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View Full Version : Torrent Relay - The Cure for BitTorrent Blockage



Detale
01-06-2009, 05:19 AM
It’s no secret that P2P technology, especially BitTorrent, consumes a tremendous amount of bandwidth. At peak hours, BitTorrent’s total volume of traffic can represent well over half of all data transmissions on an ISP’s network. Like college campus administrators, ISP reaction has been mixed. Comcast established a policy of “delaying” BitTorrent uploads to ease up on traffic congestion. This policy sparked a wave of protests which claimed that Comcast had violated the principles of net neutrality – the theory that all protocols and data transmissions should be treated equally. Because Comcast was only targeting BitTorrent, and no other protocols, the FCC found that Comcast had violated the principles of net neutrality and forced the company to adopt a more fair management policy. Comcast complied, and introduced us to “protocol agnostic” bandwidth management. This means that all protocols will be subject to bandwidth management, not just BitTorrent.
http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/5056/torrentrelay8874284iw3.jpg

The fact of life for most file-sharers is that at some point, you may be in a position where network administration has imposed serious barriers. Although Comcast only delayed uploading traffic, there are much worse circumstances, such as a network where the BitTorrent protocol is blocked completely. This isn’t a rare circumstance, and a well informed BitTorrent user can circumvent this problem, thanks to a web based BitTorrent program named Torrent Relay.

If P2P technology is blocked at the network level, that means whoever is in charge of the local networks you’re on, such as a college campus or at work, had made a conscious effort to prevent file-sharing. The legal reasons are a great motivator for this as well, as it’s next to impossible for the network administration to keep an eye on all data that transfers in and out of local computers. When a network is blocked, however, regular web access is still typically intact. This is where Torrent Relay (http://www.torrentrelay.com/) comes into
Torrent Relay is a web based BitTorrent client. You don’t download or install any client or program, you simply head over to http://www.torrentrelay.com, whether BitTorrent is blocked or not, and now you have full access to the BitTorrent universe. A word of caution, however - there is an extra step involved in the process.


Torrent Relay is a full featured BitTorrent client. As a web based client that finds its most frequent use during times of greater urgency, there are far fewer advanced features available. But that’s OK, it does everything we need it to. And because it's web based, all data transferred between you and Torrent Relay is web traffic

As its name implies, Torrent Relay takes on the role of the BitTorrent downloader/uploader from a remote server. You, as the eager file-sharer, are simply providing instructions to the remote sever, such as telling it what files you want. The remote machine then takes on the role of acquiring the file you want, and then, via HTTP transmission, sends the finished product your way. You’ll never have to worry about P2P protocol blockage because the BitTorrent transfer occurred on a remote machine, and the finished product was a simple HTTP transfer to you. Mission Accomplished!

:source: Source: http://www.slyck.com/story1813_Torrent_Relay_The_Cure_for_BitTorrent_Blockage
:view: Homepage: http://www2.torrelay.com/fresh/web.pl?d=

Brenya
01-07-2009, 03:03 AM
Definitely taking a look. From the FAQ:

"We know other areas of the world may have strict laws on what you can download. Or its just your ISP that is being a prune and throttling back torrent traffic. As we know torrents are mainly for legal use of content that is free or you already own. Your privacy is always kept with us, your IP, browser software and location are always kept private. Our logs are erased continuously throughout the day ensuring such privacy."

"Only Prime members can seed torrents."

"To ensure proper network capacity, torrents are limited to 500 KBps downlink. The transmission once thedownload has completed is completely unrestricted in bandwidth"

JGB
01-08-2009, 12:14 AM
Maybe I'm missing something but if you can't seed, whats the point?
that kind of wrecks the sharing part...

Brenya
01-08-2009, 05:20 PM
Maybe I'm missing something but if you can't seed, whats the point?
that kind of wrecks the sharing part...
You can seed! ...you just have to pay. A compelling motivation to use this system is if the benefits of anonymity outweigh the cost of not being able to share and the download speed limitations. And that, my friend, can only be determined subjectively and contextually.

Some people simply don't find sharing satisfactory. Others don't worry about the well-known fact that piracy is illegal in many many countries.

I myself don't use it, because I don't really use public trackers (I have to seed); I just think any system that encourages the anonymity of filesharing should be welcomed graciously... I'm still waiting for that ideal protocol...

Cabalo
01-08-2009, 05:23 PM
isn't it so easy for a network admin to ban all accesses to torrentrelay.com ? :idunno:

Brenya
01-08-2009, 05:57 PM
isn't it so easy for a network admin to ban all accesses to torrentrelay.com ? :idunno:
I know waffles bans tor servers lol