BitTorrent study finds most file-sharers are monitored

[hunter]

Source: BBC News

Anyone using file-sharing service BitTorrent to download the latest film or music release without paying is likely to be monitored, UK-based researchers suggest.

A Birmingham University study indicates that an illegal file-sharer downloading popular content would be logged by a monitoring firm within three hours.

The team said it was "surprised" by the scale of the monitoring.

Copyright holders could use the data to crack down on illegal downloads.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19474829

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As commercial entities monitor the downloads of music and movies, I've no doubt other sorts of material are monitored too, especially political material...

[Heather MC]

1. Why would they go after people using the service? a user didn't create the program.

How is this different from illegal wire tapping, if their goal is to some day use this against people in a court of law?
Shouldn't the need a warrent?

[a geek named Bob]

2. so sacrifice some speed

and use three layers of proxies.
and switch proxies often.

[yodermon]

3. nope. IP addresses of torrent peers are completely public information.

Now subpoenaing the ISP of the respective IP address to get the identity of that peer, is another kettle of fish.

[hunter]

13. Who needs a subpoena?

This information can be collected and correlated by others having nothing to do with your actual ISP.

Skinner knows where you live on the internet. If you use facebook, so does Mark Zuckerberg...

If you are using some service to obscure your IP address, well, that's interesting too.

[PSPS]

32. No need for subpoena

The usual sequence goes like this:

1. Monitoring service logs IP address of downloader, the copyrighted material being downloaded, date, time and the ISP who assigned the IP address (public info via ARIN.)

2. Copyright holder uses a template to generate a DCA complaint letter to the ISP.

3. ISP receives the letter and looks in their RADIUS logs to determine which subscriber was using the IP address at the time.

4. ISP disconnects the subscriber's internet service.

[OnyxCollie]

4. WikiLeaks torrents, especially. nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. Face it,...folks use it for this....

[img][/img]

[AtheistCrusader]

6. Does nothing for me.

That prawn still has its shell on.

[Aerows]

8. No cocktail sauce, either n/t

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. Oh,. so yer more into soft core...

[bemildred]

7. I assume I'm always monitored.

Because I know they can.

[mrdmk]

12. 'They' can and 'They' do

It is nothing new. Of course, the data that is collected is mostly meaningless. This is especially true for a public computer.

You can use some programs to keep the data collecting on you to a minimum. If the government were tracking you for whatever reason, 'They' will get that information from your ISP. At that point, go library and do your Internet surfing from there using the public computer there. Also disconnect your home computer from all outside of the home communications i.e. telephone modem, cable modem, dsl modem. At least the government will need a warrant to enter your home unless 'They' declared you a terrorist, then all bets are off, you have no rights, blah, blah, blah...

[bemildred]

17. Correct.

And don't forget encryption, but that will get you examined real quick, I would think, so it works against the small fish in a big school approach to privacy. Which is why I've never used it for personal stuff. I'm not "interesting" to start with, so why bother?

[PatrynXX]

9. using a vpn service would cut down on speed

but unlikely they'll figure out where your at. since your paying a VPN to um (theres a site called this) hideyourass

[AtheistCrusader]

14. Guarantee anyone who matters is watching the inbound connections to that VPN service.

Just the fact that you are using it is of interest, even if the content going back and forth is encrypted.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. If it's a show that's been put over the public airways it should be considered public domain...

...can you imagine getting busted for downloading every episode of Gilligan's Island?

[hunter]

16. I would much rather pay $53.89 than suffer that indignity...

http://www.amazon.com/Gilligans-Island-Complete-Series-Collection/dp/B0050MB5AC

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. LOL!!! I just used it as an example but can you imagine putting that on at a party?

[krawhitham]

15. http://www.mypiracy.net

http://www.mypiracy.net

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. I went to that site..it has incorrect info on it.

I live in another town than what it says.

Had no idea the site existed, tho.

[PopeOxycontinI]

25. Hmmm...

That site got my city right, but didn't find the stuff I downloaded a while back.
Of course, I am not a big fish and I have recently taken some steps toward
anonymity.

[zonkers]

30. so what does that site even mean to a dummy like me. I clicked on it

and it listed some games and movies and an IP address. I am surfing from a starbucks. Does that mean these media items were recently downloaded from this IP?

[msongs]

18. the something for nothing mob frequently pays a hidden fee of some sort nt

[harmonicon]

21. The only something for nothing mob I know of is the RIAA, and they never pay any fees. (nt)

[joshcryer]

29. +1

[ramapo]

22. Lawsuits in NJ

The local newspaper has had a couple of stories in the last month about lawsuits being dropped on North Jersey BitTorrent users for downloading music, movies and even porn.

[CBGLuthier]

23. Bittorrent is NOT a sharing service. Is the BBC not capable of accuracy?

Bittorrent is a protocol. Nothing more. A protocol like ftp and http and all the rest of the alphabet gang. There is no service.

[hunter]

24. Doesn't seem innacurate to me.

http and ftp can also be called services.

Not my problem if the guys at bittorrent.com don't want to spook their investors.

The protocol has both legitimate and illegitimate uses. So does a car.

[Occulus]

26. No, that is not correct.

http, ftp, and BitTorrent are all protocols.

"Services" are administered. Protocols simply are.

[hunter]

31. Argggghhh. I know what "pedantic" means too.

Give the BBC editor a break.

[slampoet]

33. THOSE ARE NOT SERVICES. That is like saying .22 caliber is a service.

That is like saying a "2 by 4" is a service.

That is like saying a Fathom or an Ohm is a service.

[hunter]

34. Yeah, I remember CS101 too. Back in 1977...

The Teaching Assistants smacked yer hand with a ruler if you said it was a "service..."

Wait, fuck, that must have been the nuns in Catholic school.

I don't remember... drunk too much of my own beer since then, probably.

Reading any technical or science article in the popular press, you have to overlook the little glitches or you're not going to get anywhere. Nobody was telling you Noah stuffed all the animals on a boat. An editor wrote "service" maybe because they thought "protocol" would confuse the typical reader who has never been smacked with a ruler by a virgin wearing a penguin suit.

The point of this article is that someone is watching you...

Now you could be like me and say, "I don't give a fuck, make my day!" since at this point I figure 99% of us end up in some kind of prison anyways, a house in the suburbs, a condo in the city, a job we hate, or even some institution surrounded by razor wire fences with a roommate serving a life sentence for stealing a Twix bar.

But I know I'd feel real silly if I got pinched for stealing something from Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Sony, or commercial porn by acrobatic and oddly proportioned people without body hair. I don't have use for any of it. I wouldn't keep or use their pernicious intellectual properties if they gave them to me.

So, yeah, we know it's a protocol. What's your opinion of the study?

[ZombieHorde]

27. Meh. The internet has taken all the skill and fun out of thievery. nt

[joshcryer]

28. IRC is where it's at these days.

[grok]

35. The actual study makes some interesting points..

Last edited Wed Sep 5, 2012, 05:06 PM - Edit history (2)

It can be found here....

http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~tpc/Papers/P2PMonitor.pdf


The main point is that if all what your want to download is popular(in the top 100x of torrents seeded/leeched) you are EXTREMELY likely to be monitored and your IP snagged. The "monitors" want to catch as many fish as possible with the least amount of of bandwidth. If this is true, one strategy to counter might be to pick torrents with the same content(and quality) but significantly fewer seed/leech count. There are so many duplicated efforts in bit-torrent-land that they are easy to find. Should be slower. But far less likely for that particular torrent to get targeted. Also viable but lesser quality torrents geared to folk with non-static IPs(like iphones,ipads, smart phones)

In other words why bother to "catch" a couple when you can get thousands for the same effort? Be an easy target but easily satisfied with other people's efforts and money(political inferences abound!). hey, thats who YOU are, Just accept it. And you will sleep better.Till the piper comes a'callin 2012...

UN-supoenaeable, untraceable proxies might be best, but not all have them.