I just received a disturbing letter in the mail

[Fatal Rose]

Apparently Charter Communications found out a downloaded UFC 100 from a torrent site. Now I am afraid of downloading anything. What can I do to prevent my downloads from being tracked? Please help me out.

 

I download a lot from torrent finder at times and the torrent address that came up in the mail was torrentz.ru, obviously I am never going to use torrent finder ever again. Is there certain programs I need to mask my downloads from my internet provider? Safety methods I am unaware of? Is Demonoid still safe for my to DL from? Please help me out.

which Torrent sites are safe and which ones are not?

 

 

I am in desperate need of help.

 

How long should i resign from torrenting?

 

So far:

Do not download new/popular torrents.

Avoid popular trackers

avoid public trackers

do not DL anything for a while (how long exactly? Month maybe?)

Anything else to add to that list?

 

Right now I am currently and always have been using a old bitcomet build, 0.70 to be exact. What torrent program do all of you recommend?

 

 

what about downloading ROMs/Emulators/PC games off of websites? Is that still risky? What abotu downloading via sites like Rapidshare, Megaupload, etc..?

 

Shougl I stick to DC++ from now on?

 

I would hate to stop using demonoid.

I have a good share ratio here.

 

Sorry about all the questions.

 

EDIT: I download comics from demonoid every week.

I also download movies from this site, I don't often download new movies or games. Most movies I download are at least 6 months old. I mainly download old film noir flicks when it comes to video files or documentaries.

When I do DL games they are usually old Dreamcast games or old PC games like the original Broken sword games and old school point and click adventure games.

 

 

Help me.

 

These are two posts I merged in another thread I created at another forum, please help me.

[Rag]

These e-mails usually mean absolutely nothing. I received several in the past.

 

I would recommend switching to utorrent, bitcomet is banned on several trackers.

 

HTML downloading is fine. As far as I know, uploading raises the red flag, not the downloading. Rapidshare, Megaupload, etc. don't have this problem. So technically you can, and I have, received similar e-mails for uploads on DC++.

 

Demonoid is essentially no ratio so share ratio is obsolete

 

You could switch to private trackers, you are usually safe on those. Or invest in a seedbox, you are virtually uncatchable unless you are stupid if you use a seedbox.

 

I believe you may be overreacting a bit, don't sweat it.

[LoRd_SnOw]

My nephew got one in the mail in february 2009 as far as i know he and his fokes are not in jail yet.

[Agozer]

Downloading emulators from websites is never risky. They're just a piece of software, that isn't in any way illegal. Downloading PC games from websites... unless you are talking about abandonware, I don't see a problem. Furthermore, considering the amount of people downloading ROMs from websites, the ones who will get the heat eventually will be the site operators, not the visitors.

 

About those emails: I would consider those fishing in the dark unless you get a second one. Also, seconded about uTorrent.

[Robert]

utorrent (and some others) have the option of encrypting your traffic. Also some sites offer https security port as well.

 

The main problem is that the RIAA etc say to the public sites (the US ones): Install a monitor for us on your tracker or we'll shut you down. Then they download stats from time to time and send out random letters. I would say to ignore them unless they send a court notice. Even then, if the court is in another state you could probably ignore that as well. There's plenty of sites where lawyers have given advice how to beat these racketeers.

 

IMHO, never download unreleased or new movies/games/whatever that are still on show/on sale. Or certain disgusting content. You're just asking for trouble.

 

Outside of that, play it by ear. Things like old roms, emulators and old games should be perfectly safe. IMO.

 

 

About rapidshare etc: I've never heard of anyone getting in trouble for downloading from those sites, get what you can while you can, unless you hear differently.

[Shibathedog]

I know a lot of people that have been in this situation, fortunately I myself have never been caught by taking the right precautions. Here are some tips which may help you:

 

For the next month or so I would at least calm down the downloading (mainly large downloads since it's usually obvious p2p traffic), Supposedly they are a lot more likely to bring you to court if you get one right after another (I read you need 3) but I haven't seen anything to support this. It seems to be just random to me. Either way it's better to play it safe.

 

If you do not have a wireless router, GET ONE, If you get a letter saying you must go to court turn off MAC filtering and any wireless encryption, make sure to turn off all logging as well. (usually off/low enough by default on consumer routers) This way they cannot prove it was you. It could have been someone using your wireless. I read of a couple people that got away with it because of this.

 

Call your ISP, let them know it wasn't you downloading the files (blame it on anyone, say it was a friend's friend who came over, a neighbor, even say you don't know) and apologize for the inconvenience. If you don't feel comfortable lying just say you have deleted the file and you are sorry. Say that the website you downloaded it from made it sound like it wasn't illegal because many of them do. Maybe even say you paid to download it lol they will think your an idiot but who cares. Ignorance is no excuse but it usually makes this conversation go easier/the ISP is a lot more sympathetic than the law, especially since they still want your business.

 

Look into enabling encryption in your torrent client

 

Look into anonymous networks like TOR. I tried this and honestly it sucked ass. It was unbearably slow, public trackers are just not worth this nonsense.

 

Look into setting up IP Filtering, Don't listen to people who say these are useless. They are not bulletproof but they do help. If they cannot connect and prove you where actually transferring what they say you where they can't do shit. Just an IP Address is not enough, so these DO help assuming the IP is on the list.

 

Personally I only use private trackers, I do use Demonoid on occasion but I don't trust it too much, I only use it if I have to. Demonoid is like a semi-private site. Oh and STAY OFF TPB AND ITS TRACKER, It is not owned by the same people anymore. Even torrents you get from other sites, check it to make sure none of TPB trackers are in it (you can remove them if there are other trackers available)

 

Consider other means of downloading. I know I'm pushing Usenet again but it's worth it. You can't get caught. 256-bit encryption is no joke. You can put it through port 443 so it looks like web traffic (besides usage patterns) as well. Everything I do on Usenet from searching to downloading is all encrypted. There is no uploading either and apparently uploading is what you get in trouble for not downloading.

 

Speaking of encryption, when you go to torrent sites see if they support HTTPS, Chances are they are not monitoring all your browsing but just to be safe

 

All things considered, you are probably fine, I know about 15 people who got these letters, Only one had to go to court, and it ended up being dropped or something. (no one settled on anything it just went away)

[Agozer]

TPB has trackers, and to my understanding no part of the so-called acquisition has been truly finalized, now that it has come to light that whoever (forgot its name) planned to "buy" TPB, suddenly doesn't have the cash to buy TPB, and the company in question has a shady past. It's supposedly currently trying to negotiate with the content industries and pitching their idea. TPBs true trackers have been scattered all over the globe for a good while now, and the company that was supposed to take charge of the Legal TPB certainly doesn't own any of them.

 

Until there's an official entry in the TPB blog regarding the current state of affairs, I don't see any reason why people should shun away from TPB.

[Shibathedog]

That did happen but things have moved on because the trackers no longer belong to them. I think the deal actually did go through but I'm not sure. Basically I read an article proving that TPB trackers and global gaming factory's trackers are the same. Just two URLs that go to the same place owned by GGF. I think I also read that the new GGF URLs are being put into downloaded torrents already.

 

Even if the article was bogus, It's still a public tracker which is reason enough to warrant avoiding.

[emsley]

Poop in an envelope and send it to the main man at the ISP.

[Fatal Rose]

Poop in an envelope and send it to the main man at the ISP.

Sounds like an idea!

 

[Bobdrakke]

Like everybody has said take it easy for awhile check out upload sites http/ nntp.