davieG Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 BBC Anyone using file-sharing service BitTorrent to download the latest film or music release is likely to be monitored, UK-based researchers suggest. A Birmingham University study indicates that an illegal file-sharer downloading popular content would be logged by a monitoring firm within three hours. The team said it was "surprised" by the scale of the monitoring. Copyright holders could use the data to crack down on illegal downloads. The three-year research was carried out by a team of computer scientists who developed software that acted like a BitTorrent file-sharing client and logged all the connections made to it. BitTorrent is a method of obtaining files by downloading from many users at the same time. The logs revealed that monitoring did not distinguish between hardcore illegal downloaders and those new to it. "You don't have to be a mass downloader. Someone who downloads a single movie will be logged as well," said Dr Tom Chothia, who led the research. "If the content was in the top 100 it was monitored within hours," he said. "Someone will notice and it will be recorded." Less popular content was also monitored although less frequently, the study indicated. Marketing tool The research identified about 10 different monitoring firms logging content. Of these, a handful were identifiable as copyright-enforcement organisations, security firms and even other research labs. But about six of the biggest-scale monitors were harder to identify, as the companies behind them used third-party hosting firms to run the searches for them. Why such firms wanted the massive amounts of data was unclear, said Dr Chothia. "Many firms are simply sitting on the data. Such monitoring is easy to do and the data is out there so they think they may as well collect it as it may be valuable in future," he said. Some firms alleged to be carrying out mass-scale monitoring have been accused of selling the data to copyright holders for marketing purposes. "The data shows what content is popular and where," said Dr Chothia. The study also revealed that so-called blocklists, used by some illegal file-sharers to prevent monitors from connecting to their computers, might not be much use. "Many of the monitors we found weren't on the blocklists so these measures to bypass the monitors aren't really working," said Dr Chothia. Hard evidence Some copyright owners in Europe and the US are using IP addresses gathered by monitoring firms to apply for court orders obliging internet service providers to hand over the physical addresses associated with them. They are then writing to individuals seeking recompense or warning of the possibility of court action. But Dr Chothia doubts evidence gathered in this manner would stand up in court. "All the monitors observed during the study would connect to file-sharers and verify that they were running the BitTorrent software, but they would not actually collect any of the files being shared," he said. "It is questionable whether the monitors observed would actually have evidence of file-sharing that would stand up in court," he added. Lawyers have previously cast doubt on whether evidence collected from an IP address can be used in court because such an address pinpoints the internet connection used for downloading rather than a specific individual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSpaM Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 Said it before and i'll say it again. Just dont use torrents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny. Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 Or use an encrypted anonymous proxy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babylon Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 Or use an encrypted anonymous proxy! Or buy it legally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny. Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 How do I buy TV series that are only shown on USA cable channels and not yet released anywhere in the world on DVD or BluRay legally? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babylon Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 How do I buy TV series that are only shown on USA cable channels and not yet released anywhere in the world on DVD or BluRay legally? Wait until they are or move to America. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlueBrett Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 How do I buy TV series that are only shown on USA cable channels and not yet released anywhere in the world on DVD or BluRay legally? stream them from tvlinks or somewhere similar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CupidStunt Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 newgroups are the key if you are worried, faster too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny. Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 Wait until they are or move to America. Fantastic pragmatic advice! stream them from tvlinks or somewhere similar How is that any more legal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKCJ Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 It's ridiculous really. Monitoring someone for basically stealing a 5 quid cinema ticket or a 10 quid DVD. Who is doing this? Are there not more important things to worry about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phube Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 It's ridiculous really. Monitoring someone for basically stealing a 5 quid cinema ticket or a 10 quid DVD. Who is doing this? Are there not more important things to worry about? Somebody steals a massive diamond haul for £10million... you expect them to be tracked, surely? But you are surprised if a million people stealing £10 are as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny. Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 It's not stealing, why do you keep comparing it with physical theft? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnderbyFox Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 newgroups are the key if you are worried, faster too Care to elaborate on what these are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKCJ Posted 5 September 2012 Share Posted 5 September 2012 Somebody steals a massive diamond haul for £10million... you expect them to be tracked, surely? But you are surprised if a million people stealing £10 are as well? So how're you going to monitor a million people? Come on, you know those two examples are not comparable. As much as they perhaps should be. Besides, that's a massively exaggerated figure. I highly doubt that as much as 1/60th of the British Population downloads movies/games illegally. I'd hazard a guess that if they spent as much time going for the root of the cause (e.g. the website these illegal downloads are made from) then they'd be much more successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain... Posted 6 September 2012 Share Posted 6 September 2012 So how're you going to monitor a million people? Come on, you know those two examples are not comparable. As much as they perhaps should be. Besides, that's a massively exaggerated figure. I highly doubt that as much as 1/60th of the British Population downloads movies/games illegally. I'd hazard a guess that if they spent as much time going for the root of the cause (e.g. the website these illegal downloads are made from) then they'd be much more successful. But they are not downloaded from websites, they are downloaded from other users, the websites just provide the links. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSpaM Posted 7 September 2012 Share Posted 7 September 2012 Besides, that's a massively exaggerated figure. I highly doubt that as much as 1/60th of the British Population downloads movies/games illegally. I wouldnt be so fast as to jump to conclusions about this to be honest. Ubisoft recently disclosed information they had that 90% of their games are pirated and not paid for worldwide, the music industry is probably worse than this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daggers Posted 7 September 2012 Share Posted 7 September 2012 Anyone using file-sharing service BitTorrent to download the latest film or music release is likely to be monitored, UK-based researchers suggest. A Birmingham University study indicates that an illegal file-sharer downloading popular content would be logged by a monitoring firm within three hours. The only information they obtain is the IP. No computer is identified, the information is useless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSpaM Posted 7 September 2012 Share Posted 7 September 2012 The only information they obtain is the IP. No computer is identified, the information is useless. Your IP is all they need to prosecute you. All they have to do is ask your ISP what mac address was used to download the data from the IP address, the mac address is hard coded onto your network card, and is sent to your ISP every time you connect to them, so it is in fact extremely easy for them to trace which computer it came from. Otherwise you'd just have a bunch of people who get around it by claiming somebody else must have hopped onto their wireless and downloaded the files. I know from personal experience with a friend that this excuse does not work. The only sure fire way is to buy a new network card, burn the old one, and never download anything illegal ever again. If however you haven't heard anything for two years + your generally in the clear, as your ISP only has to hold the data for two years before they can delete it. Most ISP's are actually against storing this information, but are forced to by the police. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lavrentis Posted 7 September 2012 Share Posted 7 September 2012 I remember on some you could see the IP's downloading the same file as you, even on Limewire you could do that. Don't use Torrents, use client-to-server download sites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox92 Posted 7 September 2012 Share Posted 7 September 2012 I've been using torrents, via BitTorrent, recently again as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leicfox Posted 7 September 2012 Share Posted 7 September 2012 I use a seedbox that's in another country to download my torrents from private torrent sites at very fast speeds (uploads & downloads) then download the files from the seedbox to computer using a secure ftp connection with a client like Cute FTP or Filezilla. Safest way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox96 Posted 8 September 2012 Share Posted 8 September 2012 Surely they should be going after the one's who are uploading/seeding it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CupidStunt Posted 9 September 2012 Share Posted 9 September 2012 Care to elaborate on what these are? best for you to google it for you to understand what they actually are, than for me to try and explain in great detail what they are But basically, they are similar to torrents in many ways you will have a client reader, and you need access to newsgroups you normally have to pay for this, although some isp's offer free access but the retention is limited What you do get from using them, is maxing out your connection at home you dont share anything, just downloading I used to use this company http://www.news.astraweb.com/specials/kleverig-11.html?gclid=CLynxfDcqLICFYcKfAodU3QAPA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSpaM Posted 10 September 2012 Share Posted 10 September 2012 Surely they should be going after the one's who are uploading/seeding it? If your downloading off torrents you are seeding them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CupidStunt Posted 11 September 2012 Share Posted 11 September 2012 If your downloading off torrents you are seeding them not unless you are a leeching bastard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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