BitTorrent as HTTP Proxy Implementation
There has been speculation around and calls for BitTorrent implementation in Itunes. While that is a laudible idea and implementing it would certainly make it easier for podcasters to publish without great bandwidth expense, I propose an alternative approach with benefits accruing to end users, ISPs who provide proxy servers, corporations, etc.
Consider a proxy server that uses BitTorrent as its cache. When it receives a request for a resource, one of the ways it retrieves the resource is through a BitTorrent network. If it is unable to find the resource in the BitTorrent network, it automatically creates a BitTorrent once the resource is downloaded via HTTP, and publishes it to a network of similar proxies that follow a convention of mapping URIs to BitTorrents.
Proxies are configured to keep their copy of any torrent resource they download alive (i.e. as seeders) for a long time if they are small and a shorter time if they are large. I am sure all sorts of considerations must be made for security and to avoid bandwidth costs (i.e. by limiting total uploads to 20 kbps a second when seeding).
These proxies would primarily be installed on home computers, but also on corporate proxies, caching proxies provided by ISPs, and reverse proxies for content providers who want to lower their bandwidth charges.
The challenge for home users is installing a proxy server and getting their main apps (browser, aggregator, podcatcher) configured to use it.
This may not be an elegant solution for distributed proxy caching, or even a good one, but it’s good enough and better than the status quo. We wouldn’t have to wait so long for our podcasts to load.
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