This is How We Catch You Downloading
Written by enigmax on April 14, 2007All over Europe thousands of people are being threatened with court action for allegedly sharing games like Dream Pinball 3D on P2P networks. Now, documents obtained by TorrentFreak show details of the anti-piracy company’s techniques for identifying alleged file-sharers on the internet and the gathering of claimed ‘forensic quality’ evidence for use in court cases.
In March we reported in some detail about the case of 500 UK file-sharers being legally pursued following claims that they uploaded games from the German publisher ‘Zuxxez’ onto file-sharing networks.
Since then, many people have been in touch with the law firm who sent the threatening letters, demanding evidence that they actually did something. TorrentFreak has obtained copies of the latest letters and within the claimed evidence is a description of how the anti-piracy system used by Logistep AG (the company hired to track the alleged pirates) is supposed to work.
The cleverly named “File Sharing Monitor” is the system being used by Logistep to gather evidence against file-sharers. It is actually just a modified version of the Shareaza P2P application that is configured to search for infringing files, and collect the information from the hosts that share these files.
The “File Sharing Monitor” only targets Gnutella and eDonkey users, so it is still unclear how they track down BitTorrent users. Here is how it works:
1. The client connects to the P2P network, searches for sources of the infringing file, and collects the IP addresses that were gathered through the search.
2. The client requests to download (a piece of) the file from the host that was found through the search.
3. The filename, file size, IP-address, P2P protocol, P2P application, time, and the username are automatically inserted into a database, if the host permits the download.
4. This is the “best” part. The application does a WHOIS search for the ISP information and automatically sends an infringement letter to the ISP if needed.
The claim is that the “File Sharing Monitor” is totally foolproof and that it can provide forensic-quality information to a court in order that file-sharers be punished. The question remains whether an IP-address is sufficient evidence to sue a person for downloading copyrighted material. Recent cases suggest that the RIAA and the MPAA will need more evidence than that.
Here is the ‘evidence’ for the functioning of the Logistep system. You decide.
-Link to PDF.
Previously: Automatically Transcode and Import Downloaded Videos to iTunes
Next: Do P2P Blocklists Keep you Safe?
142 Responses
since the copyrightowner and agents working for them can’t infringe their own copyrights I of course have first bought the game legally in the shop, then downloaded the Rar archive for backup purposes only, and the most important part now:
I am NOT offering it for distribution to the public. The IP filter I use is of course set up in a way that it will only allow the IP adresses from copyright enforcers like those swiss morrons or their collegues in america.
And the stupid swiss morons have not only not setup their “Hit time” system to a worldwide standard of UTC for timereference, but they have not even provided any prove that their local clocks are synceonised on a continues basis with atomic based internet timeservers.
Their evidence is even more flawed than the RIAA ones where their expert got his “ass kicked” in his deposition end of february. MediaSentry at least allegedly downloads a few complete files from the IP address they allegedly have recorded. Those swiss morons just ask for hash values and do NOT download a whole file from only ONE source to show that he has in fact a genuine infringing file.
I bet some techgurus here can explain better then me that hashvalues are spoofable.
P.S. screwing up timezones is a well known problem of those “investigators”. They did it at first in the netherlands too*
So if you are a UK pinball fan and your ISP hadn’t had the same guts that the dutch ISP’s had and did indeed disclose to those lawyers your personal details, you can always play the “wrong timecode card” as defense.
Demand the sourcecode of the manipulated program they use, demand proof that their system clocks were accurately syncronised with a) the legal time b) that the clocks your ISP used in their logs was syncronised with legal time too, and that the different timezones were taken correctly in account while providing your private data to those lawoffice.
*
http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/#Foundation_v_UPC_Nederland
I really don’t see how they can prove with any kind of certainty exactly what these people are sharing?
If they are just searching for filenames or comments, who’s to say the file offered is actually infringing, without downloading it and viewing it?
I could copy my windows swap file and share it with a name of and they’d probably still send a letter to my ISP?
Is IP evidence really that concrete considering the number of ISP’s that work on a dynamic instead of static IP system for their customers? Not to mention the ability of IP spoofing. It just sounds too flawed to be foolproof. Besides, anytime something is foolproof, a bigger fool evolves from the soup.
* with a name of “insert any recent popular movie name” that should’ve been…
I used to work for an ISP and deal with this sort of thing.
At any given time, only one account can have any given IP address, and it is all logged.
That said, the timezone stuff then becomes very important, as mentioned above, and an internet account isn’t the same as a person. Friends/family could be using it, some joker could be using your unsecured wifi, or your username/password could be being used by someone who installed some malware on your pc.
It’s not concrete in any way.
One suggestion is start preventing them from connecting at all, using an application like Peer Guardian.
If you think you can magically wash away some substantive legal case against you with a “wrong timecode card” then you’re delusional.
This program is the first step — then they subpoena your ISP — eventually they seize your computer and look at the logs (sure you erased everything? even .bash_history?)
Each phase of data gathering adds more weight to the case. Minor problems like timestamp inconsistencies would not be significant when considering the weight of evidence.
if your isp sends you a letter, tell them that your wireless router was open(no password)and your neighbor possibly downloaded it thru your connection. isp will tell you they are very sorry. if a company sends you a letter, better drag an huge magnet over your hd lol
but a question, if they are on P2P arent they downloading and uploading data ? if so then which isp are theirs so we can send them a letter instead.
What /everyone/ should start doing is leaving their wireless unsecured, then if/when they get a letter, just claim it was Mr. Nobody. :-D
anyone can do a WHOIS
[quote comment="85275"]
but a question, if they are on P2P arent they downloading and uploading data ? if so then which isp are theirs so we can send them a letter instead.[/quote]
They have permission from the copywrite holders to do it.
Stop using and sharing shitty 3rd rate corporate software. You’re just part of the problem. If people stop sharing this stuff nobody will buy it and the greedy bastards behind the lawsuits will go out of business.
Install Linux and enter a a new universe of millions and millions of legal free open source programs.
The blackout of the address somehow is visisible for a split second.
USENET ALREADY
#13
the software on the watchlist was a game.
games and linux…say no more.
but for the rest of your post i second it!
[quote comment="85301"]USENET ALREADY[/quote]
um…there’s no such thing as usenet.
I can’t stop laughing after reading this… y?? Cuz I usually hack into wireless networks around me, change my MAC address, turn off their router’s logging system and download whatever I like… not because I need all that but just to piss RIAA and MPAA… good luck catching me faggots!!
Well the file hash is rather unique and they would have to download and run the program to ensure that it is in fact the program of interest as a filename is rather meaningless. There are thousands of trojans out there that have interesting filenames and are the most available via p2p networks.
In Canada the downloading of copywritten files is not illegal but the “sharing” of same can be with the burden of proof is on the plaintiff.
With wireless networks abounding this proving is becoming increasingly difficult. They pretty much must seize your computer and then see if the file is actually in a ’shared’ folder for the file sharing software in question at the time of the incident. Just being in possession of the file on your hard drive is not sufficient evidence that you actually shared it. In other words they must have an active connection with your machine at the time of the incident. Just because they are in the queue isn’t proof since at that time you are not sharing the file it is just available for sharing.
The problem here is that these are civil and not criminal actions in which the rule of the ‘preponderance’ of the evidence is needed vice ‘reasonable doubt’.
A cease and desist letter is probably the best action by the copyright holders rather than these $18K+ orders.
No hashes or other verification the file is what it’s claimed to be?
So this “monitoring program” will add anyone with file in their share folder containing Dream Pinball 3D in it’s name? A few people could make it interesting for them and post a bunch of fakes on Gnutella and eDonkey, enough fakes would render their automated process useless or make litigation very expensive. It wouldn’t be hard to fill a file with junk until it the size matched.
i”ve always wonderd, how does sharing a useless piece of 1 rar file amount to copyright violation? Seriously, if you take that little bit you grabbed from whatever rar you downloaded off of, it’s completly useless. You cant extract it, you cant do crap with it. Now with bittorrent, when you upload your more likely to upload bits and pieces or several rars, but what you upload to one particular person amounts to nothing. Sure, when they put what you gave them together with what they get form others then they have a working rar that can be either extracted or played with, but your not resposible for what others upload, nor what the person recieving your uploaded info does with what he/she has gotten. I”ve always been curios why this approach hasnt been used in court as of yet. Mabey its a crap theory and I need to lay off the drugs, or perhaps my mind is far too advanced and I need to keep my drugs to help save mankind, heh - CJ
[quote comment="85313"][quote comment="85301"]USENET ALREADY[/quote]
um…there’s no such thing as usenet.[/quote]
You sure?
Aren’t there tools out there on the internet that are capable of changing your IP address ?! If they were to even catch “your” IP address, then U could easliy change it within seconds
As someone mentioned before, I can rename any of my PERSONAL files as “insert the software title here” dot exe.
How can they prove that I’m sharing THEIR software and not mine? They can’t. The ISP can’t. F**k them.
You are never ‘completely’ anonymous on the internet.
All the data you request requires a return address, obviously in order for you to get it. Otherwise, you weould send requests, but never actually receive anything as there is no return address.
Even if you were to change your IP 2 seconds after, the requests by then have already been logged at some point on the internet, most likely at various places.
You can use proxy servers, again… ultimatley everything is traceable.
You can chain your proxies together and have your file go from Canada to NYC, over to a commie country such as china, then back to australia… This would make it extremely difficult and expensive for a firm to track you. You would have to do some pretty serious damage / theft and have the FBI / NSA on your azz.
Then again, after chaining so many procies your download speed will decrease significantly.
Apparently there is word of a black project that will allow complete anonymity, i forget the name atm, but anyways it all ultimately comes down to you, your pc, and your MAC address.
[quote comment="85378"]Aren’t there tools out there on the internet that are capable of changing your IP address ?! If they were to even catch “your” IP address, then U could easliy change it within seconds[/quote]
Yes, you don’t need a tool, you configure your IP in windows in your network config TCP/IP protocol properties.
This address is usually assigned by a DHCP server running over at your ISP.
The DHCP server’s job is to assign an address to your pc. This address has a lease time on it, so your pc might ‘lease’ an address for 2 weeks, release it, and get a new one.
You can cause this to take place yourself but not always by issuing commands and or rebooting your dsl modems.
You could also assign a ’static’ ip through network properties. But again the DHCP server i beleive must allow you to do so,.. or have that address first being not in use, and secondly in the allowable pool of leasable addreses.
technically you could change yoru MAC address which is what it ultimatley comes down to, and your IP address to that of someone elses.
obviously things i beleive would not always happen properly,. to say that packets would be routed to 2 pcs.. randomly? Does someone know? An interesting thought non the less.
Also, your DSL modems / cable modems have a MAC address. would require a change also.
All this of course would be seen in event logs etc ISP side. If someone was looking for it.
[quote comment="85388"]As someone mentioned before, I can rename any of my PERSONAL files as “insert the software title here” dot exe.
How can they prove that I’m sharing THEIR software and not mine? They can’t. The ISP can’t. F**k them.[/quote]
They prove it’s not actually just a renamed .exe or .jpg by analyzing the files HASH value. google it…
a renamed file will not have the same HASH cvalue as the real file.
“They” could actually be monitoring us now.
“They” work on the inside, that shady employee for torrentfreak, that double agent over at The Bay the quiet one who never says anything.
“They” figured they needed a Top Secret (not anymore) project similar in scope to the ones they run on Green Peace protestors and Freedom Rights activsts.
“They” collect logs at the “root” of the dragons den. It does not matter if it is 12 year old johnny who mis-clicked his mouse while searching for the latest transformers website, or the Mother of six who is simply reading up on current events.
“They” are wathing
“They” know “We” know….
-blunted
Link to the PDF:
http://www.bundybovines.com/20070414093506062-1.pdf
Hello fellow downloaders
as long the lobbyist gangs have political ties that goes far up politicians block holes, ISP are being confronted with dictatorial law(enforcements) and citizens are being crimilized beyond belief, even in democractic countries, aquisations of copyright related events are handled with an inverted proof process( where you have the proof that you were not downloading sh*t instead the other way around)
The best advice is to keep your back straight up for whenever someone is haressing you aquising of doing something illegal, just remember that in high courts, citizens must be protected against companies; iaw p2p, usenet and torrenst are legal platforms. Copyright holders are forced to invent something that stops users to replicate and not just procecute them because they cant a better solution
btw: I own an usenet provider and an ISP so I know what I am talking about
Another scenario which makes the trail of evidence murkier.
How about spoofing an IP address and then sniffing the data sent to that address.
This would require you are on the same subnet. With cable you can sniff all your neighbours packets, just like a hub your modem recieves them but ‘chooses’ to ignore them.
I run a public proxy server on my pc… do I get into trouble if someone downloads copyright material through my proxy or shares material through my proxy?
Of course an IP is not enough!
I leave my wirless network open on purpose.
If one of my neighbours does something illegal, I can’t be blamed for that!
[quote comment="85396"][quote comment="85378"]Aren’t there tools out there on the internet that are capable of changing your IP address ?! If they were to even catch “your” IP address, then U could easliy change it within seconds[/quote]
Yes, you don’t need a tool, you configure your IP in windows in your network config TCP/IP protocol properties.
This address is usually assigned by a DHCP server running over at your ISP.
The DHCP server’s job is to assign an address to your pc. This address has a lease time on it, so your pc might ‘lease’ an address for 2 weeks, release it, and get a new one.
You can cause this to take place yourself but not always by issuing commands and or rebooting your dsl modems.
You could also assign a ’static’ ip through network properties. But again the DHCP server i beleive must allow you to do so,.. or have that address first being not in use, and secondly in the allowable pool of leasable addreses.
[/quote]
OMG stop stop stop, your bulls*t is hurting my ears. First sit Cisco exam, then talk.
[quote comment="85313"][quote comment="85301"]USENET ALREADY[/quote]
um…there’s no such thing as usenet.[/quote]
ummm……….better look again it is also called news groups
I googled this ‘dream pinball 3d’ according to the site (from zuxxez entertainment, not a duped name) the entire game is *free* anyway!
so this entire article just a viral marketing attempt? maybe the games full of ads to earn them cash?
[quote comment="85499"]oops, misinterpreted what I’d read, been a wear day, it’s not free, it just only used to have the trial version available[/quote]
re: comment “85499″
oops, misinterpreted what I’d read, been a wear day, it’s not free, it just only used to have the trial version available
One statement ends this whole argument:
IP ADDRESSES ARE NOT VALID AUTHENTICATION CREDENTIALS, PERIOD. You can not use an IP address to authenticate the user of a computer, and thus can not use it as the basis of a legal argument against anyone.
Hell, you can’t even prove that an IP address ever belonged to an individual machine.
There is absolutely no infallable method for making this correlation, as every intermediary device that logs network information, such as MAC addresses, is inherintly (and trivially), subvertable to provide false information.
Since the prosecuting attorneys can not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that none of the evidence has been tampered with, they have absolutely no case whatsoever. This point is irrefutable.
Well… I recieved a complaint from my ISP after they recieved one of these automated alerts, the problem is I don’t think they verify the file is what they think it is… closer examination of the file’s length and the files in my share….
To boil it down to a point, I got a copyright infringement notice from Synmantec for sharing and OpenOffice.org install file… I was pissed, but since my ISP took no action I couldn’t defend myself.
This is crap. On the PDF, it said something like your responsible for what goes on your connection in whatever country this is. That said, the wifi option should be off and there should be a agreement that pops up when you choose to give access when enabling wifi.
This is crap, crap, and more crap!
damn thats how i got cought 2 weeks ago
picklefuckers, it is copyRIGHT, not copywrite as in ad copy. get over yourselves already.
I got one of these emails from MGM for sharing movie releases. I have a static IP on the internet port of my router. This is a /30 subnet address so I its no use changing. they know whom the traffic belongs to.
I told them that I have an unencrypted wifi spot but they told me to apply proper mesaures to stop sharing or they will terminate my account. Under the evidence they had torrent files and emule stuff too. Does anyone have any useful advice for me? I dont want to stop sharing…
[quote comment="85511"]This is crap. On the PDF, it said something like your responsible for what goes on your connection in whatever country this is. That said, the wifi option should be off and there should be a agreement that pops up when you choose to give access when enabling wifi.
This is crap, crap, and more crap![/quote]
Would you be responsible if you left your keys in the car and the door unlocked and someone stole your car and used it to kill someone else? The answer is no, so why would you be held responsible for someone stealing your bandwidth or your property such as your computer.
It is clearly simple, they can not clearly without a shadow of doubt, prove you are the person responsible for such an action, because in the end, they don’t know who the person is that is doing it at that time.
Heck, with the advanced rootkits of this age, they couldn’t even prove your system wasn’t compromised.
if you wipe you computer/logs that could be seen by the court as an attempt to destroy evidence.
“USENET ALREADY”
“um…there’s no such thing as usenet.”
“ummm……….better look again it is also called news groups”
Somebody is obviously forgetting the first rule…
What about something like Peerguardian (free IP masking tool)?
wouldn’t that avoid detection?
My guess is that none of the previous posters have any clue how awful the legal system is. It will not protect you if there is ANY evidence against you. It doesn’t matter if there is reasonable doubt. It’s all about human nature…if you’re in court, everyone thinks you must be guilty of something. Civil court is much worse, as they don’t even require reasonable doubt…look at what happened to OJ…of course…civil court doesn’t come with the penalty of jail time. IANAL, but I’ve had more than my fair share of experience and have gotten shafted every time. Stay out of the way of the law, or you will get screwed.
You’re right about that, the idea that you have a right to a trial judged by a jury of your peers, who coincidently have no understanding whatsoever about the execution of the judiciary process of the U.S. Legal system seems a bit counter intuitive. If, however, you choose the more sane option of having the judge be the sole decision maker over the preceedings, you make yourself victim to his desire to accurately interpret and uphold the law, based on the quality and validity of the evidence.
why Gnutella and eDonkey but not bittorrent . I think that now days people that getting sued are mostly bittorrent users .
since this article using Gnutella and eDonkey as example let go through some step.
if users using ipfilter/PW/PG (connection is block) then step 2 will be fail . this mean that step 3 & 4 will be skip.
will this be the same for bittorrent users?
“peers” is one of those words that’s severely underdefined…let me clarify. “peers” means those people who were randomly selected for jury duty. Of those randomly selected, only the people who actually respond to the jury notice (who don’t come up with some excuse to get out of it) show up. Now who might those people be. Sure, maybe one or two are educated people, but those people have lives…they want to get home to their family members. The easiest way to do that is to convict you. The rest of your “peers” are lowlifes, who think jury duty is a high paying job, or hate their lives so much that they love the idea of jury duty because it gets them away from their family. These people are really really ignorant and just believe whatever the prosecution says. Now say you’re an educated computer engineer. How many of those jurors are going to be computer engineers? NONE, and if by some magic one was randomly selected, they would probably be excluded by the prosecution. I’m just pissing myself off now, so I’m going to stop…again, stay away from court, once you’re there you face a 95% conviction rate…good luck.
Its a civil case.
There is no jury.
:P
[quote comment="85263"]Is IP evidence really that concrete considering the number of ISP’s that work on a dynamic instead of static IP system for their customers? Not to mention the ability of IP spoofing. It just sounds too flawed to be foolproof. Besides, anytime something is foolproof, a bigger fool evolves from the soup.[/quote]
i can even change my IP at my own leisure. Without even having to inform my isp. Further, this guys right, their system wont yield any valid evidence when applied to dynamic ip systems
The dirty evil bastards
file sharing programs need alterations to combat this
[quote]
Its a civil case.
There is no jury.
[/quote]
There can be. See the 7th Amendment.
I’ve often wondered the same CJ, how likely is it that one would upload an enterire file to one peer ? it isn’t like dc, napster or irc. Hehe, the law is soo old, lame and restrictive seen in the light of p2p.
Something like this shows up in all whois results:
TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations
So this description of the program makes it sound like it is violating the usage agreement of whois data and the whois services that registrars run.
#59
good observation
so “sue the suers”
RIPE should demand from logistep detailed infos about what IPs have accessed the database how often and demand payment. And punitive damages too!
allegedly from 500 UK IP addresses the lawyers demanding 300 pounds each. they need to pay ISP ~18500 for the work they done in mahsing up IPs with subscriber data
That is a very lucrative net profit for them!
More then what “zuckers” (or how this company call itself) would make if they legaly sell the software.
That is a “preponderance of evidence” (sp?) that it was the game company himself that put up the file to cash in bigger profits then by selling game and then conspire with logistep and this british lawyer outfit!
Sue those corporate bastards their asses off!
Wouldn’t the company trying to locate infringement of copyright have to offer the program for download in order to offer the piece of the download and obtain the information of the requesting client?
The same email can be sent to their masters, the BSA/MPAA/RIAA. They hire firms to spam and DoS peer to peer networks with files just like the one mentioned above- with fake IP address. For all they know the file originated from their own hired thugs.
Here is the rub in the end. Nobody owns information. Nobody has ever owned information. Nobody can, in the physical God created world, owned information. And you Fuck with the word of God at your peril.
Information is either Secret, or it in Not. That is it. Period.
All this other BS are the death throws of a business that doesn’t want to change. Well fuck them and fuck you too for believing their crap.
The first rule of USENET is: you do not talk about USENET.
The second rule of USENET is: YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT USENET.
There is no USENET. There is no Cabal. There is no us. You have never heard the words ‘alt.binaries.*’ and there is no way of downloading vast quantities of media at enormous speed from servers run by your own ISP, without any risk of detection by the MAFIAA.
That is all. There is no USENET.
I’m doing a lot of research. One of the areas I’m looking at is anonymizing networks as people I’m often are tracking down are using these methods. (I’m working as as security specailist for a Govt.) If people used networks such as RAT, it would be possible to know who did the download. (Yes there are researcha bout how to back track in these networks aswell but not many agencyes are able to and way beyond these people we are talking about here.) And if you are part of a network such as RAT, you can most likely use the argument “Not me, must have been someone using RAT”. In order for this to work, you must have traffic via RAT at the same time as you download or your ISP’s logs will show you “did not” use RAT. Why do I tell you this? I’m a big supporter of “Fairuse”. I’m sick of DRM that restrict what I can do with stuff I have bought. I’m sick of rootkits from vendors such as Sony. I’m sick of being told what I can do with MY stuff or not….
Have a look at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)
http://tor.eff.org/
[quote comment="85351"]i”ve always wonderd, how does sharing a useless piece of 1 rar file amount to copyright violation? Seriously, if you take that little bit you grabbed from whatever rar you downloaded off of, it’s completly useless. [/quote]
If you sample music or significantly quote a text, and redistribute those samples and quotes, it’s copyright infringement. So too with a bit-for-bit segment of a copyrighted file.
That’s the argument the enemy would use. It would work, too.
I like how they ‘ptented’ the monitoring software so now it’s corporate IP so they dont even have to show a court how it works. A tactic that’s been used elsewhere in the past and closes of the openess of the whole process. SOunds like a good scam, I mod and open-source product to log IP addresses sharing data that ‘appear’ to be my owned content and then threaten to sue them for it. AT least when I get a speeding fine I get the chance to ‘nominate’ another driver of the car!
I was just going to post a response, but the deeper I got, the more this became a blog for me. If you’re interested, see here: http://cygdev.blogspot.com/
I am such a geek. The first thing I realized when I looked at your article (before I read it) is that your photograph (of the evidence stamper) cannot produce the stamp shown. If you actually stamped that, the V and the N would be upside down… or looked at another way, the whole thing would be backwards.
Figs, look again, it isn’t the rubber part of the stamp but the frontside that shows what the rubber part on the not visible bottom will print!
:P
Most miss the legal points of all this…
Everyone is guilty and everyone must pay the piper…
Everyone is guilty until proved innocent…
However, If you are old and dealing with end of life issues, as am i,
you don’t care what “they” can or will do to you because it’s still a good day to die…
Did anyone notice that they claim this “Monitoring Program” is *patented*?
Hashing is pointless, I could modify the metadata and the hash changes.
Original Title = “3D Pinball Deluxe Super Premium Limited Edition”
Modified Title = 3D Pinball Deluxe Super Premium Limited Edition ”
See? The users won’t notice anything with an extra space. Then of course the program might have a digital signature, but to verify that you would have to download the file first. Which means they would waste a lot of bandwidth… Plus, there isn’t any kind of digital signature verification in BitTorrent I don’t think…
Shareaza is licenced under GPL.
That means anyone can ask for the source code of this anti-piracy tool.
What if I’m running Windows? That retarded OS periodically trashes my hard drive, wiping my data, without any help from me! Keep a small partition for your downloads, and thsoe bits will soon be re-used.
The answer is Tor.
This is how it works.
https://tor.eff.org/overview.html.en
Roger and Nick are really smart guys they sort out small issues very fast and reliably for they care a great deal about privacy on the net.
Tor only got 1 major issue and that’s available bandwidth say ‘tor exit nodes’. There are lots and lots of those however I think it should be popular amongst normal users to run such a node, be it an exit node or an internal node. So in the end we should have much more bandwidth available so this thing sort of gets democratized and we can actually help each other in a way that is convenient for us.
So try it for the things you thin should be private.
…and by the way of you run a Tor exit node you actually have proof that other people who you *cannot* know will use your internet connection. So you *cannot* be hold liable for anything that happens through your i-net link, unless of course there is trace that you actually did it on *your* computer.
Of course it’s the 21th century clever people can easily have their discs encrypted.
http://www.truecrypt.org/
http://www.google.com/search?q=netbsd+cgd
(tor by default does not log anything that could be used against you)
@73
sure you can ask them for the source, but they will not give it to you.
and since they do not distribute their modification to the pirating public for “peer review” they have every right to refuse.
Oh, and as mentioned above the time zone issue is a possible response, but the open wireless router seems better. The problem with the time zone issue is that if the ISP state that the DHCP lease was granted more than 12 hours ago and had more than 12 hours to go then the time zone issue is provably mute.
The open wireless router issue is more difficult to disprove, and the issue of discovery becomes impossible as the cynical defendant may give up the hard disk of the machine that they don’t download on for discovery. You *certainly* can’t identify the machine from behind the router.
@ 76
But the GPL derived code makes it illegal to sign a contract that prevents redistribution. They *must* own all the rights and thus can be subpoenaed for the code. If they have signed a contract that restricts release of source then the Shareaza author gets to sue whichever code shop actually did the coding.
If they did it themselves, then naturally they can choose to release the code or be compelled to do so by the court.
meeeeh… The rubber stamp on the picture won’t work :P
Seems this anti-piracy software is a modification of the open source Shareaza client. Does this mean that the company who made it (Logistep) has violated the GPL licence by not revealing the source code? Does this mean that this (patented!!!) software is actually illegal?
Please help, people fighting this need every angle they can!
jaduncan
what I read from the GNU FAQ is that you are probably wrong:
But since I’m only a FLOSS lover, I accept to stand corrected by a FLOSS-Guru ;-)
Does the GPL require that source code of modified versions be posted to the public?
The GPL does not require you to release your modified version. You are free to make modifications and use them privately, without ever releasing them. This applies to organizations (including companies), too; an organization can make a modified version and use it internally without ever releasing it outside the organization.
But if you release the modified version to the public in some way, the GPL requires you to make the modified source code available to the program’s users, under the GPL.
Thus, the GPL gives permission to release the modified program in certain ways, and not in other ways; but the decision of whether to release it is up to you.
If I know someone has a copy of a GPL-covered program, can I demand he give me a copy?
No. The GPL gives him permission to make and redistribute copies of the program if he chooses to do so. He also has the right not to redistribute the program, if that is what he chooses.
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
Funny stuff….
I got a warning from NBC via my ISP, saying I had downloaded/uploaded a TV series. Then I had 24 hours to go to a site they had setup where I had to put in my name and that I had deleted the content. As I had already watched it, I had no problems cleaning up my downloads folder.
So *they* are out there watching us… funnybunnies
-Piffer
I stand corrected. So Logistep AG can modify any GPLed program and sell services based on this modified program.
They do not have to release the source modifications as long as they don’t distribute the modified program.
Now why does embedded device manufacturer have to release their modifications of GPLed code? Afterall, they are selling the device rather than distribute the modified GPLed code that runs on the device.
[quote comment="85532"]I got one of these emails from MGM for sharing movie releases. I have a static IP on the internet port of my router. This is a /30 subnet address so I its no use changing. they know whom the traffic belongs to.
I told them that I have an unencrypted wifi spot but they told me to apply proper mesaures to stop sharing or they will terminate my account. Under the evidence they had torrent files and emule stuff too. Does anyone have any useful advice for me? I dont want to stop sharing…[/quote]
yeah, go and rent some ftp or storage server space located in china. Use a guttman 35 pass disk wipe on your existing drives. This will take about a week on a 40 gig drive. I get snort packet logs daily from infected ms-sql servers located in china, those look like perfectly good hosts if your into that sort of thing.
hehe
Haha, funny stuff Bruce!
I have one idea btw. I figured that they dont actually look for 0-sec releases so I just remove the old ones but keep the latest.
Since I read about those cases regarding ‘Dream Pinball 3D’ a few months ago, I’ve been seeding that pinball sim continously. It’s a very good pinball sim (especially the table ‘Two Worlds’), and I recommend the release by ‘Postmortem’.
If I hadn’t been reading about how the game publisher ‘Zuxxez’ was suing their prospective customers (and also us who naturally want to have a backup of those games we buy), I would not be file sharing this game all the time.
I’m sure a lot of people that never heard of the game now wants to give it a try (simple publicity), but maybe they get it via bittorrent. But as usual, those who really like the game will probably also buy it.
Time will tell if Zuexxz strategy about how handle Dream Pinball 3D is correct or not.
Maybe off topic, but here’s another example of a game that I have bought, but despite the fact that I have a legit copy, I’m still using a file shared torrent copy: Toca Race Driver 3. The reason why I’m using a pirated copy is simple! The legal version i bought contains the copy protection scheme ‘Starforce’ (I saw that when I was about to install the game), and there is NO WAY I’m going to let the malware Starforce be installed in my computer! (google after ‘Starforce Problems’ for more info).
Thanks,
/T
[quote comment="86077"]Now why does embedded device manufacturer have to release their modifications of GPLed code? Afterall, they are selling the device rather than distribute the modified GPLed code that runs on the device.[/quote]
Because the device physically contains the code.
I fear a few of the respondents are making the grave mistake of believing that the complainant has to prove their accusations beyond all reasonable doubt. That is not so in civil cases such as this, the complainant merely has to demonstrate to the court, on the balance of probabilities, that the defendant did what they claim he/she did.
And it is the defendant’s job to prove, on the balance of probabilities, that he/she didn’t do what he/she is accused of.
Whoever provides the more convincing argument wins, simple as that.
This is a simple civil case, in the UK there is no general right to seize anyone’s property for evidence. The claimant has sue for actual losses only, but if they are successful they will probably recover their costs and some damages on top.
The timestamp argument is quite reasonable, but it doesn’t amount to what is known as a primary defence. The suggestion that someone else may have used your unsecured network is similarly useful, but there is again no guarantee that this will persuade the court without a lot of effort.
It seems a reasonable defence to argue that other people who had access to your pc or network may well have downloaded an incomplete - and therefore unusable- part of the infringing file, and this was subsequently and inadvertently made available.
Of course you could always argue that you bought a secondhand pc, or were repairing someone’s pc for them, or that your pc had been hacked and the settings changed without your knowledge, allowing files to be uploaded. Which, of course, you never do.
Ultimately it is down to whoever presents the more credible argument to the court, and in those cases in which I have been involved, they have all been withdrawn at the point of discovery.
I suspect the settlement figure of £300 has been pitched carefully to dissuade people that it’s easier to settle than to fight.
usenext client
Here’s an interesting thought ..
If the RIAA and MPAA continue to push this ridiculous idea into the courts - they are going to be in for a much tougher battle then they think.. With the ability to shadow, clone, mesh, and use IP ‘blipping’ - the RIAA and MPAA are going to have a bunch of hackers pointing the IP addresses they are capturing back at them…
So , lets see - how the RIAA and MPAA are going to present a lawsuit on themselves, I mean after all - they cant be ‘prejudiced’ or ‘withhold’ information when they are throwing their weight around.. If their IPs are on the list, they are going to have to present the data unaltered , and in it’s original format.. So , I wonder what their plea will be then??
Face it - if they have enough balls to keep pushing the wrong buttons, things such as this are going to occur.. If the RIAA or MPAA came at me with such a thing - I would have to request them to provide proof that I personally initiated a ‘download’ to begin with, and if they are able to produce such evidence, then they will be facing a infringement of privacy lawsuit and an entrapment lawsuit to boot…
The RIAA and MPAA are not the CIA or FBI - and unless someone is committing acts against humanity or truly targetted for federal crimes - I doubt they are going to get the support they need to walk into millions of homes to prove their point… Of course, if they did start doing that - GOOD LUCK AT THE BOX OFFICES AND SELLING YOUR MUSIC - YOU WILL BE BOYCOTTED..
But it’s not the MPAA or the RIAA or the BPI, it’s an independant software distributor.
And it’s not war, it’s a battle
But it isn’t either the mpaa or the riaa, this is not an institutional attempt to coerce people to hand over money instead of going to court - this action has been instigated by the individual distributor
so, if i were to download a certain photo production software, but not seed it, would i be infringing on copyrights? or am i in the clear…
cltwz tinsrfhwm rbdl kfvny xjeoyud jity hsnu
I don’t know how it works in other countries, but here in the states they dont need “proof” to search and seize your shit. They simply need “probable cause.”
I sat through a lecture on computer forensics recently for school, given by the founder of TLSI (one of the leading computer forensics companies in the world, that handles casework for the FBI here in the states.) The way he described the situation, having your ip come up on one of these lists as pirating copyrighted material is probable cause to have the federal government search your house. And the way he said it would generally go down is that they would roll into your house like the swat team with guns drawn. They would “secure” you from access to your computer systems, and then image your hard drives. From there, they run a little program that identifies every piece of installed software on your computer system and its correspoding ULA. If you can’t produce a reciept or an install disc with a legal serial for every piece of software on your system (including your OS,) then they give you the option to purchase the software on the spot. If you don’t write them a check right then and there, then their case is pretty much made against you.
He also said any info on your hd is not completely gone until every bit has been overwritten at minimum, 7 times. They can also identify the pseudo-random algorithms used by every piece of commercial “shredding” and overwriting software on the market (until those overwritten bits have been overwritten themselves at least seven times by something else.) If they have enough evidence to bring a case against you, then the fact that you have used one of these programs can be used as evidence against you. And when used in conjunction with the doccuments supplied against you by your isp, even if they don’t find direct evidence of a crime on your computer, using one of those programs is almost enough to ensure a guilty verdict. So beware of file shredders.
He said that the “only” way to securly destroy the information on an hd and keep somone from gaining access to it, is by disassembling it and taking a ball peen hammer to every inch of the surface of the platters inside. Running magnets over them won’t do the trick.
He was saying that any time there is new technology about to be released to the public, they get it and figure out a repeatable process of reverse engineering it before it ever hits the streets, so it seems that if the gov’t really has a hard-on to bring you down, they most likely will.
Her’s a probable solution to p2p problems. Let’s just say, pirate bay get that island they want. Rather than use p2p, pirate bay hosts these files for direct download. That way, no one uploads pieces while downloading.
Another more realistic solution for torrenters in “dodgy” countries. Use leacher mods and don’t upload. I’d love to see “them” complaining to your isp when you havn’t shared a packet.
If they connect it by no way means that they were able to download the whole file. If they are not able to download the whole file (you disconnect before 100% share) then you are not suppling or uploading anything, just 1’s and 0’s
I got caught for uploading Star Wars III btw and a letter was automatically sent to my isp (Rogers Canada). And they listed my ip address followed by the movie named torrent as if I actually had a server up! I was going to see the film and buy the DVD but have since BOYCOTTED those films. What they are doing is a load of crap. Before the P2P people have copied and shared or lent movies and they will continue to do so (if they actually stop P2P).
hi nice post, i enjoyed it
Hmm, as said a few times before, it is VERY EASY to hack wireless networks, and thanks to our friends at Pecker World, they are in abundance!
If you are that bothered about getting caught, do some googling, and go hack…
Morals… they wish!! HAHAHAHAHA
[quote comment="85814"]I am such a geek. The first thing I realized when I looked at your article (before I read it) is that your photograph (of the evidence stamper) cannot produce the stamp shown. If you actually stamped that, the V and the N would be upside down… or looked at another way, the whole thing would be backwards.[/quote]
That’s just the print on the side of the stamp letting you know what it stamps.
carpet!carrier advert airfare Johnston pornographic nonorthogonal,
synchronizers tufts Doc.snowier autonavigators gaieties least …
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