how safe is it to donate?

[maul1515]

I read about oink and a lot of people were worried that authorities could trace the donations back to the donors so how safe is it to donate on some of these trackers? How do the people taking the donations remain aynonomous? You have to use real information to sign up for paypa1.

Good night to all. :)

[sert]

I dont think its a risk for you to donate. Most possibly they will go after the recipient.

[tiolewis]

how safe ? i think ... 99 %

[TheFoX]

It's one hundred percent safe, because you are donation, and receiving nothing in return.

In fact, the only time you might find yourself in hot water is if you made a compulsory donation to access illegal material, via a dump box, or any other restricted method (Scene Access).

You have to remember that donating on OiNK was purely voluntary, and you did not receive anything that could be construed as illegitimate.

Even on sites that promote donations using a gimmick, such as Pay2Leech, or upload credits, these are not assigned to illegitimate material. In fact, what you spend you credit on does not matter. You could download the latest Linux distro.

The only time a monetary crime is committed is when you wittingly part with cash for something you know to be illegal. Paying a donation so that you can post in the VIP forums, or have a yellow star next to your name, is not yet a hanging offence, although the RIAA is trying to criminalize the yellow star.

:lol:

Your should also remember that association is not adequate proof of activity. There were many members of OiNK who did not do much, if any, file sharing. They were there simply because of the community. Being a member of a community does not automatically make you a criminal. Only the act of crime makes you a criminal.

[maul1515]

Thanks TheFoX for answering my question so thoroughly. It makes me feel less paranoid when donating especially to smaller sites. A very stickyable answer. :) Happy Holidays to all.

[ersatzp]

While TheFoX is correct in that the case wouldn't hold up in a court of law you could still be charged. Whatever org may decide to bring litigation so that'll you'll settle out of court or just to cause you hassle and money for defense. Of course it's unlikely that they will ever go after donors.

[maul1515]

I knew there had to be a catch. I guess there is always a risk in whatever is done over the net. Thanks for the reply.

[Bucktoof]

I've donated to several different sites. No problems, and thanks for the tips TheFox - it puts it into context and he explains it very well.

[lostdemon]

Very safe to donate
Many sites need our donations to keep them running.
Blackcats is one that I would most definately not want to lose.

[Stevis]

I try to donate to every site I join, even if I can only make the minimum donation at the time.

[FatBob]

It's one hundred percent safe, because you are donation, and receiving nothing in return.

In fact, the only time you might find yourself in hot water is if you made a compulsory donation to access illegal material, via a dump box, or any other restricted method (Scene Access).

You have to remember that donating on OiNK was purely voluntary, and you did not receive anything that could be construed as illegitimate.

Even on sites that promote donations using a gimmick, such as Pay2Leech, or upload credits, these are not assigned to illegitimate material. In fact, what you spend you credit on does not matter. You could download the latest Linux distro.

The only time a monetary crime is committed is when you wittingly part with cash for something you know to be illegal. Paying a donation so that you can post in the VIP forums, or have a yellow star next to your name, is not yet a hanging offence, although the RIAA is trying to criminalize the yellow star.

:lol:

Your should also remember that association is not adequate proof of activity. There were many members of OiNK who did not do much, if any, file sharing. They were there simply because of the community. Being a member of a community does not automatically make you a criminal. Only the act of crime makes you a criminal.

thanks for that great explanation

now all my money belongs to trackers :01:

[NOLF]

I always donate to the sites I'm a member of and I have NEVER had any problems what so ever. Besides that I think everyone should donate to their favourite sites, just a couple of $$ at least.

[$we]

i'd rather a site have a bunch of p2c advertisements to get their revenue than p2l or "donate and get special privileges and 'cool status'" systems. consider tl as an example. if you are understandably this paranoid, maul1515, then just don't donate.
before i assume too much, i shall ask you why you would ever want to donate considering the risk of exposure, as if donation is the only way a tracker can gain revenue?

[stoi]

Regarding the ads argument.

Public torrent link sites, yes i agree they can have as many ads as they like, Private communities i hate seeing ads on them, and we will never ever have ads on blackcats.

A private tracker may get 1000 users on a day, especially for something like blackcats, when there is a realy slow period for new games, like now for example.

Public sites may get 100,000 views per day, and maybe a lot more.

1000 views per day is not enough to pay anything monthly, and then you have ad blocker programs, pop up blockers, even picture blockers so most users that are savvy enough (which i would think is 90% of members of private trackers, maybe 10% of public torrent sites use)

Then you could have another incentive, i do know one tracker that does this, im not knocking them, but it can and does happen, Donate for VIP and you wont see any ads on the site, so ads bring more problems then they are worth.

Personally i hate ads, and if i hate them i do not see why my members have to see them. and they are not the great money making secret most people think they are, especially for private tracker communities.

[$we]

ad they are not the great money making secret most people think they are, especially for not private tracker communities.

you're right, but i didn't mean to imply that i think ads should completely replace donations just because donations are risky to some in oppressive governments. many people can freely donate, and should, in countries where the government isn't as pervasive in the private affairs of the citizenry. however, i strongly advise those in other countries to reconsider the benefits of donating and decide whether they outweigh the risks involved.

edit: if maximum anonymity is your goal, never donate. this probably is your goal, since you are paranoid; you are not alone. i have never heard of an anonymous donation system, the organization of which is beyond me, so i think this is your best bet.

[grimms]

Yea i am gonna start donating more when i can. id on't see anything wrong with it. It would be a crime if trackers said it was mandatory then yes.

[weenden]

so far so good for me

[AmpeD]

safer not to donate...
but its still pretty safe

[sanjana]

Don't worry. It is safe in terms of transfer and now a day you can create the virtual credit card instead of your actual card and that can't be used more than once.

I did donate and it is safe and faster..

[yayyyyyy]

safer not to donate...
but its still pretty safe

even on p2l sites you can get spotted while uploading to get some buffer... but if you donate without uploading, copyright agencies cannot say that you have uploaded copyrighted material :)