GigaTribe

Last updated
Original author(s) GigaTribe company
Initial release2005
Stable release
3.06.013 / Feb 19, 2024
Operating system Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8/ Mac/ Linux
Size ~50.6 Mb
Available in(fr), (en), (de), (es), (it), (pt)
Type Friend-to-friend peer-to-peer file sharing
Website www.gigatribe.com

GigaTribe is a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. Originally developed in France (2005), its American version was launched in November 2008. It offers free and paid versions; with the paid version users may restrict access to their encrypted files to a group of trusted friends. [1]

Contents

In 2010, a U.S. federal judge ruled that reasonable expectation of privacy does not extend to GigaTribe file-sharing. In the case, an informant gave police access to his GigaTribe friends' files, and child pornography was subsequently discovered. [2]

After some time, in 2015, GigaTribe announced collaborative storage with "GiGa.GG". They created a cloud service with a capability of sharing files with anyone by uploading them on the servers of the company. The amount of storage in free accounts was limited by 100 GB at first, but then, GiGa.GG decided to switch to a paid distribution model. Now, it is available to purchase an account with 100 GB, 1 TB or 2 TB (1.99 €, 5.99 € and 9.99 € respectively) with a possibility to get a free account for a month. [3]

History

GigaTribe has undergone many changes. Initially, the software was known as TribalWeb until 2.4.4.0, which was then followed with the redesign of the product in 3.00.002. Many updated versions have been released over the years, including the newer Mac and Linux versions. As of May 2020, the latest version (3.06.004) runs on the three main operating system series (Windows – MacOS – Linux) and now enables users to find other users with similar interests (via the recent introduction of # hashtags).

Design

In GigaTribe, there is a P2P connection between users, however the files are not being shared in public. You can choose to whom you need to send the files and they will be transferred directly to the computer of that particular user. Files may go through the servers of GigaTribe company (if VPN connection is chosen), but they are still being encrypted on the way to the receiver.

API

Gigatribe API is a collection of HTTP GET/POST services exposing Gigatribe functions to developers. The purpose is to help developers build their Gigatribe applications with less effort. The applications will be able to perform inviting users, joining tribes, reading contacts information, etc, outside the desktop version of Gigatribe software, for example, in a web forum. So as to enable developers to compose less code to call an API, GigaTribe team developed a customer library, which embodied the code for requesting for authorization code, access token and the code for calling an API, that works on PHP.

In terms of security, these services use OAuth 2.0, which is an open-standard protocol for authorization.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LimeWire</span> Peer-to-peer file sharing application

LimeWire was a free peer-to-peer file sharing client for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Solaris. Created by Mark Gorton in 2000, it was most prominently a tool used for the download and distribution of pirated materials, particularly pirated music. In 2007, LimeWire was estimated to be installed on over one-third of all computers globally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM Db2</span> Relational model database server

Db2 is a family of data management products, including database servers, developed by IBM. It initially supported the relational model, but was extended to support object–relational features and non-relational structures like JSON and XML. The brand name was originally styled as DB2 until 2017, when it changed to its present form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WinMX</span> Freeware peer-to-peer file sharing program

WinMX is a freeware peer-to-peer file sharing program authored in 2000 by Kevin Hearn in Windsor, Ontario (Canada). According to one study, it was the number one source for online music in 2005 with an estimated 2.1 million users. Frontcode Technologies itself abandoned development of WinMX in September 2005, but developers brought the service back online within a few days by releasing patches. WinMX continues to be used by a community of enthusiasts.

MLDonkey is an open-source, multi-protocol, peer-to-peer file sharing application that runs as a back-end server application on many platforms. It can be controlled through a user interface provided by one of many separate front-ends, including a Web interface, telnet interface and over a dozen native client programs.

Large-file support (LFS) is the term frequently applied to the ability to create files larger than either 2 or 4 GiB on 32-bit filesystems.

Private peer-to-peer (P2P) systems are peer-to-peer (P2P) systems that allow only mutually trusted peers to participate. This can be achieved by using a central server such as a Direct Connect hub to authenticate clients. Alternatively, users can exchange passwords or cryptographic keys with friends to form a decentralized network. Private peer-to-peer systems can be divided into friend-to-friend (F2F) and group-based systems. Friend-to-friend systems only allow connections between users who know one another, but may also provide automatic anonymous forwarding. Group-based systems allow any user to connect to any other, and thus they cannot grow in size without compromising their users' privacy. Some software, such as WASTE, can be configured to create either group-based or F2F networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SugarSync</span> Online backup service

SugarSync is a cloud service that enables active synchronization of files across computers and other devices for file backup, access, syncing, and sharing from a variety of operating systems, such as Android, iOS, Mac OS X, and Windows devices. For Linux, only a discontinued unofficial third-party client is available.

AllPeers was a free software browser extension for Mozilla Firefox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rackspace Cloud</span> Cloud computing platform

The Rackspace Cloud is a set of cloud computing products and services billed on a utility computing basis from the US-based company Rackspace. Offerings include Cloud Storage, virtual private server, load balancers, databases, backup, and monitoring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wuala</span>

Wuala was a secure online file storage, file synchronization, versioning and backup service originally developed and run by Caleido Inc. It is now part of LaCie, which is in turn owned by Seagate Technology. The service stores files in data centres that are provided by Wuala in multiple European countries. An earlier version also supported distributed storage on other users' machines, however this feature has been dropped. On 17 August 2015 Wuala announced that it was discontinuing its service and that all stored data would be deleted on 15 November 2015. Wuala recommended a rival cloud storage startup, Tresorit, as an alternative to its remaining customers.

This is a comparison of online backup services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osiris (software)</span> Peer-to-peer serverless portal system

Osiris Serverless Portal System is a freeware program used to create web portals distributed via peer-to-peer networking (P2P) and autonomous from centralized servers. It is available for Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ubuntu One</span> Cloud service operated by Canonical Ltd.

Ubuntu One is an OpenID-based single sign-on service operated by Canonical Ltd. to allow users to log onto many Canonical-owned Web sites. Until April 2014, Ubuntu One was also a file hosting service and music store that allowed users to store data "in the cloud".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ZumoDrive</span> Defunct cloud-based file housing service

ZumoDrive is a defunct cloud-based file hosting service operated by Zecter, Inc. On December 22, 2010, Zecter announced its acquisition by Motorola Mobility. The service enabled users to store and sync files online, and also between computers using their HybridCloud storage solution; the latter functionality stopped working in approximately September 2011, while the former was undergoing formal takedown on May 1, 2012. ZumoDrive had a cross-platform client that enabled users to copy any file or folder into the ZumoDrive virtual disk that was then synced to the web and the users' other computers and hand-held devices. Files in the ZumoDrive virtual disk could be shared with other ZumoDrive users or accessed from the web. Users could also upload files manually through a web browser interface. A free ZumoDrive account offered 2 GB of storage, and users could upgrade to paid plans ranging from 10 GB to 500 GB for a monthly subscription fee. The ZumoDrive service was integrated into Yahoo! Mail, allowing users to send or receive any file on their ZumoDrive, and powers HP's recent CloudDrive technology, bundled on all new HP Mini netbooks.

BeeGFS is a parallel file system developed for high-performance computing. BeeGFS includes a distributed metadata architecture for scalability and flexibility reasons. It specializes in data throughput.

Google Drive is a file-hosting service and synchronization service developed by Google. Launched on April 24, 2012, Google Drive allows users to store files in the cloud, synchronize files across devices, and share files. In addition to a web interface, Google Drive offers apps with offline capabilities for Windows and macOS computers, and Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. Google Drive encompasses Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides, which are a part of the Google Docs Editors office suite that allows collaborative editing of documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, forms, and more. Files created and edited through the Google Docs suite are saved in Google Drive.

Yandex.Disk is a cloud service created by Yandex that lets users store files on “cloud” servers and share them with others online. The service is based on syncing data between different devices. Yandex.Disk was launched in English in June 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twister (software)</span> Decentralized microblogging software

Twister is a decentralized and experimental peer-to-peer microblogging program which uses end-to-end encryption to safeguard communications. Based on BitTorrent and Bitcoin-like protocols, it has been likened to a distributed version of Twitter.

Elliptics is a distributed key–value data storage with open source code. By default it is a classic distributed hash table (DHT) with multiple replicas put in different groups. Elliptics was created to meet requirements of multi-datacenter and physically distributed storage locations when storing huge amount of medium and large files.

Kopano is an open-source groupware application suite originally based on Zarafa. The initial version of Kopano Core (KC) was forked from the then-current release of Zarafa Collaboration Platform, and superseded ZCP in terms of lineage as ZCP switched to maintenance mode with patches flowing from KC. Kopano WebApp similarly descended from Zarafa WebApp. Since October 2017, Kopano Core is also known more specifically as Kopano Groupware Core, since Kopano B.V. developed more products that were not directly requiring groupware components.

References

  1. "GigaTribe brings private P2P sharing to U.S." CNET News. November 17, 2008. Archived from the original on March 7, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
  2. Susan Brenner (June 25, 2010). "Gigatribe and the 4th Amendment".
  3. smarty (May 8, 2015). "Gigatribe launches into collaborative storage with GiGa.GG". Archived from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved October 11, 2017.