, encryption is the process of obscuring information to make it unreadable without special knowledge. ... PKC, see PKC (disambiguation) Public-key cryptography is a form of modern cryptography which allows users to communicate securely without previously agreeing on a shared secret key. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ...

The following programs are or have been FastTrack clients:

• Kazaa and variants
• Grokster
• iMesh
• Morpheus, until 2002
• Apollon - A KDE-Based P2P client
• giFT-FastTrack [2] – a giFT plugin
• A program that supports gift is Torrent Searcher [3]
• MLdonkey, a free multi-platform multi-network file sharing client

Kazaa Media Desktop (once capitalized as KaZaA, but now usually left as Kazaa) is a controversial peer-to-peer file sharing application using the FastTrack protocol. ... Grokster Ltd. ... The correct title of this article is iMesh. ... Morpheus is the name of a file sharing client for Microsoft Windows, operated by the company StreamCast (formerly called MusicCity), that originally used the OpenNAP peer-to-peer (P2P) platform. ... The name Apollon could refer to: The ancient Greek god Apollo A defunt Formula One constructor; see Apollon (Formula One) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Look up Gift in Wiktionary, the free dictionary This page is about gifts in the common English-language sense. ... MLdonkey is an open source multi-network peer-to-peer application. ...

External links

• giFT-FastTrack home page
• Documentation of the known parts of the FastTrack protocol, from giFT-FastTrack
• Boardwatch Interview with Niklas Zennstrom, July 17, 2003
• FTWall - A firewalling technique for blocking the fast-track protocol.
• Advanced Peer-Based Technology Business Models. Ghosemajumder, Shuman. MIT Sloan School of Management, 2002.
• Music Downloads: Pirates- or Customers?. Silverthorne, Sean. Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, 2004.

• FastTrack is also a song by Radiohead, it features as a b-side to the Pyramid Song single.
• Fast Track is also an informal English phrase, meaning "the quickest and most direct route

to achievement of a goal, as in competing for professional advancement" (Houghton-Mifflin Company Dictionary) Shuman Ghosemajumder is the co-founder and former CEO of Anadas Consulting, a Canadian software development firm. ... The MIT Sloan School of Management is one of the five schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT Sloan is one of the worlds leading business schools, conducting research and teaching in finance, entrepreneurship, marketing, strategic management, economics, organizational behavior, operations management, supply... Harvard Business School Harvard Business School, also known as HBS, is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University and one of the worlds leading management schools. ... Radiohead are a British alternative rock band from Oxford and nearby Abingdon. ...

• Fast Track is also an IDE/SATA Raid Controller Produced by Promise Technology
• On the Fastrack is a comic strip by Bill Holbrook.