View Full Version : Usenet at college
Sai077
10-30-2011, 06:20 PM
So, I was reading another thread about this and it stated the only thing suspicious is the amount you would be downloading. My college's terms simply talk about copyright and download. They do not allow P2P either, and ban by MAC address by tracking flagged files.
How can I download without worry with Usenet and make sure my MAC address does not get flagged?
SSL may probably help - depending on what kind of filter they use to "track flagged files". There's still nothing you can do about the bandwidth usage, though, other than limiting your download speed
Malcontent
10-30-2011, 09:21 PM
So, I was reading another thread about this and it stated the only thing suspicious is the amount you would be downloading. My college's terms simply talk about copyright and download. They do not allow P2P either, and ban by MAC address by tracking flagged files.
How can I download without worry with Usenet and make sure my MAC address does not get flagged?
The best you can do is use SSL encryption and non standard SSL ports. Do NOT use port 563. It is the standard usenet port. Most usenet providers offer alternative SSL ports. Ports like 443. If you use SSL and non standard ports the college can't prove/know your downloading copyrighted stuff. Just don't be downloading 24/7 non stop. If your planning on downloading a great deal of stuff, spread it out over the course of several days.
sandman_1
10-30-2011, 09:37 PM
And you can change your MAC address...
JustDOSE
10-31-2011, 12:41 AM
And you can change your MAC address... /facepalm.... i think the OP ment IP, he cant change the schools mac. OP you will get banned no matter what you use, collage internet is no good for bootlegging, because you will take up so much bandwidth they will have to ban you
Your university might not get angry at you for using BT, but they probably won't like it if you're pulling down terabytes of traffic. Once the IT guys turned the port off in my room because I was saturating the 10mbit line nearly nonstop.
I wouldn't expect a call about "we saw you downloading Iron Man 2!" but instead "Seriously, wtf are you doing downloading so much, cut that shit out."
Sai077
10-31-2011, 02:01 AM
And you can change your MAC address... /facepalm.... i think the OP ment IP, he cant change the schools mac. OP you will get banned no matter what you use, collage internet is no good for bootlegging, because you will take up so much bandwidth they will have to ban you
Wrong, I actually downloaded about 25 gigs in a day and nothing happened. Plus my school has a traffic filter, so the school see's this as a regular download (Because of the SSL) and caps the download at 500 kbps. I downloaded a movie tonight, and now we will wait to see what happens. :P
And no, I mean MAC address.
I don't understand what "tracking flagged files" means. Even without using SSL encryption, I doubt that the college network admin would ever know what anyone might download from usenet.
But since it's usually only external bandwidth that's throttled or rationed - not bandwidth within the college network - you might consider asking around for any Direct Connect hubs on the network (or even start your own) ... then download to your heart's content. :)
rapidfire
10-31-2011, 05:31 AM
I know from experience they track by bandwidth usage. Using a SSL connection probably helps since you can just say you got a "virus" or something using your connection.
Sai077
10-31-2011, 02:18 PM
I know from experience they track by bandwidth usage. Using a SSL connection probably helps since you can just say you got a "virus" or something using your connection.
Good call on that excuse. Never thought of that. And to zot, I would love some more into on what exactly a Direct Connect hub is. We aren't able to host our own servers here either if that makes a difference.
JustDOSE
10-31-2011, 02:47 PM
/facepalm.... i think the OP ment IP, he cant change the schools mac. OP you will get banned no matter what you use, collage internet is no good for bootlegging, because you will take up so much bandwidth they will have to ban you
Wrong, I actually downloaded about 25 gigs in a day and nothing happened. Plus my school has a traffic filter, so the school see's this as a regular download (Because of the SSL) and caps the download at 500 kbps. I downloaded a movie tonight, and now we will wait to see what happens. :P
And no, I mean MAC address.
huh? does the school issue everyone who uses internet coax routers?...... how can they ban a mac address? your computer is tracked by an IP, unless your foolishly installing school-issued spyware software on your pc, which could be a possibility; if thats the case and they can see as deep as a pc's mac(which is impossible unless you install spyware) then your beyond help.
500kbs is over an hour to DL a 700mb movie . . . too slow not even worth getting busted for that speed
next year when you have a case against you come tell us about it, because i think everyone here would like to hear one of the stories of the thousands of people this happens to every year
nuff said, /ignored for the sake of sanity
Sai077
10-31-2011, 02:55 PM
Read below
Sai077
10-31-2011, 03:22 PM
See, we have to register our computer and enter our MAc address at the beginning of the year. My roommate registered before I did, and his account got tied to the router, so I never had to register my computer. SO, they don't have my MAC address, but they have his and his is tied to the router Im downloading through. So Im not sure if it shows Im downloading through his account or what.
jgjd2001
10-31-2011, 03:25 PM
well if you use SSL all they can see is that your downloading something but they cannot see the content.....hence they cannot proove that you are downloading anything copyright.
also the fact that you can legit download Open source software like ubuntu, open office etc....and they are quite large on the download, and since they do alot of builds (nightly, beta etc...)
can techinically download 24/7 and if they question it say open source builds of linux etc...
i would use usenet and not any BT as they can easily know the content as its not SSL......and also go through port 443.
huh? does the school issue everyone who uses internet coax routers?...... how can they ban a mac address? your computer is tracked by an IP, unless your foolishly installing school-issued spyware software on your pc, which could be a possibility; if thats the case and they can see as deep as a pc's mac(which is impossible unless you install spyware) then your beyond help.
My school would whitelist MAC addresses on our network, couldn't get on unless you were on the list. Home routers can do the same thing.
NoMansLand
10-31-2011, 03:33 PM
So, I was reading another thread about this and it stated the only thing suspicious is the amount you would be downloading. My college's terms simply talk about copyright and download. They do not allow P2P either, and ban by MAC address by tracking flagged files.
How can I download without worry with Usenet and make sure my MAC address does not get flagged?
Talking from personal experience. I've been at university for a year and a half. This whole time I've been using Astraweb (SSL, port 443) and like you, the policy is 'blah, blah, blah, no copyrighted material', NEVER been talked to ONCE about the constant abuse I put on this network. Like has been said, stay off the P2P systems, easily trackable. My uni tends to cut me off for 30-40 minutes as a warning when they notice P2P activity going on.
If you're lucky to be at a university that doesn't care about the volume of traffic, that's pretty good, but I wouldn't take it as a given.
Sai077
10-31-2011, 04:09 PM
huh? does the school issue everyone who uses internet coax routers?...... how can they ban a mac address? your computer is tracked by an IP, unless your foolishly installing school-issued spyware software on your pc, which could be a possibility; if thats the case and they can see as deep as a pc's mac(which is impossible unless you install spyware) then your beyond help.
My school would whitelist MAC addresses on our network, couldn't get on unless you were on the list. Home routers can do the same thing.
I think thats what ours does as well. But my room mate had his account tied to our router, so I never even registered my PC.
And to zot, I would love some more into on what exactly a Direct Connect hub is.
If you don't know anything about it, this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Connect_(file_sharing)) may be a good read.
In simple terms (i.e. the extent of my knowledge!), hubs act as servers for the Direct Connect protocol. You don't download from them, but they allow search, coordinate transfers and such. DC can work very well within a LAN, and is less likely to get you in trouble since nothing is downloaded from the Internet in that case, not to mention the fast speeds. Of course, the files have to come from somewhere, but once they're in the local network, it's fair game. Some universities have tremendous amounts of files available for download.
huh? does the school issue everyone who uses internet coax routers?...... how can they ban a mac address?
If you're on their LAN, they can see your MAC, and block it if they want - as cola said, any cheap home router can do this, too. And how do you think Ethernet frames are addressed?
jgjd2001
10-31-2011, 04:18 PM
DC hubs are all internal and only make use of the LAN network....so techincally not a problem for network admins as traffic is all internal and not external.
grey area really and depends on the network admin, as they can easily see which user on the network is the one hosting it.
Sai077
11-01-2011, 02:39 AM
Interesting. So based on the the fact that I have haven't registered my computer, but my room mate has registered his to our router (Which is plugged into the college network), I should be okay?
Interesting. So based on the the fact that I have haven't registered my computer, but my room mate has registered his to our router (Which is plugged into the college network), I should be okay?
By sharing his router, your bandwidth allocation (whether the college IT measures this weekly, monthly, or whatever) will be (potentially) only half the amount you would be allocated if you registered your own MAC address on the network and both of you connected separately.
But maybe you prefer to stay connected to the router for file-sharing or whatever. Since it seems you might be planning a downloading orgy, I strongly suggest getting your own MAC registered -- at least as a backup - even if you plan to remain using the router. Most routers allow user-set mac addresses, as well as the default hard-coded one, so if you prefer to stay connected with the router, you could also switch the router's mac to your own PC's (registered) mac address in case the router's MAC ever gets banned or throttled as punishment.
Personally, I would never register a hardware-coded MAC address if I could help it; I'd give a software-spoofed one.
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