changing ip address

[jays64f85]

i'm using bc version 1.13, i have a cable modem, windows xp, and i'm using shaw secure.

my question is, what would happen if i change my ip address midway through a download. would bitcomet adjust to the new address? would it require restarting bitcomet or my computer, or would it slow my downloads down? how will it effect me? thanks

[cassie]

Sorry, I'm not sure that I understand your question.

The only way that you, yourself, would change your IP address (while having only a modem, not a router), is if you were to restart your computer.

If you restart it - since you most likely have a 'normal' dynamic IP address (one that your ISP periodically changes, without your knowledge, because it has expired, etc.) - yes, your IP address will change but, wouldn't you have already shut down your running applications, before that? In other words, you will have stopped BitComet and shut it down, before the restart. Yes, BitComet would be able to restart your unfinished download.

If this wasn't what you intended to ask, then, could you please expand?

[kluelos]

Well, actually, you _can_ attempt to change your IP if it was assigned via DHCP (which is the case for most ISP's and is the default case for most routers - but is not if you've been reading and setting a static IP for your computer as we recommend.) I'm not at all clear on why you'd want to, though.

In fact, this happens already, and has happened to you already, many times. (That should answer your fundamental question, btw.) Under DHCP, the IP address you're assigned by your service provider, whether that's directly to your computer, or to the WAN side of your router, is just leased to you. The lease can and does expire. When it does, you lease another address, which might or might not be the same address you just had. If it is a different IP address, you drop a packet or two during the transition, but that happens frequently anyway due to general network crap. You don't even notice it, and the system recovers smoothly.

(Now, you CAN change your static IP in your network settings, but if memory serves me right, it won't take effect until you reboot, which would restart BC and pretty much obviates your question. But if not, it would have the same effect as when your router's WAN-side IP expires: you probably wouldn't notice.)

You can make it happen deliberately, via the ipconfig command from the command shell. But if you're going to try that, you need to study up on what you're doing, which is recommended anyway.

[jays64f85]

i did'nt realize how often my ip address changes! i can't except the fact that the federalies can monitor my downloads so easily without me putting up some kind of fight, i understand that i cannot block my ip address, but there HAS to be another way or system of downloading that they cannot catch and fine people $647,000.00 for a few songs, i'm not asking for you to advise me anything thats incrimiating, but, i'm sure there is a simple legal solution/loophole for completing downloads without the worry of a trip to the Federal Proctologist!

Edited August 6, 2009 by jays64f85 (see edit history)

[kluelos]

Communication addressed to you is addressed to your IP. This means that you can't hide it and still receive communication.

You can have a forwarding arrangement, which is what a proxy is, but in most cases you have to pay for the proxy, and they won't shelter you -- if the cops ask, they'll rat you out rather than take the rap themselves. Their agreement with you probably forbids illegal stuff in the first place and requires you to "hold them harmless", i.e., pay any fines, their attorney's fees, their court costs and any other expenses in the second place.

You can do something like The Onion Router (but not, because TOR itself forbids P2P), which routes your traffic unpredictably through a chain of volunteer forwarders who donate their bandwidth but don't keep records of the traffic, so it's extremely hard to trace. (Since TOR bandwidth is donated, if P2P users soak it all up, people will quit donating. So really don't use TOR for this.)

Fundamentally, you can't hide if they want to find you. Good practice is to try to stay off their radar, to be a low profile, one of millions. Don't try to download the latest albums or movies -- those copies mostly suck anyway, especially the movies. Wait until good rips have come out before you download them. Then you're just one of many, many others.

[jays64f85]

see below

Edited August 6, 2009 by jays64f85 (see edit history)

[jays64f85]

i have done some reading up about the onion router and there is no mention about p2p restrictions that i can see. do you have any other reasons or concerns why it should not be used? if you don't , it was exactly what i was looking for. If they are going to pick my ip address out of a pile of hay - at least they'll have to work for it.

p.s. i finally get it! you are s'posed to shoot yourself before the duck pulls the trigger!

[kluelos]

The entire TOR network is a volunteer effort based on donated bandwidth.

Suppose you're volunteering some of your bandwidth to function as a TOR relay, and that I'm running P2P through that relay. You'll find that I'm taking all of your donated bandwidth all of the time -- nobody else can get through you without running into the ceiling of your TOR allocation.

So rather than helping the community, you find that I'm grabbing all the bandwidth you're donating. (It's the nature of P2P to try to take all that it can if not restrained.) TOR is slow because it consists of adding a bunch of extra hops to the traffic, privacy over speed. (This is discussed in the FAQ.) Because of that, people will tend to crank up the bandwidth, making the issue worse.

It won't take long before you're tired of giving your bandwidth to me, and stop donating since it's all going to one greedy person who isn't paying for it. The project loses another volunteer and another relay.

---

Let's consider how bittorrent works. When you start to download, you send a metafile to the tracker, which says, among other things, "please add me to the swarm for this torrent, I listen on port number x". The tracker adds you, listing your IP address and your preferred listen port. It gets your IP address from whence the request came, (which is why you can torrent through a router). Other peers get that list from the tracker, just as you did, and they try to contact you at that IP address and port number.

But suppose you've "torrified" the request. It's taking the IP address from the TOR exit point. which almost certainly does NOT have that same listen port open, and won't forward traffic sent to that port, in any case.

Other swarm members who try to contact you just hit the exit point's firewall and bounce. For you, this is exactly the same situation as not having a listen port at all. Your speed goes WAY down. (Try it. BC has a "no listen port" option in the preferences.)

Can't you get around this by telling the tracker your real IP?

Well, yes, with some clients you can. But weren't you just trying to be anonymous?

If you want something more official, there's this.

[greywizard]

Well I guess, jays64f85, you haven't read this:

Etiquette

Because of its inherent anonymity, the traditional practices that network operators use to curb abuse may be insufficient with regard to connections coming from a Tor network. Tor has some features intended to reduce this problem, both from the perspective of exit node operators and third party sites.

Exit nodes each maintain an exit policy of what traffic is and is not permitted to leave Tor network through that node. It is possible to prevent most major abuses of Tor network using a combination of addresses and ports. Potential abuses include:

Bandwidth hogging

It is considered impolite to transfer massive amounts of data across the Tor network – the onion routers are run by volunteers using their own bandwidth at their own cost.

BitTorrent

Due to the high bandwidth usage caused by the use of this protocol, it is considered impolite and inappropriate to use the Tor network for BitTorrent transfers. By default, the Tor exit policy blocks the standard BitTorrent ports.

Spam

The default Tor exit policy prevents connections to port 25, preventing people from sending spam directly from the Tor network.

Anonymous users

The Tor project attempts to ensure that websites that wish to set different access policies for users visiting through Tor can do so.

here

or this:

We also want to keep the network up and running in a way that handles as many users as possible.

here

or this:

The Tor network relies on volunteers to donate bandwidth. The more people who run relays, the faster the Tor network will be. If you have at least 20 kilobytes/s each way, please help out Tor by configuring your Tor to be a relay too.

here, these among at least a dozen other places.

You also might be interested in this:

Why is Tor so slow?

There are many reasons why the Tor network is currently slow.

Before we answer, though, you should realize that Tor is never going to be blazing fast. Your traffic is bouncing through volunteers' computers in various parts of the world, and some bottlenecks and network latency will always be present. You shouldn't expect to see university-style bandwidth through Tor.

But that doesn't mean that it can't be improved. The current Tor network is quite small compared to the number of people trying to use it, and many of these users don't understand or care that Tor can't currently handle file-sharing traffic load.

here.

Sorry kluelos, I never saw your post, as I was too bussy editing this one. :D

Edited August 6, 2009 by greywizard (see edit history)