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I Know What You Download on BitTorrent

iknowwhatyoudownload.com

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Re: I Know What You Download on BitTorrent

#81

Well my ISP gives out a dynamic IP address each time my DSL modem connects to them, so this tactic only reveals who downloaded what when they were assigned my current IP. Nothing much can be inferred from this data unless you are the ISP or govt and can tie the IP to the subscriber. And yes, it shows my IP downloaded the movie Zombieland, which I never did, so it is some other subscriber of the same ISP.

I'm on LTE. The carrier grade NAT implementation of my ISP may use a different public IP address for each TCP connection I make.

The webserver of my bank sees it as a hack and will then log me out.

Fortunately my ISP also has an APN when I'm allocated my own IP.

Re: I Know What You Download on BitTorrent

#82

It says I "like porn", but the porn torrents it shows are not thing I've ever downloaded. I don't download porn at all. It shows things I've torrented, but the list is very inaccurate. I sure hope law enforcement doesn't one day decide to use the same information source and frame me for viewing something I didn't.

I can't speak to every LEO but the gist in US law at least is that IP != person, unless some other outside proof corroborates it is. You could in theory be framed but it probably wouldn't hold up court. It definitely could throw you into court, though, and that can be damaging enough.

Re: I Know What You Download on BitTorrent

#83
post #14
post #3

I can see this being used by law enforcement in countries where IP address = person that rents it.

This is a long term practice in Germany. Lawyers connect to the swarm, collect peers and then send letters in an automated way to "shake down" people. The solution is to use VPNs or private trackers and it's pretty widely known. If you move into a flat / AirBnB one of the first things people will tell you is to not torrent on the connection.

Uh oh, I rent out a vacation house on Airbnb, I am terrified to look up what the guests have been downloading on my account...

Re: I Know What You Download on BitTorrent

#87
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US has very little CGNAT outside of mobile networks and small rural ISPs

Doesn't time Warner /comcast use CGNAT

Not positive about TW, but IME Comcast does not.

I know people complain (fairly!) about comcast a lot, but some things they've consistently gotten right are stable IPs even if you don't pay for an explicit static address, and pushing v6 VERY hard.

Re: I Know What You Download on BitTorrent

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternately, a seedbox or seebox-like service like Put.io. My ISP actually prohibits P2P transfers, so whatever you're downloading, if you want to use torrents, it's the only way to go without getting nasty emails.

wouldn't a VPN also work? it should just look like a single encrypted stream to the ISP.

Yes - but in my case I'm happy to comply. My ISP is a locally-owned small-business that operates a WISP. They're genuinely nice people, pick up on the 1st ring when there's an issue and provide great support.

If they say that P2P transfers on their network cause congestion and degradation, I believe them, and I'm happy to find alternatives.

Re: I Know What You Download on BitTorrent

#89
An intern once thought it was a good idea to torrent a couple of Game of Thrones episodes using my startup's Digital Ocean box.

We found out after Digital Ocean forwarded us an email from HBO (who presumably tracked Digital Ocean down via the IP) that we were engaging in piracy. We sent an email to everyone with access, saying whoever was doing it to stop. Then we got a second email (a final warning).

Everyone denied doing it, so I had to find the offender via checking the bash history of the box for all users.

Sure enough a couple of mkv files had been downloaded and deleted by an intern :( Making the mistake of downloading it was forgiveable once, since we lived in a culture where piracy was rampant / normal (this was before Netflix et al were available in my country). But repeating the offense, failing to come clean and making us waste our time to locate who did it was not. (This was a small 7 person startup so trust was super important).

As for why the intern needed to ssh into a digital ocean box to run a torrent? The college internet (where he was working from) blocked torrent connections and he wanted to be the first one to download and release the episodes on the college intranet. Smh.

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