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Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

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Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#51

Post by IYasha »

oefrha wrote: post #35
sascha_sl wrote: post #13

I mean, it already exists. [1] Always fun to see what my neighbors behind the same NAT download. [1]: https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/

Ah, haven’t checked that one for a while. Surprised to find a tech-minded neighbor who has downloaded kali-linux-2022.3-live-everything-amd64.iso. And no pr0n this time round.

You'd better have a good firewall since you have such a tech-minded neighbor. )

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#52

Post by hardwaresofton »

boramalper wrote: post #34

I had been working on this successfully for a couple years in the past before I got tired of it and moved on. I still think it's a magnificent idea, to be able to host your own torrent site and to decentralise the last centralised bit of BitTorrent. https://github.com/boramalper/magnetico

Thanks for writing that note on the repository -- it was thoughtful and well explained -- reading through your small manifesto that was linked and that's fun too.

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#53

Post by insane_dreamer »

sascha_sl wrote: post #13

I mean, it already exists. [1] Always fun to see what my neighbors behind the same NAT download. [1]: https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/

I thought streaming had spelled the demise of torrenting, so was v surprised to check out my local hood (quiet suburban, skewing older few ppl <40yrs) and see how it's very much alive and well. I guess I was naive. (Not condemning anyone, as I did my share of peering back in the day, but streaming services are convenient and honestly don't cost that much all things considered. Torrents (tho I prefer IRC) good for finding obscure stuff that's unavailable anywhere else, but that's not what my neighbors are downloading; and it's not like any of them can't afford to pay. Interesting dynamic.

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#54

Post by netsharc »

aliqot wrote: post #36
Ysx wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DHT has existed for 17 years - the cat's out of the bag. The anti-piracy companies have built their own crawlers.

They match swarm IP's and then notify ISP's who voluntarily hassle you on their behalf. An IP doesn't equal a person in USA.

And outside of the US? In Germany there's an "efficient" business of law companies acting on behalf of the copyright holders, subpoenaing the ISP to get the owner of the IP/connection and sending them a cease-and-desist with a hefty fee.

There's the next part, law companies specializing in "Here's the letter you have to send to say you agree to pay them without admitting guilt, that'll be € please!".

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#55

Post by steinuil »

encryptluks2 wrote: post #26
icpmoles wrote: post #17

Is it basically btdig.com ?

Btdig is awesome. If this is like an open source version in Go then that is a huge contribution.

Isn't btdig also open source? I see a "fork me" button on the front page and it leads to a repo: https://github.com/btdigg-org/dhtcrawler2

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#56

Post by TillE »

netsharc wrote: post #54
aliqot wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They match swarm IP's and then notify ISP's who voluntarily hassle you on their behalf. An IP doesn't equal a person in USA.

And outside of the US? In Germany there's an "efficient" business of law companies acting on behalf of the copyright holders, subpoenaing the ISP to get the owner of the IP/connection and sending them a cease-and-desist with a hefty fee. There's the next part, law companies specializing in "Here's the letter you have to send to say you agree to pay them without admitting guilt, that'll be € please!".

I think the demand is usually around 1000 Euro, so it's way cheaper to just pay for a VPN service, configure qBittorrent to only use your VPN interface, and torrent whatever the hell you want.

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#58

Post by kevinwang »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #52
boramalper wrote: post #34

I had been working on this successfully for a couple years in the past before I got tired of it and moved on. I still think it's a magnificent idea, to be able to host your own torrent site and to decentralise the last centralised bit of BitTorrent. https://github.com/boramalper/magnetico

Thanks for writing that note on the repository -- it was thoughtful and well explained -- reading through your small manifesto that was linked and that's fun too.

I think the manifesto was Aaron Swartz's

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#59

Post by remram »

Eduard wrote: post #19
tmtvl wrote: post #8

Just AGPL it, I hear it's an effective ward against Alphabet.

Very good suggestion, considering the sniffer could be used by copyright claims lawyers.

AGPL wouldn't stop copyright lawyers from using it or even making changes and not sharing. It would only stop another company from making changes and not sharing them and selling the service to lawyers.

Re: Ask HN: I've Built a DHT Torrent Sniffer and Search Engine. Should I Release?

#60

Post by remram »

MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #33
Eduard wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very good suggestion, considering the sniffer could be used by copyright claims lawyers.

Can't see how AGPL would stop anyone using it. Doesn't it just prevent them from modifying the source code without sharing their changes. ?

It only prevents them from modifying the code and not sharing their changes and making the service available to another company.

You are still free to make private changes to AGPL code and run it for yourself (or your company).

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