Post subject: Bit Torrent: Anonymous?
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 1118
Location: Kansai, JAPAN
This came up in this other thread, but no one noticed. Is there Bit Torrent software that is anonymous? I use BitTornado which, as shown here, offers no anonymity nor does it care to.
Do Not Talk About Feitclub http://www.feitclub.com
Active player (410)
Joined: 3/16/2004
Posts: 2623
Location: America, Québec
what do you mean?
Joined: 4/30/2004
Posts: 95
Location: Asatru Heaven
Anyone who connects via BitTorrent opens themselves up for scrutiny, as you have access to thr IP address of all peers connected to you. I believe this was modified slightly in the new version.
Former player
Joined: 5/1/2004
Posts: 30
Location: Sweden
Why do you need anonymity? :D I don't think there is a client that can do that, since they are only... "frontends" for the bittorrent program itself.
Editor, Active player (296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
BitTorrent is peer-to-peer traffic. This means that either you have to connect (your IP address has to be known, otherwise you can't be talked to) or you have to be connected (your IP address has to be known, otherwise you can't be connected to). There only ways around this are the same as in postal office. Use a remote box. But then also the files will end up there instead of in your computer. This is how Internet works. But it's not like revealing your IP address makes you suddenly a target for all kind of attacks. Not anymore than having your phone number listed in a telephone directory with names blanked out.
Former player
Joined: 5/1/2004
Posts: 30
Location: Sweden
Yeah, you can send all your traffic through a proxy, but that's usually very slow. If you are afraid of RIAA or something else, i found this. It's called PeerGuardian and is supposed to block certain adresses. Dunno if it works really.
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 1118
Location: Kansai, JAPAN
When I use Kazaa Lite K++, no one's IP address can be seen. But Bit Torrent lists everyone's IP address for everyone to see, including the RIAA or MPAA.
Do Not Talk About Feitclub http://www.feitclub.com
Former player
Joined: 5/1/2004
Posts: 30
Location: Sweden
They can find out what you are doing if you use Kazaa as well :P
Editor, Active player (296)
Joined: 3/8/2004
Posts: 7469
Location: Arzareth
I don't see IP addresses in my BitTorrent client. But I can see them with netstat. Probably similar thing with Kazaa. Lesson: Closing your eyes doesn't make you invisible.
Banned User, Former player
Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
If you want to download data from someone, you need to know his IP address. There's no way around that. I don't understand what is it that you want. If BitTorrent didn't tell the user's IP address, you wouldn't be able to download anything. Where would you download it from if you don't have the IP? If what you want is that everyone else shows you their IP but your client does not tell your computer IP to anyone else, that's quite selfish. Basically you will be only downloading and not uploading at all. (I don't know if the tracker has a way to limit this kind of misuse.) Also, if everyone would do the same, no-one could download from anyone.
Joined: 7/4/2004
Posts: 11
Location: Florida
the RIAA doesn't matter with bittorrent, because any one person is only sharing a very small peice of the entire thing, and therefore impossible to tell whether any one person has the entire thing. Its like having a small corner to a painting, or the last 2 seconds of a song. It could be part of any painting, or any song, if all the clues you have are only that peice. esides, the RIAA is worthless pile of crap anyways. Totally going about these things in the wrong fashion, if you want to stop people from making copies, stop giving them mediums. As for fear of being slammed by a mean person cuz they found ur IP, don't make enemies.
"Like a spoon to spaghetti i am"
Active player (278)
Joined: 5/29/2004
Posts: 5712
Stop giving them mediums (media)? So what, are you saying we shouldn't let people digitize anything at all?
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
Former player
Joined: 3/13/2004
Posts: 1118
Location: Kansai, JAPAN
xtheninjax wrote:
the RIAA doesn't matter with bittorrent...
As a matter of fact, it does. They are out there patrolling the BitTorrent activity right now, along with the MPAA and other copyright police. I should know, because I got into a wee bit o' trouble after downloading a recent feature film. Nothing came of it but they did notify my ISP who was cool about it. They saw it as a first offense kind of thing but they still sent me a serious letter warning me about sharing copyrighted material. After that, I took the high road and stopped downloading movies.
Do Not Talk About Feitclub http://www.feitclub.com
Joined: 7/4/2004
Posts: 11
Location: Florida
i stand corrected feitclub. how surprising. As for what i meant about mediums, i meant that they should stop selling cd's if they don't want us to make copies of them. They are being hippocritical. CD's and all the music are reasons to go see these bands LIVE. Shows are the best thing that artists have! for crying out loud, dave mathews and crew encourage people to bring tape recorders to their shows and to share their music with people, and what happens? Has dave and co. crashed and burned bc of the lack of cd sales? No way, they make more $ than most bands because they tour every year and so many people come to see them. So what i meant was that they need to make a decision either way: stop caring about if we get the music for free (the radio what?) or stop selling cd's if you are so determined to keep the copyright laws. because we, the people, can't be stopped. (ahem, steps down from soapbox)
"Like a spoon to spaghetti i am"
Former player
Joined: 3/19/2004
Posts: 710
Location: USA
Yes, you can get in trouble for bit torrent. From what I have heard, the most that has happened is that your isp sends you a letter. This only really happens though if you download something that just came out recently.