If you’re going to illegally download stuff, please do it right so that you don’t get caught. Don’t use services like Kazaa or Limewire to get your goods. They’re filled with junk and can get you found out and sued by the copyright owners.
If you are going to download music, games, software, movies, anything, use these simple steps.
- Get Peerguardian 2. Peerguardian blocks known government and anti-p2p groups. This keeps them from connecting to you via the tracker and knowing you are downloading. That means it will be a lot harder for them to nail you for downloading..
- Get a torrent program. I suggest either utorrent utorrent or Azureus. I usually don’t search for the actual files I need using these programs, just use them to download.
- Search for your torrent. I use The Pirate Bay and Mininova. Both still allow US visitors, and I can usually find what I need. There are also private trackers, but don’t worry about those for now. Once you get the hang of downloading, you can get join a private tracker
- Make sure that Peerguardian is running while your torrent program is downloading. Otherwise you could get caught
- Optional: Have your torrent program encrypt the data. This means that your ISP won’t detect that you are using the bittorrent protocol, which means it makes it harder for them to throttle your bandwidth just for bittorrent. You can find some good guides on TorrentFreak on how to encrypt
Be happy. You got your files and didn’t get caught. If you want optimization tips and tons more, check out TorrentFreak. And still scan everything for viruses before you use it.
215 Responses
Kara
13|Dec|2007 1Thanks for the heads up. I use limewire and had never heard of peerguardian, I will go check it out now.
Russ
13|Dec|2007 2I’m glad I could help. So many people are getting slapped with the RIAA’s huge fines that ruin lives
Gaff
13|Dec|2007 3Nice! End of my limewire days!
Russ
13|Dec|2007 4Booyah! End of the evil limewire and beginning of the great pirate bay and bit torrent!
Don’t forget PeerGuardian!
Loretta
13|Dec|2007 5Good info there, Limewire is full of viruses and junk just waiting for people to download it!
The Pirate Guy
13|Dec|2007 6OR you could just use Google to download stuff and use Megaupload and Rapidshare to download software, movies, and music. Megaupload and Rapidshare arent traceable they only use your IP Address for timers and if the file or files are copyrighted they are deleted from that site. so you have no risk of getting caught. I’ve used google to get over 1000 cds and 100 different programs.
joe
13|Dec|2007 7COol! Bye limewire! Thanks for this!
Rein
13|Dec|2007 8to the pirate guy, how do you download CD’s off google for free? and how do u use the other software too, i guess i’m just asking you to elaborate please
Kududoodoo
13|Dec|2007 9Just on a side note. for the clients i use utorrent because its only 0.41 mb as opposed to azureus which is unnecessarily huge.
Kim
14|Dec|2007 10Thanks for the heads up. I would have never thought about incuring fines because of this.
And…thanks for stopping by my site!
Jake
14|Dec|2007 11You can also check out http://jimmyr.com. He has a built-in web search that can search google for mp3’s, torrents, games, etc… It’s easy, and not really something that is easy to catch.
Cameron
14|Dec|2007 12Pirate Bay isn’t a bad spot to find decent torrents, but the best bet is to use either TorrentScan.com, or TorrentPond.com (I prefer Torrent Scan) This way you can search nearly every big torrent site at once without having to go from site to site. The best options on either of these search engines is through BTJunkie or ISOHunt.
Russ
14|Dec|2007 13Unfortunately the ISOHunt tracker blocks IP addresses from the United States now. You can still search there, but you have to find torrents not on the ISOHunt tracker.
http://beemp3.com is also a nice little site to search the web for individual MP3’s.
I like using torrents rather than Google because it’s sort of a social thing. While downloading and uploading, you are helping other people get the files.
When downloading, make sure to keep seeding once you’re done! At least seed how much you downloaded!
Canguy
14|Dec|2007 14Ah thats all B.S. any torrent program allows others to see your IP and Peerguardian 2 is
a waste of time..dont want to get caught? stop downloading copyrighted materials or move
to Canada
Russ
14|Dec|2007 15Peerguardian 2 is indeed not a waste of time. It blocks tons of IP’s so that you don’t connect to them. Yes, you can see other people’s IP with a torrent program, but with PeerGuardian it is only other people who want to download.
Some people don’t believe in the crazy prices and practices set by the RIAA / MPAA.
Another great alternative for music is Amie Street. The music starts off free and price inscreases based upon demand until it reaches 98 cents. The music is also DRM free! http://amiestreet.com
Canada has it’s own problems with copyrighted materials.
me
14|Dec|2007 16OK so what about Usenet?? I pay $3 a month for 5 gigs of downloads a month from usenetmonster (no i’m not affiliated…there are plenty of great Usenet services out there) Add a little Newsbin Pro and voila! Oh and i get FULL bandwidth downloads of anything you can imagine. Binary Newsgroups people. Has and will always be the best way to get anything you want.
Russ
14|Dec|2007 17Truthfully I’ve never used usenet. I’ve been able to find everything I need via torrent sites. I do hear it’s a great way to find what you need, I just never got into it.
Sephrik
14|Dec|2007 18I’m not 100% positive that this is true, but I’ve heard that utorrent versions 1.7 and later have an embeded spyware in them that sends all the information about your downloads to the utorrent creators, and the creator of bittorent.
Russ
14|Dec|2007 19Here is an article about the spyware accusations for utorrent: http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1199
Weasak
14|Dec|2007 20There is actually nothing illegal about downloading anything (except for kiddie porn, and that SHOULD be illegal). Sure there have been succesfull lawsuits and such, but there is nothing criminal with downloading any data. Besides, they can’t stop the signal! Unless they destroy the internets, information is going to be free and will continue to get easier to access. They will simply have to adjust and find new ways to make their money, and they will. They’re just freaking out because they think they won’t be able to afford that gold plated shark tank, but they’ll get their money in some creative fashon.
Bullet in the brain pan squish!
Russ
14|Dec|2007 21Well it is infringing the copyrights, but they don’t usually go after downloaders, they go after uploaders that are actively distributing their files. Which everybody uploads with a torrent, just not as much as real seeders.
The RIAA just won their first big lawsuit as well, so that sets a precedent for future lawsuits.
But we will never be stopped. They don’t want to adjust, but they will have to. They adjusted in the past, they will eventually learn to adjust.
...
14|Dec|2007 22n00bs
Weasak
14|Dec|2007 23u r teh suxx!!!1 loloLz PWND!!!!!!11
Russ
14|Dec|2007 24Response to the reviews on Stumbleupon:
The ISP can see that you are using the bittorrent protocol, but they can’t actually see what you are downloading. You could be downloading a linux distribution. They can’t prove anything when it’s encrypted. I’m not trying to make this the ultimate guide to everything about torrents. I am trying to tell some of those people that still use Kazaa and Limewire to stop using them.
edit: looks like my thinking was backwards, it encrypts so they can’t see the protocol, not the data.
Ash
15|Dec|2007 25Cool, thanks for the Article
Ndrd
15|Dec|2007 26I find that rapidshare works very well, and for only $10 a month, the 5 gig per day DL limit is very reasonable. There are lots of sites like http://www.warez-bb.org that have a huge fan base, which upload thousands of links a day.
fnaz
15|Dec|2007 27Russ, I think you have misunderstood something about BitTorrent encryption… It does NOT hide what you are downloading, but hides the fact that you are using BitTorrent to stop ISP:s from throttling your connection(ie. slowing down or completely stopping uploads/downloads using BitTorrent)… This article - http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-encryption-myths-071108/ - on Torrentfreak is a good read about encryption. Clears up a lot…
Russ
15|Dec|2007 28fnaz: Thanks for the comment. I sort of had that in the back of my head, but never really read up too much on the encryption. Thank you for clearing that up. I will edit my post to reflect that. It looks that I had it backwards.
Russ
15|Dec|2007 29ndrd: Thanks for the links, and your comment!
ZombieLoffe
15|Dec|2007 30Good guide, for total noobs to downloading. Perhaps recommend DC++, which is a much more solid P2P client than Limewire or the whole Gnutella network? Oh, and use µTorrent instead of Azureus, it’s much more lightweight and cutesey ^_^
Lucas
15|Dec|2007 31How to rob a store without getting caught:
1) wear a mask and gloves
2) use a gun (less hassle from the clerks this way)
3) know the drop schedule - if the clerks made their drop right before you entered, you won’t get as much loot
4) listen to a police scanner before you enter the building (find out the location of the cops)
5) be prepared for a car chase - run flat tires are a must, motorcycle is better
6) be prepared to be ass-raped by your celly
OR
Just save your money for the things you want and decide “Hey, do I really need to download “Barbie Girl’, or can I just skip it?”
bob
15|Dec|2007 32Don’t bother with public trackers for too long, find a private one as soon as possible. Public trackers SUCK.
gman
15|Dec|2007 33we are all powerful.
Schnurrbart
15|Dec|2007 34i agree with the pirate guy…use google all the time for downloads. Always use Peerguardian. I do use Pirate Bay, and use Limewire torrent downloads only. If you notice when you do this, Limewire is not activated! Only the torrent download program is used. It’s not perfect, but most of the time……no one tracks me or notices the download.
Zero
15|Dec|2007 35Find a private tracker that has what you want. Best way to go.
I am on a fairly small one and it has 99% of what I want. With dedicated seeders. No partials files.
Zero-kill
16|Dec|2007 36well that’s the first time that I stumbled to a site where someone already was using my handle =D
good ideas, though public trackers do suck you can usually find more of what you want (main stream stuff) on those, whereas the private trackers such as the since deceased Demonoid and Oink have a particular flavor.
Another option that one could go along would be IRC or Usenet, both free (depending on your ISP) and pretty much untraceable, I say pretty much for all those “know-it-alls” that will flame me for saying otherwise.
Peerguardian is a must for any file sharing, another option would be to go and get a copy of IP Hide Platinum, though in the states it doesn’t do a whole lot, it can allow you into some pretty sweet places.
Bill
16|Dec|2007 37..or you could just learn about NewsGroups, get a good Newsreader that supports binaries and you can have damn near anything you want. I can almost always find anything I’m looking for in the NNTP binary groups.
Alan
16|Dec|2007 38Last time I tried PeerGuardian 2 it sucked simply because it was written in an old version of Visual Basic which doesn’t support threading well. This means basically that PeerGuardian 2 hogs resources.
Better solution, at least for torrents, is to use a torrent client which supports using a block list file (e.g. ipfilter.dat). Keep this file up to date and the torrent client will internally block access to the listed IPs without nearly the CPU hogging that PeerGuardian suffers from.
Dani
16|Dec|2007 39Or you can use Soulseek. Its a great program. Go to slsknet.org to download the program. No viruses, no bogus files, no ads.
Its mainly for music, you can grab full albums at a time.
The program is based somewhere in another country so I dont think it is illegal there.
Ive been using it for years, and has great speeds, just make sure you share some of your music files on there or people will ban you, they love to do that.
asd
16|Dec|2007 40if you are just now finding about about bittorrent you are a major nub
Russ
16|Dec|2007 41asd: I am not just now finding out about bittorrent, I’ve been using it forever. What I am seeing more and more is people who still don’t use bittorrent, and I am trying to show them a better way.
asd
17|Dec|2007 42right on.
jasmine
17|Dec|2007 43This is wat i want to know thanx for sharing it i really like ur article/tutorial
jasmine
tech-chek.blogspot.com
zwenkwiel
17|Dec|2007 44haha I live in europe (the netherlands to be precise)
we care only about drugs hookers and cheese over here
download what you want how you want the authorities don’t care as long as you don’t go selling it on a large scale (like really really big national or something)
good tips for you people living in under facist regimes though
asd
17|Dec|2007 45yea usa sucks lol im moving to EU
Bob
17|Dec|2007 46LOLOLOL Just Google get what you want and go… Are you all Stupid or what. I used to use all the apps mentioned and more. Never ….EVER think your IP is safe on the net and you cant be caught… You can. Torrent this and torrent that with billybobs server and you will get caught. TOR…hehe, dont work, your burned if they want you. There is NO privacy on the net. Get it , Get out and Erase:) Ive got over 600 gigs in musik from google, burned them and erased. Be Smart:)
Rajj
17|Dec|2007 47thanks for this tip, now i can download movies without fear…
Rajj
un5table
17|Dec|2007 48You will NEVER get in trouble for downloading anything! If you allow others to download copyrighted material from your computer, and you get caught, you are screwed!
Hyrum
18|Dec|2007 49Nice article. Helpful comments.
mike
18|Dec|2007 50rubbish.
you can still get caught, it’s just the likeliness that’s decreasing.
apart from that: with limewire you can just NOT share files. Bittorrent on the other hand requires you to share/seed the files you’re downloading - and this is, in many countries, much more of a crime than downloading.
Russ
18|Dec|2007 51It seems way too many people still don’t see why I wrote this. I didn’t write it to be the all encompassing article about everything dealing with downloading. I wrote it as a quick little introduction to downloading to somebody who has never done it before, or used inferior programs like Kazaa and Limewire.
kaylee
18|Dec|2007 52hmmm. Isn’t Limewire and torrenting legal in Canada?
Russ
18|Dec|2007 53You can download in Canada, but not upload. This would probably mean torrents are illegal because you upload and download at the same time.
Bread
18|Dec|2007 54Personally I use BitComet. I’m not sure if its the best or not but I’ve been through a lot of torrent applications before. Azureus is a decent app I use it on my mac at school (though I’ll probably switch to google because the campus server blocks anything but myspace and WoW) Thanks for the info about Peergardian. And TorrentPond.com is a awesome website.
Bread
18|Dec|2007 55Oh and Azureus is the only mac compatible torrent app that I’ve found. If anybody knows of another one let me know ^_^
Squatter
19|Dec|2007 56So happy to live in europe!
aaaaaa
19|Dec|2007 57it is a bit silly to preach about how to avoid getting caught downloading illegal content from the internet, because now, the police could just turn up at edited my address out and…well I’m sure you know the rest Mr edited my name out
:>
Ed. note: I took out my name and address because this guy is a moron. I know it’s easy to find
mike in jersey
19|Dec|2007 58always run peer guardian when using your torrent client. use caution when using torrents. remember, you’re stealing shit that pays for the stuff you see on “cribs”
Russ
19|Dec|2007 59aaaaaa: Wow! You know how to find my address and name! I’m so proud you know how to look at the whois information for a website!
I never stated I downloaded anything in this article. The police would have no probably cause and would get no search warrant. If they did manage to get a search warrant somehow, they wouldn’t find anything. And that could be for one of two reasons: Either I don’t download anything, or I encrypt everything.
Kelwin
19|Dec|2007 60Bogus… anything and everything can be tracked… there is no way to avoid it… if you are downloading stuff illegally, you can be caught… the only reason more people aren’t caught is because there are so many doing it… you can hack into other peoples equipment to avoid detection, but then you are doing sumtin illegal to get sumtin illegally… ~shrug…
there are 3 levels of illegal DLing… “corporate” = people or groups of people who make enough money off it to get new IPs and/or ISPs on a regular basis… “small business” = the people who are usually stoopid about it and DL tons of stuff only using stuff like this to hide (these are the ones that get caught most often… “home user” = people who occasionally DL something illegally (they do not do enough for “the law” to bother with them…
best way to avoid getting caught DLing sumtin illegally is to not do it… I am not trying to preach about right and wrong, just tellin’ ya you can get caught if “the law” decides they want to catch you…
lovejahlive
19|Dec|2007 61Hide IP Platinum, get it from a torrent site in the US then use it to access the really good sites like torrentspy!!! It will use a proxy server and allow “anonymous” surfing/downloading.
Jay
19|Dec|2007 62There are so many reasons to get into to explain why Peer Guardian is useless and a waste of time…just google and find out.
In other words, Peer Guardian isn’t going to do any harm, but it’s not really going to help you one iota either.
ummmm
19|Dec|2007 63I would just like to express my sincere concern for the lack of correct spelling and punctuation. To Mr. aaaaaaa; you’re a dick.
nic
19|Dec|2007 64why don’t all you holier-than-thou idiots pay attention to the original post! This guy is just giving advice to those still using P2P like Kazaa and Limewire on how to be less obvious when downloading. All you dumbarses that are commenting with anything besides a ‘thank you’ or offering some more simple additions should be drug into the front yard and beat with a rubber hose until you’re unconscious.
Russ
19|Dec|2007 65nic: Thank you! Finally somebody gets it!
ohwell
19|Dec|2007 66i saw the website and its for ipv4 what about ipv6?
any software for that my linuxbox are all that
mac user
19|Dec|2007 67do you have something like PeerGuardian for mac OSX?
Russ
19|Dec|2007 68mac user: Here you go: http://phoenixlabs.org/pgosx/
Don’t know about linux
daniel
20|Dec|2007 69is it safe to download from sites like rapidshare or megaupload?
ohwell
20|Dec|2007 70PeerGuardian Linux
There is currently no PeerGuardian for Linux, but MoBlock can do what you need.
here http://moblock.berlios.de/
Stefford
21|Dec|2007 71Thanks for the info. I gave up on MXM and limewire long ago. it was painfully obvious that my ISP was actually monitoring usage, because we were getting throttled. Couple that with what appeared to be frequent invasions despite my firewalls and it all seemed to be not worth it.
Good on you!
Komar
21|Dec|2007 72http://www.toorgle.com
mrsleep
21|Dec|2007 73usenet
You’re an idiot to use anything else.
Justin
21|Dec|2007 74Hi can i install in windows Vista? Thank you !!!!
Red Rocket
21|Dec|2007 75USENET / NEWSGROUPS those are by far the best way to get what u need. VERY FAST and no security, newsgroups are as old as the internet itself… bittorret is only good for porn
Cian
22|Dec|2007 76I don’t use torrents anymore. Instead I use sites like http://www.warez-bb.org and http://www.projectw.org. Instead of downloading on a p2p basis, uploaders put up their files on large file hosting sites such as rapidshare.com and megaupload.com. This means you get a consistently high download rate and can download as much as you want at the same time. Rapidshare, Megaupload etc require a fee if you want to download multiple files at the same time, but it’s only around $50 a year and its definitely worth it imo. If you just want to download an album here and there there’s no real need to pay the fee
Cian
linuxamp
22|Dec|2007 77Peerguardian does not provide anonymity! Only true anonymity is 100% safe.
This article will lull you into a false sense of security. Yes, Peerguardian2 will block those IPs from connecting to your host but the trackers already know you’re downloading/sharing a file so agencies don’t even need to connect to your host.
Imagine I’m an authority blocked by PG. I install a BT client, search for that file and viola, I know which hosts have it. Can I connect to you? No, but I don’t really need to. I’ll then subpoena (or whatever legal jargon) your ISP for your info. That doesn’t mean they’ll get it or that it will hold up in court but it means that PG2 is not good protection. Does it help? It may help a bit and that’s better than nothing I suppose.
Sue
22|Dec|2007 78First rule of usenet, don’t talk about usenet.
Second rule of usenet, don’t talk about usenet.
Finis
Harsha
23|Dec|2007 79Now that demonoid is down can someone suggest a good private tracker. Also was just wondering, isn’t it better to use public trackers as you can hide among the huge swarm of people, rather than an exclusive group of registered private tracker users??
Clae
23|Dec|2007 80Hey thanks a lot man. I’m pretty much a noob when it comes to this dl stuff, so thanks for helping me get started. Could you maybe provide me with some more precise info? I’d be much appreciative. This is a great starter article, though.
dreamchaser
23|Dec|2007 81Hey Russ,
I wanted to say thanks for the info….I am new to dling stuff and I hate limewire!! This article was very helpful to me!!
marvin cheesegrater
23|Dec|2007 82Cyber crime? What are they going to do? Email me to jail?
TOBi
23|Dec|2007 83I’m totally astonished that people didn’t know this by now.
Of course you use uTorrent and piratebay.
Hashim
25|Dec|2007 84Inside report says that new ver. of uTorrent also keeps an eye on you of what you download.
Jason
25|Dec|2007 85Thanks for the tips, Ive been using torrents for a while but I never heard of peerguardian, I hope the word spreads and it gets popular, always nice to keep the fellow pirates safe, I will tell all those I can
thanks again.
thorny
26|Dec|2007 86Keep away from the latest versions of utorrent, try to get and stick to 1.6.1
@whoever was saying they use bitcomet, get rid, besides being a resource hogger, its banned from most private tracker sites.
As for the original statement, yes, use peerguardian, it cant do any harm.
I`m not a fan of public trackers but if your only just starting off in torrents, then you`ll have to for now. Private ones are the best and some good speeds can be had from them. I regularly get 1-1.5mbs from a couple I belong to, which equates to getting a 700mb torrent in about 15mins.
Saque
26|Dec|2007 87what if you have a Mac?
Drew
26|Dec|2007 88Thorny is very right, don’t use uTorrent after 1.6.1, and I’d like to add that you shouldn’t use the BitTorrent client at all. Both are not secure and BitTorrent, Inc. collects user info from them (and even though they say they won’t release it, they do. They give it to the FBI).
Use Azureus, without the Vuze environment if you can (since it hogs resources).
Finally, it’s worthy to note that PeerGuardian isn’t perfect and also blocks IPs that are harmless. Using it slows internet speed as well, but safety is better than speed. If you really want to be safe, use an open source torrent client not affiliated with any corporation (Vuze Inc is safe for now but I doubt it’ll be safe forever), encrypt your data, use PeerGuardian, and set up a proxy for both your torrent client and your browser when you browse torrent sites.
How to Download Anything
26|Dec|2007 89[...] I was stumbling, as I do all the time, and found a site which describes the use of the bittorrent client and PeerGuardian to download pretty much anything you might desire. You’ll find that page here. [...]
Zaal
26|Dec|2007 90Very cool story here and some great links. Too many people don’t protect themselves by using PeerGuardian. The MPAA and the RIAA are both out there contracting companies such as MediaSentry to find out what you are downloading and slap you with a notice.
Tester
27|Dec|2007 91Lucas,
I did everything you said, bought a police scanner, motor bike, mask and gloves, planned the escape route and then downloaded Barbie Girl but unfortunately got caught, arrested and then Ass Raped by my celly. Life is tough… and it hurts!
In the words of Yull Brynner… What ever you do… don’t download.
hillbillyjoe
27|Dec|2007 92how about buy yourself a $500 laptop with cash, never register it or ever put any personal info in it, then go to your local library or other free wi-fi spot and download anonymously??
am only a beginner, but how would they trace that?
hohohaha
27|Dec|2007 93type forumw in google search u will then find what u need
Humphrey Bogerat
28|Dec|2007 94Following HillBillyJoe’s logic, why not steal a friend’s computer, take it to McDonald’s, steal somebody’s registration password and find a way to download through their server?
Sure, it might work. But unless you plan on burning the computer with a barrel of kerosene, they’ll just track the computer to you. And if you’re just going to zonk your box anyway, why download in the first place?
A $500 laptop seems quite pricy to be used for stealing a $20 album.
- the Rat
http://www.undergroundunrest.com/blog
hillbillyjoe
28|Dec|2007 95seriously Humphrey Bogerat, for Proof of Concept, get a disposable
$500 laptop, download at various free wi-fi hotspots for an hour or two max, never register your computer with any personal info - how would they track you?? are they really going to try to catch someone unknown who moves around a lot, are they going to show up at the public library??
i realize that usenet is probably the easy way, but just for sake of argument, how do they track you anyway? IP Address or MAC Address?
if you’re using a wi-fi hotspot is your IP even trackable? i dont know enough about this stuff so someone else kindly correct me if im wrong on this, i would like to know…
0ldman
30|Dec|2007 96Hmmmmm This may sound stupid, but I hear that only people sharing the files are the targets. So don’t share and move the file to a new location after it downloads. There are millions of people downloading. How can they go after all of them and why would they bother with the small guy.
Orun
31|Dec|2007 97The laptop/wifi is the only way to be sure, the wifi spot gives you a virtual ip (i know its not really virtual, but bare with me here, if you’ve read the other comments theres newbies floating ’round). That ip is temporary at the location your at.
I personally belive if someone near you is a jerk, get on their wireless and download anything you want, they will be tracked and you will have no connection to the account thats paying for the internet service. (dick move, yea, but I’m not going to jail, and neither will they - burden of proof is on the accuser in America)
Anything downloaded, torrent, nntp (usenet), irc, whatever can still be tracked. EVERYTHING can be tracked. IP’s can be tracked to your ISP.
Uploaders are primary targets, an album here and a game there and you wont make enough trouble to be worth it, but if you distribute and let stuff seed for weeks, you will become a target.
DO NOT TRUST PRIVATE or PUBLIC TRACKERS!, they may say something like we aren’t part of the police, or government, but their machines are easily seized, and all account information you provided them with (even an innocent bit of info like you live in orange county).
Torrents, usenet, irc, dc++, ftp’s, and any other way of getting stuff illegally can get you in trouble, I understand the intent of this article but, you cant play dumb if you get caught, check http://torrentfreak.com/ for torrent community news. They keep tabs on who’s being sued, or arrested.
-I personally dont know how newsgroups can get you in trouble though the illegal material is being hosted by your own ISP (if your using their news server), so your ISP is infringing on copyrights? whatever (the email used to make this comment…. not real fyi)
Wild Will
31|Dec|2007 98re: PEERGUARDIAN, it has several block lists, I also block all educational institutions, I went to the Univ of Md which is a front for all kids of NSA and CIA and USArmy snooping… heaven only knows what schools the RIAA and MPA have under their control… ALSO, TO UPDATE PEERGUARDIAN, disable first, then update, then re-enable… … another thing, some ISPs monitor for bittorrent protocol SO, in µTorrent you can go to a tab and FORCE PROTOCOL ENCRYPTION, this slows down your file transfers ever so slightly, but helps hide you from ComCrap Cable Corp and Cocks Communication et al… Don’t forget to SHARE, good luck!
Ariola P. Breastwhistle
31|Dec|2007 99f*** the RIAA!
thorny
31|Dec|2007 100@oldman, yep that does sound stupid and it is stupid. If everyone downloaded a file then moved it to somewhere else, then obviously your not uploading and if everyone does this and nobody is uploading, then you aint going to be able to download then are you cause nobodys got the file, they`ve moved it.!
You wouldnt be a welcome member of any of the communities I`m in.
Keep the torrent community alive, keep seeding.
Have a read about how the scene works and maybe you`ll understand a bit more.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.01/topsite.html?pg=1&topic=topsite&topic_set=
Dan
31|Dec|2007 101Good article and some good replies. I’ve used Kazzaa, and a number of other sites such as lime, but the spyware thing turned me off. Then I found winmx. Sadly goned. I still have Shareaza which is safe enough but don’t download much anymore because it is easier to go to the library, borrow some CD’s and rip them straight onto the hard drive.
If I really want something i can’t get elsewhere then its google time.
Copy and paste a syntax such as this.
-inurl:htm -inurl:html intitle:”index of” “Last modified” mp3
insert name of artist or album after “index of” or change the format term ogg, wmv, jpg. Play with it.
eric
01|Jan|2008 102I use Transmission - http://www.transmissionbt.com/ - for my mac. I am surprised that no one gave any suggestions for mac users. Any problem with using Transmission?
Russ
01|Jan|2008 103Thank you everybody for your comments. A lot of people obviously have strong opinions about this issue, and many have gone far enough to slander me and even attack my web server.
I wrote this post to try and give people that have no idea about downloading a few small tips. I never intended it to be an all knowing guide, or even something for people that already know how to download.
People love to hate things though, and I have seen that happen with this article. So many negative reviews on stumbleupon just because they don’t like it, or maybe they didn’t think of this first. This post has gotten me tons of traffic, and you might notice that I don’t have ads on my website. This is because I am not here to profit, just to write things that I and others may find interesting.
If you don’t like my articles or my site, get over it.
Anonymous
02|Jan|2008 104P2P networks are epic fail. Use direct HTTP hosting like Rapidshare.com and Megashares.com
Not broke
02|Jan|2008 105I can’t believe this. How about you get a job, then you could afford to pay your own way. Damn, I bet your mothers still make your beds to.
Russ
02|Jan|2008 106@Not Broke: Get over yourself
hatrack
02|Jan|2008 107I’m brand new to this, but I wanted to tell you to keep up the good work. Although, I would be considered a “n00b”, as many would say, I think that sites like yours are a great source of information that would otherwise not be found easily. Keep up the good work, and Happy New Year!
Jason
02|Jan|2008 108Sorry for sounding stupid here but I’m new to torrent sharing and could do with some ‘basic’ instructions on how to do it.
I read this from above…
“When downloading, make sure to keep seeding once you’re done! At least seed how much you downloaded!”
But I don’t have a clue to what it means??
Please, I spose I know the basics of find a torrent then download it using something like bittorrent, once downloaded scan the file, but is there anything else I need to know??
I hope someone can help or point me in direction of where to find help? All the best, Jason Goodwin.
Charles
02|Jan|2008 109Stealing without getting caught. Is that what this generation is all about? No morals, no right or wrong? I like paying for what I own and work hard for it! I like being honest. Makes me knowable and trustworthy(even to my own self). People who steal have many sorrows. In the end (and there is one), I will not be in your shoes. No one has gotten away with anything and everyone will see this one day.
Russ
02|Jan|2008 110@Jason: Once you’ce installed your torrent program, look on The Pirate Bay or Mininova for a torrent you like. Then download that file (you will get a .torrent file). Open that file with your torrent program and it should start downloading. How fast it downloads depends on how many people are uploading.
Once you’ve finished downloading, it is good to leave it uploading for a while. At least upload as much as you downloaded, if not more. Once you’ve done that, you can stop the torrent in your torrent program.
Russ
02|Jan|2008 111@Charles: No, that’s not what this generation is all about. We’re about technology yes, but not about stealing everything. Many people “steal” because they don’t believe these things are worth what they are being charged for. We don’t like the big corporations thinking they can control our lives and charging whatever the hell they want for junk. We’re also about pie. Pie is awesome, and much better than cake.
rantingabouttheriaa
03|Jan|2008 112Step 1) download and burn a linux distro
Step 2) format your drive and install linux (kde is better for windows users, gnome is better for mac users)
Step 3) get ktorrent and download your files from your favorite torrent site at about twice the speed of any windows p2p program
Step 4) flame random poster for crying about the morality of “stealing” digital media
Step 5) create a 5 step guide to 733t4^xz0rnezz
Telling a joke you heard from a friend is stealing if your friend is a comedian. this explains the mentality concerning theft of digital media and the faux pas aura associated with it. copyrighting something does give you right to sell something, but can it give you the right to be the sole beneficiary of its distribution? When I go watch a movie in the theater I help pay the salary of the producers distributors and retailers (in this case the movie theater owner). When I watch it at home (by downloading it illegally) I deprive them of the money they expect for their product. However If I buy something, say a movie, I never actually own it, I only own the right to view it in my home.
What is my limitation in transfer of this right? according to law I must destroy all copies I have, which is impossible because I can still remember the movie, in the same way that a computer remembers it if my memory is good enough. So I can never transfer the movie because I will always retain a portion of the film in my mind. What is lacking is the ability for me to transfer memory to a machine and watch the movie again. But what If I could? What if I could remember every detail of a movie, every sound, every color then transfer it all to a screen that I can enjoy? would that be illegal as well? If everyone else could do the same anyone who legally watched the movie with me (which as long as it was not on public display would be anyone) could share it with another person outside of my knowledge. Where does the right to control who can watch the movie I purchase end? How can you possibly control the distribution of knowledge? The simple fact is that as long as there is digital media, there will be theft of digital media.
If you want your movies to be protected, show them in a controlled environment where no one can copy them and create digital files, because once you release the film to the public in any way, you have released it in every way. You have failed to protect your asset and forcing the government to protect your rights to profit cost me and everyone else. If I leave my wallet in the subway do you think the government is going to track down the person who stole it (spending millions of dollars a year) and make them pay me thousands of dollars in fines and send them to prison? No they are not, they are going to tell me to quit being an idiot and keep my wallet in my pants. So why should they do this type of enforcement for you? Quite honestly if a movie is worth what the retailers ask, people will buy it even if they downloaded it first and watched it on their computer. I bought 300 on dvd even though I had it downloaded a full day before it came to theaters .
Russ
03|Jan|2008 113@rantingabouttheriaa: Thank you for that great comment!
Catey
03|Jan|2008 114And I suppose the next step to not getting caught would be to write a whole detailed article about how you don’t get caught, including the software you use,then post it on the internet.
Jon
03|Jan|2008 115good stuff
Jason
03|Jan|2008 116@ Russ
Thanks for the help mate, I really appreciate it.
Can you just add, why I need to leave my end uploading please, although I will do this, I just like to know why I need to do this please? Many thanks again, Jay
hillbillyjoe
03|Jan|2008 117there are points on both sides of the argument but when it gets right down to it,
it is taking money out of the pockets of your favorite singers and bands…i’ll have to
re-think for myself, buying a $500 laptop to download a bunch of stuff illegally or
buying 500 singles with that money instead…would like to see more of that money going
directly to the artist though…
i think the people who have said its basically stealing are correct…my favorite artists range from Van Halen and Kid Rock to Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, and even
Celine Dion (have a listen to her in French, singing “Pour que tu m’aimes encore”,
she is just the best)…may hate the RIAA, but it is working on their behalf…i am hoping
for a new format of purchasing where the artist gets more of their share of the money,
but until then, i cant use that as an excuse to steal from them, so my days on Limewire
are over….
HughJarse
03|Jan|2008 118Firstly, thank you Russ and others that have contributed sensibly to the debate, including “rantingabouttheriaa” - great post !
I’m sorry that people dont understand the concept of why people download illegally. Personally I refuse to pay ****ing i-tunes, an obscene amount of money for a small music file. Simple. THAT is theft. They are the real robbers, snatching the pocket money from our kids. The real, actual round piece of shiny plastic being bought for the same price. I have downloaded a fair amount in the past, not so much now, using the usual, Limewire, Kazaa etc but the point of my downloading was not to “steal” but to find (1) new music and (2) old music that I had already shed my hard earned for. No musician has lost out from any music I have downloaded illegally. In fact I have shelled out ££££s in the real cd’s after discovering them, courtesy of other peers. I would never have discovered so much of my cd collection, had it not been for downloading. These artists and institutions have financially gained from me doing so and I sleep better at night knowing that i-tunes and the ilk will never profit from my hard earned.
I also donate to certain independant artists if I download freely from their sites. Thanks to them for the opportunity. I hope we will eventually overcome these fat corporate greed-monsters
Russ
03|Jan|2008 119@jason: If you leave the torrent seeding that means more people can download. It’s courtesy to seed at least as much as you downloaded, so you are contributing to the torrent. Otherwise you’re just a leacher, downloading the file and running after you’ve got it, without helping anybody else out.
@hillbillyjoe: Artists get almost nothing from CD sales. It all goes to the execs. If you really want to support an artist, find one that uses amie street (or encourage them to use it). Artists get something like 70% of the proceeds. That or stick a few bucks in an envelope and send it to them every time you download an album. That’s way more than they’d ever see if you bought the album from a store.
@everybody: Thanks for all the great comments.
Sci The Shaio
03|Jan|2008 120uhhm dude, i donno bout the laws in the US, but here in europe its legal to download but illigal to upload
kiama
03|Jan|2008 121Or you could just download stuff legally.
Honestly, there’s so much you can get without it being illegal, it’s really not needed… i say this as someone who is always downloading new stuff of course.
As for music, just go to one of the ‘radio-on-request’ sites or something. Or heck, Youtube!
i love this
03|Jan|2008 122this is awsome just got the hang of it and downloaded like crazy like widows vista and a trojan scaner and tons of movies thx 100000000000x