torrenting & anonymity

[johnnevre]

Greetings,

I am new to torrenting & would like to know how to safely download/share movies without becoming a target of mpaa,etc. Any advice is appreciated.

[Dark_Shroud]

There is no way to be anonymous while using bit torrent.

Make sure you have at least windows firewall running and use common sense. If you download movies or music thats just come out or isn't even out to the store yet then you're paining a target on your self. Read comments and watch the uploader & tracker.

www.torrentz.me

[kluelos]

You are in a very large school of fish. Odds are very much against your being eaten. However, predators do continue to survive, so knowing the odds isn't much comfort to the fish that get eaten.

There is no 100% safe way to do this.

[johnnevre]

You are in a very large school of fish. Odds are very much against your being eaten. However, predators do continue to survive, so knowing the odds isn't much comfort to the fish that get eaten.

There is no 100% safe way to do this.

Thanks to all for the replies. I've read that using BTGuard offers anonymity by changing one's ip? Can that offer anonymity or is it not able to hide the ip? Thanks again for help.

[greywizard]

It is able to hide the IP. Yet the anonymity they offer is as good as their policy regarding keeping logs and handing them over to the interested parties (read MPAA/RIAA, police, FBI, penal court) is.

If they DO keep logs about the connected users then you're not 100% safe.

Surely, you may be safer than you'd be by not using them, for the time being, but not 100%.

So, you need to figure that out with them, because it may be in the fine print of the contract.

[kluelos]

BTGuard will also cripple your download speed, because you will not be able to become connectable using that service. This will also inhibit your seeding, which will harm your attempts to keep an acceptable ratio at most private trackers.

BTGuard tells you this is an *advantage*, that being connectable is *dangerous*. Both are a pile of nonsense. BTGuard is making money off of fear.

If the cops come calling, demanding records, and BTGuard's options are "you or them", what do you think they're going to do?

If you answered "roll over on their customers so fast it'll make your head swim", you win the prize.

[The UnUsual Suspect]

The only way to be completely anonymous is to have another computer do the download for you, then you only have to connect to that one computer. This is the theory behind our VIP with anonymous option, your files are downloaded on a remote server then sent direct to you in a private connection. When the bugs are worked out of it this will be a great way to be anonymous, but at the moment the only way would be to rent a server in a country that doesn't cooperate with anti p2p groups

Most of the major release groups change to the latest country of choice regularly. Many are eager to get the business and people flock to them, but as soon as they hear of one seedbox being shut down, everyone leaves and moves to another location. Thankfully there are lots of countries to choose from.

With VIP anonymous, you're only using the server for as long as the task exists, then it is deleted from the server so thee is no storage of the files or records and would provide only a "dead-end" for anyone trying to identify a peer, however until some of the bugs are worked out, I can't recommend using the service. It tends to work for some users, not for others, but we're hopeful it will be a great service when development is complete.

[gbersalex]

I'm using http://pirateray.com , they implement secure SSH tunnel encrypted connections with proxy, so I can hide my IP and be anonymous in torrents and when surfing in the internet as well as another option ( http://pirateray.com/proxy) (I could check with http://checkmytorrentip.com and it shows my IP as one from a different country indeed ), also the list of proxy servers is constantly updating, so I'm not on the same server all the time. It works with any torrent client , I tried Vuze and utorrent and the speed is OK.

At least, it is a much better protection than nothing. Anyway, we need to be careful.

Edited October 4, 2012 by gbersalex (see edit history)