BitTorrents Are Dangerous

[Hunchy]

I saw a post from Mick-Kelly just now & as the thread was a little old I thought a new one was in order.

If you or anyone in the house is doing any bittorrenting, you must must must must must install a package called peerguardian before you start any torrent from running. Here is the link:

http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/

It's freeware, and installs in minutes.

Peerguardian uses a series of blacklists to stop you from sending or receiving any torrents from IP addresses on the blacklist. The blacklist is updated daily and contains IP addresses of organisations/ individuals who are known stooges of the RIAA & similar.

The big danger of bittorrenting is that just about everything you download is copyrighted content. And when you do, the RIAA wants your *rse. They actually pay organisations to seed copyrighted content and then tell them the IP addresses of everyone who participates in the torrent. If they can trace it back via your ISP to you, you get a nasty email.

So peerguardian hides you from the bad guys. It's not perfect, but it's a whole lot better than nothing. And it's free, and takes up just about no CPU time on your PC (sits in the toolbar, just doin' its thing).

So install peerguardian, ir bittorrent is your thing (there are better options than bittorrent, if you're interested).

[incisor]

they mainly target those that share what they have downloaded...

if you move your downloads from your shared folder it is highly unlikely you will be targeted.

that said, peerguardian is excellent for pc or mac, been recommending it for years..

a hell of a lot of legitamate software is also distributed this way as well, many linux distributions for example... so it aint all bad...

[Hunchy]

It's a hard balance... the whole concept of bittorrenting depends on people uploading (on average) the same amount of content as they download. And when you upload copyrighted content, you are exposed.

Moving the downloaded content stops it from seeding, but the danger period is when you're leeching and your peers are pulling blocks of your content before you're done. If you're in the swarm you just need to protect your identity, and peerguardian does a good job.

[walker]

Thanks for this. I have loaded it on. I had no idea about them tracing you.

[Mick-Kelly]

Thanks and done, ive been using bit torrent to get linux distros lately.

[100I]

this applies to all p2p? so the IP can only be traced when you are torrenting? the program doesn't need to be run until you are actually downloading?

[p38arover]

this applies to all p2p? so the IP can only be traced when you are torrenting? the program doesn't need to be run until you are actually downloading?

Not sure. I notice that Peer Guardian seems to be blocking lots of stuff even when I've not got eMule running.

In fact, I see it blocking lots of stuff on a PC that no longer has eMule or any other torrent software installed. The PC did have it at one time.

Ron

[moose]

Thanks hunchy!:)

[Hunchy]

Not sure. I notice that Peer Guardian seems to be blocking lots of stuff even when I've not got eMule running.

In fact, I see it blocking lots of stuff on a PC that no longer has eMule or any other torrent software installed. The PC did have it at one time.

Ron

Ron there's an option on peerguardian that will filter http traffic as well (can't check 'cuz I'm at work). I reckon what's happening is that you have that set on and it will block normal websites if they are from the list. Just set that to off, I don't think it's useful anyway.

Also I recommend you set peerguardian to automatically update. The list updates seem to come through about every two days.

When I get home I'll post some screenshots with these settings marked on.

[Hunchy]

this applies to all p2p? so the IP can only be traced when you are torrenting? the program doesn't need to be run until you are actually downloading?

Dan yeah it works for all p2p. I don't have it on all the time, just if I'm going to bittorrent. I load up peerguardian, have it check for any updates, then fire up utorrent. And when I'm done I exit utorrent and peerguardian, rather than have them run all the time.

Also your IP address is exposed only when you're actually in a bittorrent swarm as a seeder or leecher. If you're running your bittorrent client & nothing's happening, ie you're not downloading anything or not uploading anything, there's no risk. But Windows is a fragile thing so I've got into the habit of shutting down any software I don't need right now.

[100I]

Dan yeah it works for all p2p. I don't have it on all the time, just if I'm going to bittorrent. I load up peerguardian, have it check for any updates, then fire up utorrent. And when I'm done I exit utorrent and peerguardian, rather than have them run all the time.

Also your IP address is exposed only when you're actually in a bittorrent swarm as a seeder or leecher. If you're running your bittorrent client & nothing's happening, ie you're not downloading anything or not uploading anything, there's no risk. But Windows is a fragile thing so I've got into the habit of shutting down any software I don't need right now.

Thanks Hunchy,
yes I'm the same & shut off anything I can if it's not in use, and usually elect not to let things autorun. Trouble is as the years march on it gets more complicated & I lose track of what's what. I look in task mgr now & I don't know half of what's critical & what's crapola.

[Rovernaut]

Thanks and done, ive been using bit torrent to get linux distros lately.
I wouldn't worry about Linux as they want people to distribute , share it, you wouldn't get in trouble it's GNU.


http://www.linux.org/images/header/whatis_line.gif
Linux is a free Unix-type operating system originally created by Linus Torvalds with the assistance of developers around the world. Developed under the GNU General Public License (http://www.linux.org/info/gnu.html), the source code for Linux is freely available to everyone. Click on the link below to find out more about the operating system that is causing a revolution in the world of computers..)

Since it is free no one is losing $. Unless it is one of the few paid linux versions.

[p38arover]

I wonder how many govt. departments there are watching for those downloading very illegal porn, e.g., kiddy stuff?

Ron

[Rovernaut]

I wonder how many govt. departments there are watching for those downloading very illegal porn, e.g., kiddy stuff?

Ron
Maybe there are not enough..... I hate PEDOPHILE SCUM:mad:.

[Hunchy]

I wonder how many govt. departments there are watching for those downloading very illegal porn, e.g., kiddy stuff?

Ron

One product I deal with is a content filter, which is like NetNanny but designed to work on company/ government agency networks. Basically it checls every piece of Internet traffic coming in (& going out) & if it's something in one of 30-odd categories (think pr0n, terrorist, hate/ racial, etc) it will get blocked. Plus it will log the fact, for review by the powers.

If you're in a government department - federal, state and (most) local - you can bet money it's being monitored. It's not like they check everything you do, but if you're a habitual pr0n site visitor they will nail you.

BTW most content filters are very, very good at knowing what's bad and what's not. Medical sites are good, whereas the cheap retail versions (like NetNanny & others) can't figure our the difference between say a womens health site and a pr0n site.

So, long winded answer - but yeah, government use gets checked big time.

[p38arover]

Anyone stupid enough to go to porn sites from work deserves what they get.

However, SurfPatrol (which we use) block a lot of medical sites so if one searches for something containing, say, the word "breast" it will be blocked.

Ron