Patent ID: 7680937

Claim:
A method implemented by a processor on a first computer executing instructions stored in machine readable form on a storage media, the method comprising: receiving, by the first computer, a content description of content to be distributed using a peer-to-peer content distribution system, wherein the content description includes information regarding a certificate issued by an authorization body to authorize a publisher to distribute the content, wherein the content is divided into a plurality of blocks for distribution using the peer-to-peer distribution system; receiving, by the first computer, a set of checksums for the content, the set of checksums comprising a plurality of series of checksums, wherein each series of the plurality of series of checksums includes at least one checksum generated for each block of the content, wherein the checksums are generated by using a known seed to generate a sequence of pseudo-random numbers, each of which is combined with a corresponding block of the content; receiving, at the first computer, a request from a second computer for information relating to the content; authenticating the second computer by the first computer, wherein the authenticating includes verifying an identity of the second computer; providing a subset of the plurality of series of the checksums and the content description to the second computer following authentication of the second computer, wherein the second computer uses the subset of the plurality of series of checksums to verify integrity of each of the blocks of the content; receiving, at the first computer, a request from a third computer for information relating to the content; and providing a different subset of the plurality of series of checksums to the third computer that includes at least one series of checksums that is different than the series of checksums provided to the second computer.