Bram Cohen is an American
computer programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming.
The professional titles ''software developer'' and ''software engineer'' are used for jobs that require a progr ...
, best known as the author of the
peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of Node ...
(P2P)
BitTorrent protocol in 2001, as well as the first
file sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include ...
program to use the protocol, also known as
BitTorrent
BitTorrent is a Protocol (computing), communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a Decentralised system, decentralized manner. The protocol is d ...
. He is also the co-founder of
CodeCon and organizer of the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
P2P-hackers meeting, was the co-author of Codeville and creator of the
Chia cryptocurrency which implements the
proof of space-time consensus algorithm
A fundamental problem in distributed computing and multi-agent systems is to achieve overall system reliability in the presence of a number of faulty processes. This often requires coordinating processes to reach consensus, or agree on some data va ...
.
Early life and career
Cohen grew up on the
Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, as the son of a teacher and computer scientist. He claims he learned the
BASIC programming language at the age of 5 on his family's
Timex Sinclair computer. Cohen passed the
American Invitational Mathematics Examination to qualify for the
United States of America Mathematical Olympiad while he attended
Stuyvesant High School in New York City. He graduated from Stuyvesant in 1993, and attended
SUNY Buffalo. He later dropped out of college to work for several
dot-com companies throughout the mid-to-late 1990s, the last being MojoNation, an ambitious but ill-fated project he worked on with Jim McCoy.
MojoNation allowed people to break up confidential files into encrypted chunks and distribute those pieces on computers also running the software. If someone wanted to download a copy of this encrypted file, they would have to download it simultaneously from many computers. This concept, Cohen thought, was perfect for a
file-sharing program, since programs like
KaZaA take a long time to download a large file because the file is (usually) coming from one source (or
peer).
BitTorrent
In April 2001, Cohen quit MojoNation and began work on BitTorrent. Cohen designed BitTorrent to be able to download files from many sources, thus speeding up the download time, especially for users with faster
download
In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar systems. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...
than
upload
Uploading refers to ''transmitting'' data from one computer system to another through means of a network. Common methods of uploading include: uploading via web browsers, FTP clients, and terminals ( SCP/ SFTP). Uploading can be used in th ...
speeds. Thus, the more popular a file is, the faster a user will be able to download it, since many people will be downloading it at the same time, and these people will also be uploading the data to other users. Cohen unveiled his ideas at the first
CodeCon conference, which he and his roommate
Len Sassaman created as a showcase event for novel technology projects after becoming disillusioned with the state of then-current technology conferences.
Cohen wrote the first BitTorrent client implementation in
Python. In the summer of 2002, Cohen collected free pornography to lure
beta testers to use the program.
In May 2005, Cohen released a
trackerless beta version of BitTorrent. BitTorrent gained its fame for its ability to quickly share large music and movie files online. Since the early releases,
many other programs have implemented the BitTorrent protocol.
Cohen has claimed he has never violated copyright law using his software.
Regardless, he is outspoken in his belief that the traditional media business model is doomed to becoming outmoded, despite
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
's and
MPAA
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, the mini-major Amazon MGM Studios, as well as the video streaming services Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. F ...
's legal and technical tactics, such as
digital rights management
Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM ...
.
In late 2003, Cohen worked for a short time at
Valve
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...
, working on
Steam
Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
, their
digital distribution
Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of information or materials through digital platforms. The distribution of digital ...
system introduced for ''
Half-Life 2''.
By 2004, he had left Valve and formed
BitTorrent, Inc., with his brother
Ross Cohen and business partner
Ashwin Navin. In 2012, he announced a beta version of BitTorrent Live for TV broadcasting through the Internet.
Cohen left BitTorrent, Inc., in a day-to-day capacity to co-found Chia Network in the fall of 2017.
BitTorrent and the MPAA
By mid-2005, BitTorrent, Inc., was funded by venture capitalist David Chao from Doll Capital Management, and in late 2005 Cohen and Navin made a deal with the MPAA to remove links to illegal content on the official BitTorrent website. The deal was with the seven largest studios in the United States. The agreement means the site will comply with procedures outlined in the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Chia Network
Chia Network is a company founded by Cohen in 2017
that has implemented a
proof-of-space-time cryptocurrency
A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.
Individual coin ownership record ...
called Chia (XCH). Chia is intended to avoid the waste of energy involved in
proof-of-work-based cryptocurrencies such as
Bitcoin
Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; Currency symbol, sign: ₿) is the first Decentralized application, decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 when an unknown entity published a white paper under ...
,
and the vulnerability to state actors of
proof-of-stake systems.
Chia Network has raised seed money from investors including
Andreessen Horowitz.
The use of storage media (
hard disk
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...
s and
solid-state drives) as the cryptocurrency's
mining
Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
medium has raised concerns over potential price surges and shortage of high-capacity storage devices, as well as radically reducing the lifetime of drives.
Personal life
As of 2008, Cohen lived in the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
of the United States, with his wife Jenna and their three children. The couple divorced in 2022.
Cohen says that he has
Asperger syndrome based on a
self diagnosis.
Cohen's hobbies include original
origami and
juggling
Juggling is a physical skill, performed by a juggler, involving the manipulation of objects for recreation, entertainment, art or sport. The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling. Juggling can be the manipulation of one object o ...
up to five balls, but his main interest is in
recreational mathematics
Recreational mathematics is mathematics carried out for recreation (entertainment) rather than as a strictly research-and-application-based professional activity or as a part of a student's formal education. Although it is not necessarily limited ...
. Cohen maintains a
blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
where he frequently discusses
trust metrics with software developer
Raph Levien, as well as money systems, games of skill, and other math-related topics. He is also an
assembly puzzle enthusiast. He has designed several puzzles including some in conjunction with
Oskar van Deventer including several gear-based puzzles such as Gear Shift and a multiple
Rubik's Cube variant called Bram's Fortress. Some of Cohen's puzzle designs are available for
3-D printing via
Shapeways.
Awards
Cohen has received a number of awards for his work on the BitTorrent protocol, including:
* 2004 ''
Wired
Wired may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976
* ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993
* ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017
* "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street''
* "Wired ...
'' Rave Award
* 2005 ''
MIT Technology Review
''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "''The''" in its name on April 23, 1998, under then pu ...
''
''TR''35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35
* 2005
''Time'' 100 Most Influential People
* 2006
USENIX STUG Award
* 2010 ''Internet Evolution'' 100
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Bram
1975 births
20th-century American Jews
21st-century American Jews
American bloggers
American computer programmers
BitTorrent
Cypherpunks
Living people
People from the Upper West Side
People with Asperger syndrome
Place of birth missing (living people)
Recreational mathematicians
Scientists from San Francisco
Stuyvesant High School alumni
University at Buffalo alumni