Blubster decentralizes network

Cyberbiz Brief

By DAVID BLOOM

This article was corrected on July 7, 2003.

Music-swapping service Blubster has relaunched with a new network structure it says will complicate efforts by Hollywood and the music industry to track down users.

The decentralized structure gives users private, anonymous accounts and also removes any direct connection between a file and the person sending or receiving it, making it harder to track down heavy users. Execs at Blubster owner Optisoft S.L. said Version 2.5 was a direct response to the recent court decision forcing Verizon to divulge to the RIAA the names of customers who were heavy users of music-swapping services believed to be used for piracy.

It's the latest round in a Darwinian process of evolution and counter-evolution between content creators and supporters of peer-to-peer networks used to swap content, much of it illegally copied. Optisoft, a Spanish company, said Blubster has 10 million users worldwide.