Thread: Torrent Safety Precautions

Originally Posted by oki

Exactly. Slow down hurst

Difficult to guess others motives online with out asking directly. :P



Hurst

I see some interesting replies and to clear things up I was talking about RIAA and MPAA in particular. I'm really looking for suggestions and what steps people take but have only seen the suggestion of adding a peer blocker list which in my opinion by the time an IP makes it to the list it's already too late.

I'm not much concerned about hackers except of course downloading a torrent that has an embedded root kits or something like back orifice. Which brings me to the question I saw of why I dont watch anything I download from a system connected to the internet... my reason is because it's way too easy to add some evil payload to a file that will run when executed by Windows Media player or VLC that will drop the payload then call home to say "him mom, i have a new place to live, here is my address and how to get in to my new home" I'm still not convinced that RIAA and MPAA wouldnt stoop to a new low and list torrents that do the exact same thing.

any recommendations on proxies or remote servers that are fast? Tor and ip2 are just too damn slow.

Actually i do have another recommendation...
Use a DNS service, such as open DNS so your DNS lookups dont go through your ISP.
Reason:
Most companies and ISPs really only track/log DNS lookups. Open real-time tcp connections are not logged unless the ISP already has you in their sites and are looking for something.

Originally Posted by Hurst

Its pretty close.

The law firms are who are really pushing this as they have the most to gain. More so than the RIAA. They are working on a 20% flip rate. That is to say they file 40,000 complaints a year to ISP's to fork over names and addresses. The typical,.. "Your busted,.. now pay up or else" letters. Of that 40,000 people 20% will pay up. Thats roughly 8000 people. The average fine imposed is typically $2500. Thats $20 million. Of that the attorneys get 30%. Not bad for doing nothing but filing papers and threatening people with a law suite. And thats just 1 law firm representing 1 copyright holder. Over 30 law firms have switch over to internet law in 2010 alone,.. they say 2011 will be the year for some rich lawyers.

From what I have been reading,.. judges have been tossing out cases where people have stood their ground. RIAA hasnt really sued anyone in 2010 at all. They just get the lawyers to file complaint letters. There are 10 new companies in 2010 that specialize in nothing but tracking people who torrent. What they download and what they share. Huge data bases are being constructed. As soon as a lawyer submits a request for a specific copyright holder,.. these companies have 20,000 - 50,000 names and IP's to turn over with logged evidence. Then the law firms contact the ISP's,.. and it trickles out from there.

Its a real threat. But the numbers are in our favor. There are just too many people doing it to be able to stop it. Its easier and more profitable to just threaten people and cash in on the 20% who will readily pay up than to waste the time and money and bad publicity to file 20,000 lawsuits.

Hurst

I have to agree with this but that does not mean that from time to time the "Overpaid Bill Collectors" (which means attorneys) will not file a suit for publicity purposes and to scare people into paying and then go back to just sending letters. You have to remember that these guys are crust and this particular crust cares about one thing and one thing only. Not any part of the law but only money.

Move out of the US to a place with more relaxed laws. While where I live there is not much fear of persecution for P2P I have noticed that the government has blocked lots of sites that have P2P and some sites that just talk about it.

Probably the wave of the future will be groups that pressure governments to put an overall block on a particular site.

fortunately, i spend a good part of my time living in Russia where I'm free to download almost anything i like ;)

Originally Posted by bigdaddy56

I have to agree with this but that does not mean that from time to time the "Overpaid Bill Collectors" (which means attorneys) will not file a suit for publicity purposes and to scare people into paying and then go back to just sending letters. You have to remember that these guys are crust and this particular crust cares about one thing and one thing only. Not any part of the law but only money.

Move out of the US to a place with more relaxed laws. While where I live there is not much fear of persecution for P2P I have noticed that the government has blocked lots of sites that have P2P and some sites that just talk about it.

Probably the wave of the future will be groups that pressure governments to put an overall block on a particular site.

They are trying to create an internet black list here in the US. Similar to what the Chinese have done. But on the opposite end of the spectrum people are fighting for Net Neutrality laws.

Here in the USA, 95% of all the laws created in the last 50 years or so were paid for by corporations or people that in some way profited from the law. Lobbyists pretty much run our govt. Everyone has their hand out and is ready to cash in on the greed that has become our system of laws. Bush was a coke head in the 70's and 80's and then became president on his fathers name. The Mayor of Wash DC was arrested for Crack Cocaine. Got out of jail and was re-elected as Mayor again. This country is full of so many lazy ignorant people its so sad.

We are going the way of the Romans. The failure of Rome was not from any foreign enemy. They could not support their over taxed welfare system. People became less productive because the govt was feeding them so they had no need to work. The same thing is happening here in the US. We used to be the #1 producer and supplier of products to the world. Now look at us. The dollar is worthless, this country is almost broke. The Japanese and Chinese own 90% of our dept. I give this country 50 more years at this rate and our govt will completely fail.

The vast majority of people who live here do nothing but complain about the laws. Yet they dont vote on the local laws when the polls open. Organizing people to vote on something is so complicated because so many people dont understand how it works. They dont understand the power we hold and the ability we have to actually change laws.

Hurst

Originally Posted by kirov

fortunately, i spend a good part of my time living in Russia where I'm free to download almost anything i like ;)

I almost envy you for that reason,.. almost. :P

Hurst