Private Torrents Infiltrated?

[Gman_Link]

I just read on a previous thread about "Your Top 3 Trackers," and I've read that TorrentLeech has been "infiltrated."

Infiltrated by whom exactly? The company that owns the copyrighted material? A third party that works for the respective company?

In addition, doesn't this mean that the tracker is now "bogus" in the sense that the infiltrators can now track every single peer on whatever torrent they've downloaded?

I know that companies can't really sue you for illegally downloading files when they found out by doing the same thing, but they can cut off your internet, (I'm pretty sure).

Are there any other "infiltrated" trackers that everyone should be wary of?

[Slickerey]

TorrentLeech has been infiltrated by BayTSP, an anti-piracy group in the US. There are many users complaining about this and even Sharky claims that it's true.

I have downloaded from TL many times on my home connection and never have I received a copyright infringement notice.

[RayJuniored]

That's why I stick with Torrent-Damage. Fuck that shit.

[ca_aok]

Pretty much every tracker has been infiltrated. If an angsty twelve year old with an IRC client can get invited to the "rare/1337" sites, so can anyone who's paid to do so. They social engineer their way in, and then sit there and monitor.

The reason people get notices on a tracker like TL is because it's so large that it's harder to narrow down who the leak is based on the peers on the torrent, especially since notices only tend to get sent out for big leaks that have hundreds if not thousands of snatches.

If you're that paranoid, perhaps you should consider the fact that you're using a method of P2P where your IP is clearly visible to the entire swarm of people. Thankfully they don't go after filesharers in Canada at the moment :)

[Rart]

Sites like that are never "bogus" after copyright holders have managed to send empty threats to a couple of users.

Just think about it. Even the most bonehead of users get into sites like TL everyday, do you not think that someone paid full time to harass users could just as easily get in?

I guarantee you that nearly all trackers people so often take for granted as small, "secure" sites, such as FTN, FSC, etc. etc. all have been "infiltrated" with copyright holders of one form or another. Copyright protectors are not stupid - if thousands of users can get into a site that is supposedly "secret" and secure", people who are motivated by money and a full time job will get in just as easily, if not easier.

However one thing to consider is that it may be more worthwhile to "watch" a torrent on a site where there are more peers, such as TL. However, companies will rarely do this as its in general a waste of time to track users (cut off the head of the snake is far more effective). In general, avoid screeners/prereleases of movies, early CAM versions, etc. and you'll be fine. That's mostly what they tend to look out for, not much else. TL is my most heavily used site and I've never received a notice.

[typeoholic]

Uncle Sam will never sink every ship of pirates on the WWW sea, try as he must. There will always be the ship-builders, the crews, as well as the pirates and, of course, ye old treasure! And e'en then, should it come to pass, our eluding ghosts shall ever haunt the battlefields and byways, always lurking amongst the shadows...

[Gman_Link]

Pretty much every tracker has been infiltrated...

The reason people get notices on a tracker like TL is because it's so large that it's harder to narrow down who the leak is based on the peers on the torrent, especially since notices only tend to get sent out for big leaks that have hundreds if not thousands of snatches.

If you're that paranoid, perhaps you should consider the fact that you're using a method of P2P where your IP is clearly visible to the entire swarm of people. Thankfully they don't go after filesharers in Canada at the moment :)

Canada... Oh Canada....
Aanyyways... If TorrentLeech has such a large amount of traffic, doesn't that mean that there are some similarly large percentage of members being sent with "notices" in comparison to those sent to other private trackers?

Well, even though my IP is visible to swarms of peers, I use PeerBlock in order to accommodate any copyright companies or other "dangerous" parties. I'd go for encrypting my IP, but doing so would mean lower dl speeds. So I just risk it.


Sites like that are never "bogus" after copyright holders have managed to send empty threats to a couple of users.

Just think about it. Even the most bonehead of users get into sites like TL everyday, do you not think that someone paid full time to harass users could just as easily get in?

I guarantee you that nearly all trackers people so often take for granted as small, "secure" sites, such as FTN, FSC, etc. etc. all have been "infiltrated" with copyright holders of one form or another....

However one thing to consider is that it may be more worthwhile to "watch" a torrent on a site where there are more peers, such as TL. However, companies will rarely do this as its in general a waste of time to track users (cut off the head of the snake is far more effective). In general, avoid screeners/prereleases of movies, early CAM versions, etc. and you'll be fine. That's mostly what they tend to look out for, not much else. TL is my most heavily used site and I've never received a notice.

After getting into a private tracker, what do they do if they don't do anything in the first place? Seems awfully counterproductive (without considering that they might be watching screeners/prereleases of moves, etc.).

Why is it a waste of time for a company to "watch" a torrent and send a "notice" to all of the peers downloading it? Wouldn't that thwart the torrenting community in general? In addition, what's the big deal about screeners/prereleases? Sure it's illegal to record them in a movie, but what's the difference between that and uploading the DVD of that movie? Wouldn't companies monitor a certain DVD torrent uploaded by a popular user like axxo or maxspeed(maxspeedz) and "notify" all the peers? (Unless of course the movie industry would lose money due to those consumers that watch the screeners/prereleases rather than the real deal).

Also, mininova was sued/taken over so that site is now bogus.. well... in terms of downloading copyrighted files. Pirate Bay, since it's been taken over by some (I think Swedish) company, I avoid at all costs, despite having some peers when using trackers like isohunt (which I use rarely, only in worst case scenarios). I would think that after such a takeover, uploaders would avoid Pirate Bay, but I seem to be wrong. I don't know if they receive notices or not, but I would think that most of the community would be receiving frequent notices.

[Artemis]

Uncle Sam will never sink every ship of pirates on the WWW sea, try as he must. There will always be the ship-builders, the crews, as well as the pirates and, of course, ye old treasure! And e'en then, should it come to pass, our eluding ghosts shall ever haunt the battlefields and byways, always lurking amongst the shadows...

Arrrrrrr me hearties, that was actually a very poetic post though, thanks :D

[Rart]

After getting into a private tracker, what do they do if they don't do anything in the first place? Seems awfully counterproductive (without considering that they might be watching screeners/prereleases of moves, etc.).

Why is it a waste of time for a company to "watch" a torrent and send a "notice" to all of the peers downloading it? Wouldn't that thwart the torrenting community in general? In addition, what's the big deal about screeners/prereleases? Sure it's illegal to record them in a movie, but what's the difference between that and uploading the DVD of that movie? Wouldn't companies monitor a certain DVD torrent uploaded by a popular user like axxo or maxspeed(maxspeedz) and "notify" all the peers? (Unless of course the movie industry would lose money due to those consumers that watch the screeners/prereleases rather than the real deal).

Also, mininova was sued/taken over so that site is now bogus.. well... in terms of downloading copyrighted files. Pirate Bay, since it's been taken over by some (I think Swedish) company, I avoid at all costs, despite having some peers when using trackers like isohunt (which I use rarely, only in worst case scenarios). I would think that after such a takeover, uploaders would avoid Pirate Bay, but I seem to be wrong. I don't know if they receive notices or not, but I would think that most of the community would be receiving frequent notices.

It's a waste of time because it is extremely time consuming to find every peer and log their ISP, contact their ISP through the proper means, and have them forward a message to the user (considering that they're willing). In addition, most of the users span multiple continents which makes it even more of a pain. And even then, most people don't take it seriously (or might not even read their ISP email), and even if they do take it seriously, it has only affected a very, very small percentage of the BT population.

They probably just send copyright notices periodically to get their "message" across and scare people into believing they are constantly watching, deterring BT virgins from starting.

Cutting the "head off the snake" would be far more effective, as would cut off the main source of distribution for torrent files, affecting millions rather then simply a couple users. This is why they generally try to attack sites like Mininova or TPB, as you mentioned.

And I guess they are particularly partial to pre-releases/screeners because opening weekends/ticket sales have a huge affect on the success of the movie (or it's perceived success?) and obviously if someone had a decent version of the movie they wouldn't wait to go see it in theaters. And of course movie companies probably have a far larger budget from which to pursue these kind of things. Although I'm not a huge movie buff, perhaps others could shed more light on it.

[ca_aok]

Aanyyways... If TorrentLeech has such a large amount of traffic, doesn't that mean that there are some similarly large percentage of members being sent with "notices" in comparison to those sent to other private trackers?
There are. Hence, the notices. I've heard of people getting notices elsewhere as well (BitGamer had a some on a leaked game a while back if I recall correctly, perhaps it was a different gaming tracker though).


Well, even though my IP is visible to swarms of peers, I use PeerBlock in order to accommodate any copyright companies or other "dangerous" parties. I'd go for encrypting my IP, but doing so would mean lower dl speeds. So I just risk it.
Tinfoil hat. And there's no such thing as "encrypting" your IP. You could torrent through a proxy, tunnel, or VPN, but that IP is still visible. It'd just be yet another link they'd have to track you through before they could send you a notice.

After getting into a private tracker, what do they do if they don't do anything in the first place? Seems awfully counterproductive (without considering that they might be watching screeners/prereleases of moves, etc.).
They can keep track of what's going on inside and build a large stack of useful information in case the site is ever taken down by the anti-P2P folks.

Why is it a waste of time for a company to "watch" a torrent and send a "notice" to all of the peers downloading it? Wouldn't that thwart the torrenting community in general? In addition, what's the big deal about screeners/prereleases? Sure it's illegal to record them in a movie, but what's the difference between that and uploading the DVD of that movie? Wouldn't companies monitor a certain DVD torrent uploaded by a popular user like axxo or maxspeed(maxspeedz) and "notify" all the peers? (Unless of course the movie industry would lose money due to those consumers that watch the screeners/prereleases rather than the real deal).
The idea is that pre-releases hugely damage retail sales since piracy generally occurs after the fact... keeners who want the stuff right away have to go purchase the content. That's why you should avoid CAM's... because the theatre screenings are one of the few remaining ways they still make money.

Also, mininova was sued/taken over so that site is now bogus.. well... in terms of downloading copyrighted files. Pirate Bay, since it's been taken over by some (I think Swedish) company, I avoid at all costs, despite having some peers when using trackers like isohunt (which I use rarely, only in worst case scenarios). I would think that after such a takeover, uploaders would avoid Pirate Bay, but I seem to be wrong. I don't know if they receive notices or not, but I would think that most of the community would be receiving frequent notices.
One forgets that while some people may get more notices on public trackers, anonymity is a two way street. You're free to use whatever proxies you wish on a public tracker for both browsing and downloading, there's no account or email linking you to a passkey, etc.

The main reason I use private torrents are speed, retention, and file quality (i.e. fewer fakes and viruses). Your security isn't really any better or worse as far as I'm concerned.

[thisguy]

ban anybody that lives in the hollywood area lol

[Gman_Link]

@ca_aok

Ok. I've got a lot from what you just said. Thanks a lot!

[chriswall39]

Most trackers have probably been infiltrated as said, but for now they arent a priority. First the RIAA and MPAA or foreign equivalent will go after the huge public trackers and fully shut them down (mininova, tpb, isohunt, extratorrent, and the hundreds of others) as these are still the largest source of piracy, so for now privates are safe because they arent the target.