How to Find Fake Torrents Uploaded by the MPAA and RIAA
Written by Ernesto on January 28, 2007The MPAA, RIAA and several anti-piracy organizations are constantly trying to trap people into downloading fake torrents. These torrents are hosted on trackers that are setup to collect IP addresses of all the ‘pirates’ who try to download these files.
To make these traps more visible, Fenopy just introduced the FakeFinder. The FakeFinder lists the most popular fake torrents and the latest fake trackers. It also allows you to search for fake torrents by keyword or infohash.
The actual .torrent links for these fake files are blocked, and FakeFinder serves an informational purpose only. It is actually quite amusing to browse through these fake files and trackers. The companies that host these anti-piracy trackers came up with some interesting hostnames like “dirtydevils.cyberbox.com.br” and “bittorrent.isthebe.st“.
Although most of the IPs of these fake trackers are already blocked by blocklist software like PeerGuardian, they still manage to collect the IP addresses of thousands of users who do fall for this trap. Most torrent site admins are aware of these fakes, and remove them as soon as they are uploaded. It is kind of a paradox. On the one hand anti-piracy organizations send thousands of takedown requests to torrent sites, while they upload fake files with similar titles themselves.
Some might argue that downloading a fake file is not really a criminal offense. And yes, it is doubtful if this evidence will hold up in court. However, the job of organizations like the MPAA is to scare people, and that is often enough for them. The first thing they will probably do is send a letter to your ISP saying that you tried to download so-and-so file. And even if they take it a step further, they try to settle before these things are played out in court.
FakeFinder shows that BitTorrent site admins are trying to track down these fake torrents, and it’s a nice way to expose the darker side of anti-piracy organizations like the MPAA.
Previously: BSA Monitoring BitTorrent Traffic
Next: Torrent Site Carelessly Exposes User Information
42 Responses
It’s a mind game. A game of trickery. +1 for BT.
It would be great if this list would be integrated automatically in torrent clients as blacklists, with an auto clean of old torrents in it.
* second post * addition *
When I search 24, it gives an amazing long list… :S
Very interesting. Thx.
Would this MPAA fake torrent think count as entrapment in some fashion?
i got hit by downloading a movie on a redflagged connection
A logged attempt to download a fake file would be enough for most ISP’s to bend over for a DMCA subpoena (which bypasses all court procedures, smacks of abuse, and should never have been made legal.)
The RIAA are a big bunch of crybabies living high off the hog.
http://www.substantialincomes.com
My personal solution:
1. Of course, use peerguardian.
2. Always use torpark to get your .torrent files.
or
3. Go to backfox.com first and connect to torrentspy from there.
Proxy is the key to completely avoid these people from ever knowing you\’ve downloaded a .torrent file.
Why not set up some honeypots for the MPAA? Could be as simple as a bot running on an otherwise clean connection with nothing to hide, serially downloading a random selection of these fake torrents.
Then the ISP gets a DMCA subpoena for the honeypots, confiscates the equipment, and we get to read about it on our favorite blogs.
It’s always been a cat/mouse game, and while I don’t condone “piracy”, I think a few megaconglomerates could use some humbling.
If you download a fake torrent and lose your job because of an MPAA threat, would you win a lawsuit against the MPAA?
Wow, that’s just… blah.
Remember, the best way to hurt the MPAA and the RIAA is to always refer to their member companies when talking about them. The negative publicity transfers from a profitless “association” to the actual companies who care very much about their publicity and their image.
The MPAA is not uploading fake torrents, it is Disney, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Sony, 20th Century Fox, and Universal Studios.
The RIAA is not uploading fake torrents, it’s EMI, Warner Music, Sony BMG Music, and Universal Music.
@SJ: how about using WUSE instead or RIAA. WUSE, Warner Universal Sony Emi. It helps you remember the big 4 behind the riaa plus it’s descriptive of them :)
It would need a few big sites but it could catch on. You could also use it like this: RIAA WUSE sues dying woman etc.
I believe noone has asked the question yet about the legality of the honeypots in the first place.
I am not sure how exactly the details of DMCA work out, maybe just anyone could notify the ISP hosting the honeypot about its existence and request that it be taken down.
Even if it takes an actual stakeholder to send a “cease and desist,” the MAFIAA could still be notified by “concerned & responsible citizens” about the existence of such and such site that illegally hosts their content, and what are they going to do about it.
If they acknowledge that the content is illegally hosted, then they should send a “cease and desist” to the ISP hosting the honeypot, and if they say it’s legal, they lose their grounds for DMCA-ing any downloader’s ISP for this particular content.
Of course, they could choose the “middle way,” that is, giving no response, but this could also be addressed with the aid of some publicity, and their selective inaction could also qualify as discrimination.
What do you guys think?
what happens if we do get caught and what is a ‘redflagged connection’
The idea that it is okay to steal merchandise (and I admit I use torrents) just because the company that owns the material makes a ton of money bothers me.
That sort of logic is stupid. All the money that the companies make is legit, they paid for the ads, printing, development, etc. However you look at it, those companies have a right to try to keep people from stealing their stuff. Just because they make a LOT of money doesn’t make stealing okay.
It really bothers me when people try to rationalize something, but use the excuse “look, I’m not doing THAT much harm!” Even though I get music and books from torrents, I don’t try to come up with some BS that the RIAA are crybabies. The RIAA should be defending their product every legal way possible, if I were in their position I sure as hell would be doing so.
“However you look at it, those companies have a right to try to keep people from stealing their stuff. Just because they make a LOT of money doesn’t make stealing okay.”
last time i checked my µT and how it operates, nothing got stolen from nowhere. the oposite was the case; something was dublicated.
So if you , Durk, truely believe what you are writing here we must consider you incompetent. If on the other hand you just pretend to believe it, we must regard you as a liar!
Hi, do you think they would send the DMCA letter to my ISP if I’m from Czech Republic?
Hi, i recently heard about bittorrent and i didn’t know that it was illegal. But when i was downloading a file, my friend called me and said it was illegal and i stopped the download at like 10 or 11 precent. Does it still count as a download even it it is not finished.
Hi, yes it is download. You commited crime when you started downloading, because it’s the ‘intent’ to have copyrighted material ilegally.
Marty182
which law says so?
I suspect a much worse practice than using trackers to monitor torrent downloads has started, using specially constructed BT clients.
During a download, I came across a BT client name, listed in utorrent as: Unknown BO/WA0C. There are a couple of Google references to this client, but nothing definite. The download never seemed to finish. A persistently listed peer was: ool-435283c9.dyn.optonline.net:6881
The information tracrt and whois produces for dyn.optonline.net
is:
ip 167.206.112.6
and belonging to:
Cablevision Systems Corp. CVNET (NET-167-206-0-0-1)
167.206.0.0 - 167.206.255.255
Cablevision Systems Corp CVNET-SERVERS (NET-167-206-112-0-1)
167.206.112.0 - 167.206.112.255.
I do not believe that this is cable user, but a server (as it indicated in whois) belonging to the cable company.
Now do cable tv companys download entertainment torrents?
It could be some cable tv employee using a really high speed link and an unknown BT client.
It could be that cable tv companys are now ISP’s, have entertainment downloading customers with unknown BT clients.
With some little paranoia, it could be a BT client which collects the other peers and the normal statictics such as torrent contents, amount downloaded, time/date added, etc. The peers can then be traced much as I traced the suspicious peer.
Now the only tracker for this torrent is a widely known European tracker and not suspicious; everything except the torrent not completing and the suspicious peer.
Am I crazy or is this possible or am
I crazy?
lol the MPAA people are stupid. why dont they try uploading fake torrents that they know everyone will download? like latest eps of LOST or PRISON BREAK or 24 or HEROES but then experienced torrenterz like me would realize that the torrent doesnt say something similar to Prison.Break.S02E20.HDTV.XviD-LOL. the last bit of the torrent name is what gives us info on the uploader. TV sites like eztv are trusted because the uploaders have their 3-4 letter extentions to their torrnets and if u read the comment on that person u would know that the’re legit. legit UL’s include XOR, LOL, CTU. im more of a prison break fan so i trust the 350MB files form XOR and LOL. i just read the comments to know if they’re good or not. if there are no comments. wait a few hours or a day or so. people will tell you if its good or not. hope this helps.
PS. the MPAA sucks. i download everything from TV shows to books to software u would normally pay $700 for through bittorrent and i havnt got even a complaint!!
I live in Australia and one of the copyright laws (i think i read it in the newspaper)suggest that you can record TV shows and watch them once but u cant sell or hire them to people. why not let someone else do the recording and give it to me for free and i watch it once? that way im not breaking any laws. hehehehe. the justice system is screwed. i win. we win. so keep downloading and sharing!!!!!!!
Wether the honeypot is real or not is imaterial, even if it was real its entrapment so they couldnt sue anyone for shit.
Do these companies go after ISPs in other 3rd world countries such as the Philippines for example?
avoid fake torrents by downloading only via torrent reviews. tried and tested @ http://seek.cc/ezine/torrents/.
fox@phoenixlabs .org will be able to field any legal threats if they arrive.
He fuckin slaps these dudes silly, providing his services on the phoenix labs forums ^^
Long live pg2…but damn, we would be out of luck without Bluetack…so tip your hats, and open your wallets for them too! They provide all that bandwidth…
Remember your first dual tape to tape recoder/reciever? I do. Friends would record tapes they had for friends, and vice versa. With all the new YOUNG artist coming out these days. You think they could honestly say that they have never shared files before? You know “Da Man” would never sue it’s own money maker(s). What if I went out tomorrow and bought the next new blockbuster dvd and invited 100 people over to my home to watch it with me? Could I be sued? Or even simpler… I sent the movie via internet to my neighbors house… I get sued. I walk it over…..? They don’t mind at all you recommending your neighbor to go buy it, and presto!!! you are a unpaid salesperson for them. Gotta go cook a nice e coli breakfast, watch the wife put on her lead lipstick, snatch the lead painted toys outta of the baby’s mouth, and help the teen put her bullet proof vest on for school picture day.
I still wonder who and why some people upload some fake files?? any answers? (please avoid the “maybe…” “i think its FBI” or whatever bullshit, thanx
i love punani
i mean, punani rules. if you’ve never had it then i would suggest you get some soon.
http://www.ratiomaster.tk
Ratiomaster
Artificially upload
Fake ratio
Ratio Master
http://www.ratiomaster.tk
Does all this for you
RATIOMASTER
http://www.ratiomaster.tk
my ISP called and said i downloaded a illegal movie. what should i do ?
[quote comment="296627"]my ISP called and said i downloaded a illegal movie. what should i do ?[/quote]
Say that you may have a virus or adware and you have no idea about this illegal movie. Claim that you may have a hacker using your PC and your own connection to download illegal things.
It will work, believe me!
[quote comment="307201"][quote comment="296627"]my ISP called and said i downloaded a illegal movie. what should i do ?[/quote]
It will work, believe me![/quote]
Because such things cannot be proved in courts since a lot of circumstantial evidence can refer to the contrary! a friend of mine, for example, was accused of hacking a governmental institution last year. He managed to convince the authorities that he is a novice at computers and since he had no firewall installed on his PC, he was found not guilty :)
I hope you’ve got my point.
mp3fiesta sux. they charge 20$ minimum and its still not even legal.
These are the guys who doin the fakes.
Mediadefender.com
MAILING ADDRESS:
2461 Santa Monica Blvd., D-520
Santa Monica, CA 90404
PHONE: (310) 956-3300
FAX: (310) 956-3391
What can we do 2 them ?????
Good. It's thievery anyway. The more thieves caught, the better
Duplicating it is where the legality comes in. Really, you are getting a song/movie/book or whatever that they produced for free. Something that cost them money to produce. Yeah, it doesn't cost them additional money for you to steal it, but if everyone steals it, they'll never make the money back that they spent producing the thing. What happens is, the price of CDs and legit media is increased to make up the difference. (Leading to more downloading…) Not like I care, but you can't dismiss his argument on the basis that you're just copying the files, not stealing them.
If you created a website (for example) and spent days on it, and then I just downloaded all the files, changed the name, and uploaded it as my own, you'd be pissed, right? But I didn't steal it - you still have yours - I just copied it :P
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