Are Private BitTorrent Trackers Safe?

[Cerise]

Just read this article

http://duggmirror.com/tech_news/Are_...Trackers_Safe/

[NA_Magus]

Illegal filesharing has its risks any way you put it.

[DefX]

This article says that we shouldnt be worried about minor notifications from mpaa etc but if and when they infiltrate and bring down a private torrent site, all members will be screwed. Great.

[magicrabbit]

ok, if they ever do that ill trash my computer, trash my email accounts, change all my passwords, and donate 100 dollars to the mpaa

[DefX]

ok, if they ever do that ill trash my computer, trash my email accounts, change all my passwords, and donate 100 dollars to the mpaa

$100? I bet theyll tell you youre about $2900 short.

[magicrabbit]

Lalalalala I Cant Hear You Im Safe In My Own Little Bubble No One Can Hurt Me!

[Skiz]

Illegal filesharing has its risks any way you put it.

Not true.

[magicrabbit]

Illegal filesharing has its risks any way you put it.

Not true.

Not that i disagree with you but do you have anything to back that up?

[Gish]

ok, if they ever do that ill trash my computer, trash my email accounts, change all my passwords, and donate 100 dollars to the mpaa

Thats the quote of the day for me! I'm going to bed.

[Skiz]

Not true.

Not that i disagree with you but do you have anything to back that up?

I must sound like a broken record the past few days with so many newsgroups answers, but downloading from newsgroups is about as safe as you can possibly be. The only one who even has any possibility of knowing what you are downloading is the NSP, and they don't care what you download, since it is, after all, coming from their own servers.

Binary newsgroup downloading is entirely different from P2P, which gives out your IP address and your shared files (both shared and downloading) to anyone in the network who asks, including the MPAA and RIAA, who run bots to harvest IP addresses and shared files/folders on everyone using the major P2P networks. Keep in mind that when you download a file in eMule or Bittorrent, you are simultaneously uploading the same file to others. The network wouldn't operate otherwise.

Uploading (posting) to newsgroups is another matter entirely. The NSPs will log uploads to make sure if you are a spammer they can go after you. Uploading to a ISP-run news server (the kind that has about 3 days retention) is not the least bit anonymous, since they keep long-term logs, as well as ISPs do not strip out post-ID headers like paid news providers do.

I've never come across a single story about someone who got arrested or sued for posting a copyrighted file, but it's quite possible. If a poster gets reported, usually the worst thing that happens is that the NSP cancels his posting ability. (Then most banned users just create another account!)

But if you are just a beginner, it's best not to try to post files. Leave that to the experienced users.