Precautions to take when downloading Illegally

[PiratePete]

Ok guys I really been looking around and could find much info on how to protect myself while downloading from public and semi private trackers please post your suggestions for example peer guardian and other precautions to prevent the mpaa from knocking on your front door and also please post what you do to prevent getting a letter to your house from the enemy Thank you file sharing community.

[tusks]

Well public trackers are always risky unless you decide to use a socks proxy program such as Tor to mask your IP or use wireless at an internet cafe and such. However, unless you decide to pay for a private proxy on a dedicated 10mb line (astalavista used to offer something like that), your speeds will usually suffer somewhat. The best option when using public trackers if you don't want to hurt your speed is to use peerguardian as you said or to avoid public trackers all together.

One really sneaky thing I like to do is use a 100 Gb Portable hard drive thats completely encrypted and plug it into a public computer with a fast internet connection and download using that connection to my hard drive and seed back. If you go to work or live at a university this is a really excellent way to be absolutely safe when downloading :)

[Emma1979]

i always ensure i am using peerguardian, and i also use a program called hide ip platinum, which disguises my real ip into one from another country

[Broken]

I have a full proof solution.
Don't download using torrents! The protocol has NO security in it. It's designer did not intent people to use it to pirate content. Little less, protect them while doing so.

Peerguardian is a joke. You IP is transfered through the entire swarm. With one connection to one user the IPs of everyone in the swarm can be reveled. Also, those IP hiding programs don't work. Without your true IP, you can not connect to a swarm for transfers.
I.E. if you go out and give all your buddies a fake phone number and tell them to call you, how many phone calls do you think your gonna get?

If you have to use torrents, the best solution from a "security" stand point is to get on the most private tracker you can. But, keep in mind that if you can get on to it so can "the bad guys".

[$SnoopDo2G$]

Use a VPN Connection Tunnel, then there is no worries i guess... ;)

[grimms]

Yea theres no real 100% fail safe method as of yet. a VPN Tunnel is your best option though.

[tusks]

"Also, those IP hiding programs don't work. Without your true IP, you can not connect to a swarm for transfers."

This is untrue. IP "hiding" programs, AKA Proxies can be used effectively for anonymous file sharing as long as they are anonymous not transparent. See uTorrent "Connection" options supports proxy servers.

A note about using VPN Tunneling: You will either have to pay for VPN tunneling which is very effective or set up a VPN tunnel on your own LAN which is basically useless in terms of protection. For anyone interested in VPN tunneling, here is an informative article on the subject: http://www.vpntools.com/vpntools_articles/vpn-tunnel.htm

[Broken]

Using a proxy server is much different than using a magical program that promises to hide your IP all by it's self.

[$SnoopDo2G$]

What about hotspotshield ? just wonderin'

[Sonnentier]

What about hotspotshield ? just wonderin'

You mean how secure is it to use someone else's internet access?

[Broken]

What about hotspotshield ? just wonderin'

You mean how secure is it to use someone else's internet access?


The program appears to be a Wi-Fi firewall, I'm not sure.
If that's what it is it offers no (Zero, Nada, Zilch) protection for downloading "stuff".

It protects your computer from being hacked, it does not hide who you are.
If you are talking about taking advantage of an unsecured Wi-Fi network. Well, it's a really asshole thing to do - that's all I have to say about that.