Thread: Safety comparison of different downloading methods [Torrent - Usenet - etc.]

Hello everyone, I'm new here =) Going to post my introduction in a bit, but I'm about to go for a while so I wanted to ask this first.

How would you guys rate the safety levels of different means of downloading?

Here is my current understanding, and I'm probably wrong.

Nobody has ever been caught downloading copyrighted material over Usenet.
I think people only get caught with DDL sites (Rapidshare, Mediafire) if the place gets raided, and they can only request the downloaders IP's of a specific file, normally new movies.
Plain torrenting is obviously the worst, and people get caught a lot. Peerblock helps a lot, and a good private tracker puts you at about the same safety level as DDL sites.
If you use Tor with any of the 3 methods, you have very little chance of getting caught, and if you use a good VPN that doesn't log, you have virtually 0% chance of getting caught, even if you upload. (Considering getting AirVPN for this reason)

Torrents seem to have the best file availability, and then DDL sites, and then Usenet, which is why I don't get Usenet very often. Looking for a new main strategy though, and I really don't trust plain torrents, even with Peerblock.
I have no idea how safe most proxies are, but I've considered just using free proxies with DDL sites to avoid the wait time, but the speed is still slow, and I wouldn't get premium because there are too many different hosting sites.

I am mostly a usenet user for the safety aspect. Due to the nature of how binaries are stored on usenet, I think it would be quite difficult to trace who was doing what on there. I find file availability to be pretty good too. I suppose the difference between usenet and torrents are that torrents are only useful while they're popular. I've seen month old torrents without any seeds. On the other hand, files on usenet are available for nearly 3 years guaranteed. Based on Astraweb/Giganews, anyway.

I personally haven't torrented anything in about a year, though there are some things that just don't seem to be making their way onto usenet.

As for torrents, I have an (unfounded) belief that private trackers are more secure than public. If the MPAA, or whoever, are trying to bust people for downloading the latest movie, why would they go through the hassle of getting in a private community, when there are potentially thousands of violators exposed from a pirate bay torrent?

Tor is supposed to be anonymous, but it has been so slow when I've tried using it, that I wept into my pudding.

Originally Posted by SpaceHole

I am mostly a usenet user for the safety aspect. Due to the nature of how binaries are stored on usenet, I think it would be quite difficult to trace who was doing what on there. I find file availability to be pretty good too. I suppose the difference between usenet and torrents are that torrents are only useful while they're popular. I've seen month old torrents without any seeds. On the other hand, files on usenet are available for nearly 3 years guaranteed. Based on Astraweb/Giganews, anyway.

I personally haven't torrented anything in about a year, though there are some things that just don't seem to be making their way onto usenet.

As for torrents, I have an (unfounded) belief that private trackers are more secure than public. If the MPAA, or whoever, are trying to bust people for downloading the latest movie, why would they go through the hassle of getting in a private community, when there are potentially thousands of violators exposed from a pirate bay torrent?

Tor is supposed to be anonymous, but it has been so slow when I've tried using it, that I wept into my pudding.

Tor is definitely not recommended for torrenting or downloading since you are slowing the whole network down (or someone elses connection). Get a VPN (some private trackers allow it).

But TOR is the most best method to stay anonymous...

But thank god i live in a country that doesn';t take copyright laws seriously.

Only thing I tried Tor for was to get hold of Requiem for a DRM. It took about 3 minutes to load Google for it :$

I suppose I might not have been using it right.

I'm actually using HMA free proxies and a DDL site right now (proxies because of time limits) and I hate the insecure feeling =/

Interesting, I didn't know private trackers weren't technically more secure.

I'm strongly considering getting AirVPN as it's only like $7 a month or so with the 3 month package, but that won't help with the time limits on DDL sites because my IP won't change very often. I guess I could just torrent with or without a private tracker using my VPN. I've emailed the AirVPN tech guy a lot, and I trust them. They will cooperate to catch hackers or whatever if they have to, but they showed me a lot of legal stuff explaining why they'll never have to help catch filesharers.

Usenet is great (I use Newsdemon, great deals, paypal support, SSL, good speed, etc) except for when you want to find something obscure. I have that problem a LOT when looking for old games, or old shows, etc. Even not so old shows, like I was looking for a Phineas and Ferb season, and I couldn't find a whole one, just a few episodes and the movie. I really wish the DDL sites would form a coalition, so I could just pay like $10 a month for premium access to all of them.

Originally Posted by Hotrootsoup

Interesting, I didn't know private trackers weren't technically more secure.

I wouldn't say they were technically more secure. Just that, in my opionion, all these lawsuits are about making money and these easiest way of finding people to Sue is through public torrent sites. Private trackers, especially invite only, would require alot of work.

Originally Posted by SpaceHole

I wouldn't say they were technically more secure. Just that, in my opionion, all these lawsuits are about making money and these easiest way of finding people to Sue is through public torrent sites. Private trackers, especially invite only, would require alot of work.

That's true, similar reasoning for Usenet. You /can/ find out what users downloaded a certain thing maybe, but they don't, it's too hard.
I'm starting to lean on the side of VPN + Private Tracker. Are there any good, popular general ones that allow VPN?

I saw TL, RevTT and SCC rules and faq and I guess it is ok using VPN there. In GFT is not allowed. Just ask in their irc to be sure.
And be aware that you can't register an account behind a vpn in any of these and of course you should get a dedicated ip adress if you don't want to be banned for double account with other user with the same service.

Originally Posted by ikL

I saw TL, RevTT and SCC rules and faq and I guess it is ok using VPN there. In GFT is not allowed. Just ask in their irc to be sure.
And be aware that you can't register an account behind a vpn in any of these and of course you should get a dedicated ip adress if you don't want to be banned for double account with other user with the same service.

Well that sort of kills the point of a VPN if the tracker knows my real IP from signup...
Thanks for the info though =)