Piracy Investigators Infiltrate Private Torrent Sites
In March, TorrentFreak published an article which aimed to answer the question ‘Are Private BitTorrent Trackers Safe?’ Now, an internet piracy investigator has admitted that his organisation has successfully infiltrated private BitTorrent trackers and is actively collecting information.
Speaking with Guardian Unlimited primarily regarding piracy counter-measures, Peter Anaman, a senior internet investigator for legal firm Covington and Burling has admitted that his organisation has infiltrated unnamed private BitTorrent tracker sites and shares their method of gaining access;
“Many groups didn’t start off as private. They became private because they felt threatened, so we were able to get in when they were open” he said.
Anaman indicated that his company maintains a network of contacts who help it gain access to additional private sites, although he isn’t forthcoming about what happens while they’re there, other than information gathering.
With a nod towards the increasing difficulty of getting a membership on certain private BitTorrent trackers Anaman added, “Once you’re in, you never take action. You just listen”
In 2005, a successful infiltration operation masterminded by the FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) led to the shutdown of the EliteTorrents BitTorrent tracker after they breached the Family Entertainment Act with their involvement in the internet pre-release of Star Wars: Episode III.
Previously: Rogers Fights BitTorrent by Throttling All Encrypted Transfers
Next: TorrentPod Episode 32
73 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
Pages: [1] 2 3 » Show All
Unless I’m mistaken, information gathered from “infiltrated” networks is about as admissable in court, as information gathered from breaking into an individuals network ….?
I’d call bullshit on them. I bet they just try to get some misstrust into private sites because those sites must be a real bummer for them.
What does anyone expect? that those people admit they can’t get to people on private trackers?
In the end it doesn’t matter wether they have people on the inside or not. That guy would have always, always, said that statement if been asked about that issue. Everyone should just keep that in mind. That statement means something next to nothing.
Well, quite a lot of private trackers open signups on occasion, so it’s not impossible to get in.
torrentleech.org opened up two weeks ago and 11.000 new members came in, and there are more examples like this.
On almost every private tracker you see something like this:
For controversial reasons, if you are affiliated with any government, ANTI-Piracy group or any other related group, or were formally a worker of one you CANNOT download any of these BitTorrent files. If you download these files you are not agreeing to these terms and you are violating code 431.322.12 of the Internet Privacy Act signed by Bill Clinton in 1995 and that means that you CANNOT threaten our ISP(s) or any person(s) or company storing these files, and cannot prosecute any person(s) affiliated with this page which includes family, friends or individuals who run or enter this web site. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not use this service or you will face consequences.
I was always wondering if this means anything legally? Can you actually argue in court that they didn’t have the right to download the torrent files?
How F’n rediculous is all of this, I don’t know how many prv sites you guys are apart of but I know that you can’t just join a site and “do nothing but listen” and still have your account there for more than 6 weeks,… accts are pruned all the time for inactivity :/
Snowy:
That has been debunked a long time ago. Its a old piece from the BBS times, and the idle hope of people that it may help ( it does not ). It has 0 legal value.
It like placing a sigh before your door, while you deal drugs in the room. Its not going to hold in any court. I’m amassed some people actually still use it ( that alone is a dead giveaway that something fishy is going on ;) ).
I have worked for ICS for the last 2 years. Their are over 20 private torrent sites we are watching. As for the comment on accounts being purged. We actively upload working movies to the site that work but have hidden “Trojan’s” giving us access to people that have played the movie on their computer. This information will not be confirmed by anyone in the agency.
The current sites being targeted: Demonoid, The Pirate Bay, tus-kvcd-group, and many more that will not be mentioned due to security issues.
What a lot of wank from SilentServer. Hiding trojans indside video files? Don’t believe the hype…
Keep sharing
yeah seriously silentservant, there is no court precedent for any civil suits that have been fought against the riaa/mpaa where if the defendant stood their ground, they actually lost. The riaa/mpaa have never been able to prove that anyone did anything because they gather their ‘evidence’ without a warrant and by using illegal tactics like pretexting. They are, at this point, being told to get the hell out of court by judges and filing for as many appeals as possible to keep a precedent from being established against them. If people who have paid settlements to the riaa/mpaa filed a joint lawsuit against them for their extortionist bullshit, they would win in front of any judge who wasn’t paid off, and likewise with any similarly objective jury. Screw this FUD bullshit.
I just got pretty freaked out when I realized that aXXo didn’t say in his interview where he gets the movies. Maybe he’s actually working with the ICE or the FBI?
[quote comment="84534"]I have worked for ICS for the last 2 years. Their are over 20 private torrent sites we are watching. As for the comment on accounts being purged. We actively upload working movies to the site that work but have hidden “Trojan’s” giving us access to people that have played the movie on their computer. This information will not be confirmed by anyone in the agency.
The current sites being targeted: Demonoid, The Pirate Bay, tus-kvcd-group, and many more that will not be mentioned due to security issues.[/quote]
lol yeah right. what your ‘claiming’ to do is exactly what the people your after do. you cannot do that just in hopes of someone else partaking in your illegal activity. that’s hardly the same as putting out a bait car for car thieves or other various tactics used by law enforcement. anyways. everyone scans movies for that kind of lamer crap - and fake ones are commented on immediately. who cares if some retards still download them.
nick; lay off the drugs, it’s making you paranoid
BOO!
These wankers are trying the same scare tactics used by the IRS. Bust a few high profile cases, in the hopes of scaring millions of minions into toeing the line.
My dad used to conjure up the boogeyman to try to get me to behave. It never worked.
[quote]I have worked for ICS for the last 2 years. Their are over 20 private torrent sites we are watching. As for the comment on accounts being purged. We actively upload working movies to the site that work but have hidden “Trojan’s” giving us access to people that have played the movie on their computer. This information will not be confirmed by anyone in the agency.
The current sites being targeted: Demonoid, The Pirate Bay, tus-kvcd-group, and many more that will not be mentioned due to security issues.[/quote]
…For starters you don’t know the difference between “their” and “there” so I’m guessing your about 12 years old. Also you listed 3 public sites, not private ones. Nice try.
Haha I meant you’re in my comment above, guess I can’t comment on grammar. Still, your comment about the trojans is laughable.
[quote comment="84621"]
…For starters you don’t know the difference between “their” and “there” so I’m guessing your about 12 years old. Also you listed 3 public sites, not private ones. Nice try.[/quote]
Not to be a dick or anything but you don’t know the difference between your and you’re :-)
That’s why I posted a comment afterwards correcting myself.
Yeah sorry, guess I should’ve refreshed before posting :(
[quote comment="84625"][quote comment="84621"]
…For starters you don’t know the difference between “their” and “there” so I’m guessing your about 12 years old. Also you listed 3 public sites, not private ones. Nice try.[/quote]
Not to be a dick or anything but you don’t know the difference between your and you’re :-)[/quote]
Also, [i]their computers[/i] is proper usage.
I didn’t mean “their computers” I meant
“I have worked for ICS for the last 2 years. [b]Their[/b] are over 20 private torrent sites we are watching.”
…Nevermind I won’t say anything next time :p. The point was, the guy is talking shit.
LOLZ I DONT OPEN 4 MEMBERSHIPS.
YOU ARE GAYS.
[quote comment="84534"]I have worked for ICS for the last 2 years. Their are over 20 private torrent sites we are watching. As for the comment on accounts being purged. We actively upload working movies to the site that work but have hidden “Trojan’s” giving us access to people that have played the movie on their computer. This information will not be confirmed by anyone in the agency.
The current sites being targeted: Demonoid, The Pirate Bay, tus-kvcd-group, and many more that will not be mentioned due to security issues.[/quote]
Seriously man, lay off the crack. Infiltrating private torrent sites is actually very easy, but it’s plain to see you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. It wasn’t even a nice try.
Another idiot throwing around some names trying to get more info.. ignore this idiot.
LOL, placing a trojan in a movie-torrent.
So, you get an avi and an exe, what will you do now? LOL! priceless.
1 references to this post
Pages: [1] 2 3 » Show All
Add your response