BitTorrents: how private are they?

[EphGuy]

I just read about this law suit that one of the porn producers is filing against people who download torrents. I've always wondered about the legality of this activity, but they just seem there for the taking. Personally I download lots of premium cable shows.

Just wondering if it's possible to for HBO, AMC, or any number of adult producers to track me down, based on a link I usually find through a google search.

Thanks.

 

[T-Rexx]

Yes, it's possible.

When you download a torrent, you are also uploading to other people at the same time (that's how torrents work).

If I am a lawyer for the RIAA or MPAA (or whomever), I can download a torrent myself, and then check all the IP addresses of everyone who is sending me parts of that torrent. Then, I can subpoena your internet service provider to give me your name and address.

There are lists of IP addresses of "known" or suspected spies, and you can set your torrent client to block sending to such IP addresses. But the lists are pretty worthless. If you were an RIAA lawyer, would you log in from an IP address on the list?

The only way to protect yourself is to use a VPN (virtual private network).

 

[DeafFoxDemon]

How can one use VPN? and set it up?

 

[T-Rexx]

^ It depends on your OS.

You need to find a VPN provider and set it up with them. A lot of people like Relakks because it's cheap. Your VPN provider will give you instructions on how to set it up on your computer. It is easy to do on all modern OSs.

There are some free VPN services, but they are worthless.

 

[CFFan09]

Just to add to T-Rexx's comments I would suggest being more careful especially with porn material as a lot of companies are being more active in pursuing and suing downloaders of their material.

 

[NYChuBear79]

I just read about this law suit that one of the porn producers is filing against people who download torrents. I've always wondered about the legality of this activity, but they just seem there for the taking. Personally I download lots of premium cable shows.

Just wondering if it's possible to for HBO, AMC, or any number of adult producers to track me down, based on a link I usually find through a google search.

Thanks.

I suppose so, depending on whether or not said companies are in communications with your ISP. I know your ISP knows every single thing that is downloaded for their clients, so if you've downloaded movies/games/warez/etc illegally, and you get no letter from your ISP, it usually means they don't give a damn about what you download.

 

[Corny]

. I know your ISP knows every single thing that is downloaded for their clients, so if you've downloaded movies/games/warez/etc illegally, and you get no letter from your ISP, it usually means they don't give a damn about what you download.

There are some technical limitations, but he could know a lot. BUT he has other things to do than to track all the downloads (a website like JUB performs ~100+ downloads for one page view) of his clients. Even in China ISPs do not track everything like that.

If you download something illegally and the copyright owner (or someone hired by him) catches you (how is described earlier in the thread). He will document it and ask your ISP for your contact data to sue you. The only thing that your ISP does is the IP->customer match.

 

[maxpowr9]

At least from my usage of bit torrent is that whatever you do, do not leave it running constantly. While you may think that you are not downloading anything, if you leave your PC and bit torrent running, that is eating up bandwidth through uploading to other users. That is just asking your ISP to slap you with it. Your ISP does track your bandwidth usage and if it is constantly high (I am not sure what they consider is high usage but probably in the top 5% of their home customers), they are probably monitoring your activity. This is also why I make sure to remove the contents once downloaded out of the folder so bit torrent cannot access the information. I download some stuff here and there but I run an IP blocker whenever I need to use bit torrent. The IP blocker is so good it even forbids me to run WoW. While the IP blocker won't stop my ISP from accessing that information, it will at least prevent others from getting at it.

Of course I do not abdicate to people downloading stuff illegally either .

 

[Corny]

^ you probably mean peer guardian or similar.
i don't know why it is supposed to be good when it blocks WoW? after all the blizzard servers are hosting legal torrents.

but apart from that, those ip blockers only block ips of known anti p2p companies. they are not stupid, they won't always use the same IPs ..

 

[KrisHawkXXX]

There are some technical limitations, but he could know a lot. BUT he has other things to do than to track all the downloads (a website like JUB performs ~100+ downloads for one page view) of his clients. Even in China ISPs do not track everything like that.

If you download something illegally and the copyright owner (or someone hired by him) catches you (how is described earlier in the thread). He will document it and ask your ISP for your contact data to sue you. The only thing that your ISP does is the IP->customer match.

Just curious why would an ISP give up customer information? Can't they say I'm sorry but you issue with that IP address is your problem. We keep our customer info private, go get their information yourselves and keep us out of them. We just keep them online because they are paying us to use our services.

 

[Corny]

^ that's how it works in germany, until the company gets a warrant.

in the US the data privacy laws are not as strong as far as i know, and the ISP has some contract with the MPAA and RIAA to give them such info.

 

[andysayshi]

Just curious why would an ISP give up customer information? Can't they say I'm sorry but you issue with that IP address is your problem. We keep our customer info private, go get their information yourselves and keep us out of them. We just keep them online because they are paying us to use our services.

As Corny says, in many countries the laws regarding privacy are much stronger than those in the US. In Australia, it's illegal for an ISP to give out a client's personal info to anybody unless it is ordered by a state or federal court. That would only happen if a serious breech of law was suspected - like child pornography or something.

That's why the entertainment copyright lobbies are pushing to introduce "three strike" laws worldwide. If an ISP's customer is accused of copyright breaches three times, their internet is cut off. ISPs are fighting against such a rule, primarily because they will become legal targets of their own customers if they disconnect anyone improperly. It's a law that would be very expensive to administer and very difficult to prove.

As usual, the entertainment conglomerates are spending mega-millions trying to protect their outdated sales model, when that money would be much better spent developing new ways to profit on their product.

 

[ShavedBare87]

There is such a thing as SSL (Secure Socket Layer). For example, when you go to a website that is secured (begins with https instead of regular http) you are using what's called SSL. All your ISP "sees" when you use SSL is a bunch of random bits flying back and forth between you and whatever you're connected to. Essentially they cannot decipher what you are downloading/viewing.

Now I do believe BT can use an SSL protocol, but it severely limits your seeders because you're only getting from people using SSL, which isn't a lot.

There are other services that utilize SSL though, and on a grander scale. Something to do with news and groups : )