October 23, 2004

Curious George: Torrent site registration I have a problem, I really like this torrent site but they keep my IP Address on the site and I'd really rather not get burned for it.

So I was thinking I could go to a Burger King make a new e-mail account, send myself an invite, sign up on that computer and then just let the old account remain inactive and hope the statute of limitations passes before the site gets in trouble. Will this work? Any one have any other ideas? I've uploaded and downloaded close to thirty gigs, and they keep a record of everything I've taken and put up on the site. I think I need to start making DVD rips if I'm gonna keep my ratio up and I would think that would make me more of a target.

posted by FedoraUndershirt 20 years ago
  • Your IP is freely available to anyone connected to any torrent you're on anyhow. I think the site registration would be the least of your worries, if you're going to be that paranoid about it.
  • The purpose of these registrations is so that they can keep a running total of your upload/download ratio. When you log in, it associates your account to your IP address (so you don't have to login again unless it changes) and you're allowed to connect to their tracker and get stuff. Anonymity is great-- unfortunately, it gives people very little incentive to stay on and upload after they've finished downloading their file, which is what led to the creation of these members-only trackers. IOW, your burger king idea won't work unless you download at burger king too.
  • Hmm, well that blows, so I guess I couldn't even wardrive without having to create a new account each time...maybe I could just use BK's wireless internet connection and just create an account for that IP Address. I'll probably just leave things as they are though, for now. Thanks guys.
  • Isn't it possible to spoof one's own IP address using a proxy server or something?
  • Fedora: actually, wardriving is fine. You can change IPs as often as you like, you just have to log in every time. Actually, it may be even easier: I'm speculating here, but if you log in and start the torrent, I think it will continue after you change IP addresses (by going home, for example) even if you don't log in again, because though the tracker won't talk to you (it no longer recognizes you) I think you'll still be able to download from your peers. This is not as efficient, since you won't find out about any new peers (it's the tracker's job to keep you informed) but it'll allow you to use the torrents with all your bandwidth at home. Finally, you could just set up an open wireless access point for some plausible deniability. Barring a "Hackers"-style FBI raid, it would be practically impossible to pin anything on you. Of course, you'll have to live with the loss of some bandwidth.
  • That's a cool idea, usually on the site people will jump to seed anything they can when there's a leecher, so I could keep a seeder from a wardriving point to my house. I do have a wireless connection though, I do all this from my laptop. That has to fit into plausible deniabilty. I don't know why it didn't occur to me. Cool, thank you.
  • You can rolypolyman but because of the way proxies work they suck for p2p applications. Think of it this way: your computer makes a request to a proxy server. That proxy server then checks its cache to see if http://bananas.com/ is "fresh". If it is, it returns that stored information back to you from the proxy server, not from http://bananas.com/. It can be good for websites where information isn't updated often but for peer-to-peer sharing where the information is always changing ... slooooooooooow sums it up.
  • Or you could not steal stuff and then it wouldnnt matter what your ip address was. The simple fact is that every site you go to collects your ip. There are services which will allow for anonymous web surfing such as Anonymizer.
  • it's not stealing
  • Well, your plausible denial gambit might have worked had you not posted in here that it's a defence you might attempt to establish. Or do you think THEY can't work out that you're a member here? ... Just kidding. We They have already replaced everyone you know with government operatives, so it's a purely academic concern.
  • I am guessing that FU is talking about empornium.us. (Not-linked because of its shady, NSFW nature.)
  • I would try and explain it to you planetthoughtful, but I'm afraid your precious bodily fluids have been irevocably comprimised and you are unable to acheive the higher levels of consciousness I have attained. I will tell you though, be in Soggybeaver WI on Nov. 2, and dress casual, the Space Elephant has promised to reward the smartly-dressed-faithful by turning them into sexually potent, harbringers of the apocolypse.