If you thought it was only unsafe to download from public trackers - think again. It’s hardly a shock that anti-piracy groups make it a habit to go after users of public torrents, or even the colossal Demonoid tracker. But piracy watchdog group BayTSP, which in large part represents the MPAA and its subsidiaries, has begun to encroach into the private tracker sector. What was once thought, "it can’t happen on a private site" may soon become the norm, as more and more torrenters make the switch to private trackers. This is the story of TorrentLeech, BayTSP, home PC downloading, and a stern warning from my ISP in regards to sharing the latest "Star Trek XI" film.
MPAA Spies in Torrentleech? You Bet!
This is not some scoop submitted by a FSF reader or an acquaintance - it is much more personal, as it directly happened to me. While it’s not uncommon to receive a takedown notice forwarded to my ISP from BayTSP for haphazardly downloading torrents found on public trackers (heck, I’ve probably had dozens of these over the years) but it’s much more alarming when originating from TorrentLeech’s tracker.
Yesterday I received an "abuse complaint" email from my ISP, Rogers Cable Communications. Within, it began:
Dear Sir or Madam:
BayTSP, Inc. ("BayTSP") swears under penalty of perjury that Paramount Pictures Corporation ("Paramount") has authorized BayTSP to act as its non-exclusive agent for copyright infringement notification. BayTSP’s search of the protocol listed below has detected infringements of Paramount’s copyright interests on your IP addresses as detailed in the below report…
It continues to outline the exact infringing file and time of offense:
Evidentiary Information:
Notice ID: 22-50195397
Infringed Work: Star Trek XI
Protocol: BitTorrent
Infringers IP Address: xx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Infringer’s DNS Name: …cpe.net.cable.rogers.com
Infringing FileName: Star.Trek.TS.XviD-DEViSE
Infringing FileSize: 1487845506
Initial Infringement Timestamp: 13 May 2009 15:16:00 GMT
Recent Infringement Timestamp: 13 May 2009 15:16:00 GMT
But how can this be, since I avoid public trackers like the plague. I clicked on the accompanied "admit guilt" link (which I wouldn’t suggest you should ever do), in order to ascertain more information about the source of the message. Within, it lists hxxp://tracker.torrentleech.org - clear proof that BayTSP has burrowed their way into TL’s tracker.
Wha?!? Does this mean that MPAA/BayTSP staffers & affiliates have accounts at popular (or even rare) private tracker communities? In a word - Yes. And how did they get there? We invited them, naturally. And you can bet they keep great ratios, too - begging the next question: How do they do it without breaking their own righteous legalese claptrap? Who knows; the MPAA/RIAA are above even their own copyrights in which they ever so ineffectively attempt to protect.
Protect Yourself on Private Trackers
Private tracker usage does not make torrenters more secure than regular public folk. I just proved it… err, they proved it for me. Keeping your private tracker traffic private requires a little more than just using PeerGuardian.
• Use a seedbox, and stop torrenting from your home PC. A seedbox is a sure-fire method to keep your real IP address out of the torrent. Fact is, seedbox providers receive these same takedown notices all the time, and it doesn’t overly concern them. It won’t concern you, either.
• Use a VPN service to anonymize your traffic. If you must torrent from your home PC (without a third-party seedbox), then use a VPN service to anonymize your torrent traffic. It’s effective and generally more affordable than a seedbox. Some VPNs are specific to P2P/torrent traffic such as
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Originally Posted by anonftw
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