Copyright infringement?

[eternalstorm]

I've been downloading with Vuze for years.  We recently moved and had to switch ISP.  We never had issues with our previous ISP with our downloads.  With the new ISP, I've just received my second notice of copyright infringement. I'm confused.  Vuze complies with copyright law, so why is my ISP citing me and what can I do about it?  The ISP is PenTeleData via Blue Ridge internet.  

[GaryE]

Yes Vuze is legal to use but that does not necessarily mean that what you choose to download with it is legal.  That is what copyright infringement means.  You downloaded copyrighted material.  Some copyright nazi caught you doing that.  They reported you to your ISP as dictated by DMCA regulations.  Your current ISP complies with DMCA regulations and gave you a strike.  Apparently you ignored that strike and you were caught downloading copyrighted material again.  Again the copyright nazi reported you to your ISP who then issued you with a second strike.  Once you get six strikes your ISP will drop you.

For more information about the "six strikes rule" . . .
here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Alert_System
and here https://torrentfreak.com/six-strikes-ant...ts-130225/
are articles explaining the six strikes rules.

As far as what you can do about it . . . you can stop downloading material which is copyrighted in your country/jurisdiction, you can try to use private torrent sites instead of public sites like "The Pirate bay" (but this is not a guarantee because private torrent site users get strikes just like everyone else it is just more rare) . . . or you can get a very good VPN.  If you want to go the VPN route check out this article:  http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-tha...3-edition/

 

 

[ekstasee]

Ensure that you have the "security" settings in your Vuze clients configured adequately.  Such as:
go to: Options, then,
Mode =  select ADVANCED (be careful to not change any other settings you do not understand in Advanced mode)
Connections > Transport encryption =  tick box for "Require encrypted transport", then  for "Minimum encryption level" select RC4.  DO NOT tick the other boxes.
Tracker > Client = tick the last two boxes = "enable key passing to trackers" & "use different peer identities for tracker and data communication"
Tracker > Server = "send peer identity to downloaders" = ensure this box is NOT TICKED.  Again, tick box for "enable key passing to trackers". 
If you want to be extra cautious, further down this page you will notice an option for selecting networks from which your client (Vuze) will accept peers (seeds and leechers).  Deselect "Public IP Network".  Also, still in OPTIONs > Connection, you  will notice the same selection criteria for networks.  Again, deselect "Public IP Network".  Then, above that, you will see a selection of "Peer Sources".  ONLY tick "From a tracker". Deselect the other choices.
Still on "extra cautious" in "OPTIONS > Sharing" = leave all boxes unticked.
 

 

 

 

[eternalstorm]

Ensure that you have the "security" settings in your Vuze clients configured adequately.  Such as:
go to: Options, then,
Mode =  select ADVANCED (be careful to not change any other settings you do not understand in Advanced mode)
Connections > Transport encryption =  tick box for "Require encrypted transport", then  for "Minimum encryption level" select RC4.  DO NOT tick the other boxes.
Tracker > Client = tick the last two boxes = "enable key passing to trackers" & "use different peer identities for tracker and data communication"
Tracker > Server = "send peer identity to downloaders" = ensure this box is NOT TICKED.  Again, tick box for "enable key passing to trackers". 
If you want to be extra cautious, further down this page you will notice an option for selecting networks from which your client (Vuze) will accept peers (seeds and leechers).  Deselect "Public IP Network".  Also, still in OPTIONs > Connection, you  will notice the same selection criteria for networks.  Again, deselect "Public IP Network".  Then, above that, you will see a selection of "Peer Sources".  ONLY tick "From a tracker". Deselect the other choices.
Still on "extra cautious" in "OPTIONS > Sharing" = leave all boxes unticked.
 

 

 

 

 

That was very thorough, thanks! 

 

[GaryE]

Sorry but ignore everything ekstasee said.

None of that has made any difference at all in about 5 years.

Anti file sharing nazis do not get information by viewing your data stream (so encrypting stuff makes no difference) or hacking into peer lists or whatever.  They have not done that for years.  They do something much more basic.

They download the .torrent file themselves.  They only download a small portion of the torrent and sit in the peer list as a leecher/partial seeder.  Every time a new user comes into the swarm they make a note of the IP address.  They look up the ip address and if it goes to an ISP who is in the same legal jurisdiction as the copyright holder . . . they fill out a DMCA request and send it to the ISP.  Then the ISP issues you with a strike or a warning.

None of what ekstasee said significantly reduces the risk of that.

Yes you can hide your peer identity doing those things . . . but that does not obscure your IP address.  Yes you can make it so that your ISP and or an exteral viewer can not directly see that you are passing torrent data (without doing deep packet analysis) -- this is all encryption really accomplishes,  yes only getting peer data from a tracker (as opposed to using peer exchange and DHT) means that less people will get your IP address.  However, the anti file-sharing nazis know all of these tricks and they know how to get around them.  Really it is quite simple!  So none of that stuff makes a significant difference.

The bottom line is this . . . unless you use a VPN (or proxy) everyone in the peer list gets the IP address of the computer you are using to torrent.

If you are downloading copyrighted material from any site the odds are you will eventually get your IP address captured by an anti-file sharing nazi.

If you are going to insist on downloading copyrighted material the best protection is a VPN set up with a no-log VPN using a false name (and address), as well as using a gift-type credit card to pay for the VPN so that you can not be traced through your credit-card number.  The only other thing you can do is to get a seedbox in a different country which you set up with a false name, false address, and pay for it using a gift-type credit card.

Proxies can work . . . but they are very often not secure and the ones that you get for free almost always keep logs so they offer little true protection.  Also proxies usually slow uploading and download down to a crawl so unless you are willing to take up to 10 - 50 times as long to download your torrents proxies are really not recommended.  This is especially true if you use private sites which enforce positive ratios.  Since proxies slow everything down so much . . . it makes it very hard to upload . . . which means you will not be a preferred seeder . . . which means you will have great difficult maintain a positive ratio.  However, if you are extremely patient and you only use public non-ratio sites . . . proxies can work.  However, even then they do have issues (like the fact that they often log everything).

Personally I do not do any of that.  I am just careful about what I choose to download.  Going into more detail about that would violate the rules of this forum so that is all I have to say about that!  LOL

 

[Sjm556]

So question: if I don't plan to download anything else for my Vuze viewer, but I'd like to keep what I already have on there to watch at times in the future, is there any way to turn off the seeding or the swarming (I don't understand all this so I may not be using the right words) so that my Vuze isn't ever connected to the Internet at all? Hopefully that questions makes sense. Thanks!

Sorry but ignore everything ekstasee said.

None of that has made any difference at all in about 5 years.

Anti file sharing nazis do not get information by viewing your data stream (so encrypting stuff makes no difference) or hacking into peer lists or whatever.  They have not done that for years.  They do something much more basic.

They download the .torrent file themselves.  They only download a small portion of the torrent and sit in the peer list as a leecher/partial seeder.  Every time a new user comes into the swarm they make a note of the IP address.  They look up the ip address and if it goes to an ISP who is in the same legal jurisdiction as the copyright holder . . . they fill out a DMCA request and send it to the ISP.  Then the ISP issues you with a strike or a warning.

None of what ekstasee said significantly reduces the risk of that.

Yes you can hide your peer identity doing those things . . . but that does not obscure your IP address.  Yes you can make it so that your ISP and or an exteral viewer can not directly see that you are passing torrent data (without doing deep packet analysis) -- this is all encryption really accomplishes,  yes only getting peer data from a tracker (as opposed to using peer exchange and DHT) means that less people will get your IP address.  However, the anti file-sharing nazis know all of these tricks and they know how to get around them.  Really it is quite simple!  So none of that stuff makes a significant difference.

The bottom line is this . . . unless you use a VPN (or proxy) everyone in the peer list gets the IP address of the computer you are using to torrent.

If you are downloading copyrighted material from any site the odds are you will eventually get your IP address captured by an anti-file sharing nazi.

If you are going to insist on downloading copyrighted material the best protection is a VPN set up with a no-log VPN using a false name (and address), as well as using a gift-type credit card to pay for the VPN so that you can not be traced through your credit-card number.  The only other thing you can do is to get a seedbox in a different country which you set up with a false name, false address, and pay for it using a gift-type credit card.

Proxies can work . . . but they are very often not secure and the ones that you get for free almost always keep logs so they offer little true protection.  Also proxies usually slow uploading and download down to a crawl so unless you are willing to take up to 10 - 50 times as long to download your torrents proxies are really not recommended.  This is especially true if you use private sites which enforce positive ratios.  Since proxies slow everything down so much . . . it makes it very hard to upload . . . which means you will not be a preferred seeder . . . which means you will have great difficult maintain a positive ratio.  However, if you are extremely patient and you only use public non-ratio sites . . . proxies can work.  However, even then they do have issues (like the fact that they often log everything).

Personally I do not do any of that.  I am just careful about what I choose to download.  Going into more detail about that would violate the rules of this forum so that is all I have to say about that!  LOL

 

 

 

[wowmonkey]

I use BT Guard, it gives you an anonymous IP address & encrypts your downloads, your IP cannot see what you are downloading. There is a subscription, i pay $9 a month & have excellent download speeds. Have a look at their website for a more in-depth explanation of how it works. Im using a Mac & it works brilliantly with Vuze.
"Simple download & install
No records of usage stored
256-bit AES encryption
Unlimited download speeds, 10Gbit servers
VPN includes OpenVPN & PPTP
Servers in Canada, Europe and Asia"

[RGENerationX]

Ensure that you have the "security" settings in your Vuze clients configured adequately.  Such as:
go to: Options, then,
Mode =  select ADVANCED (be careful to not change any other settings you do not understand in Advanced mode)
Connections > Transport encryption =  tick box for "Require encrypted transport", then  for "Minimum encryption level" select RC4.  DO NOT tick the other boxes.
Tracker > Client = tick the last two boxes = "enable key passing to trackers" & "use different peer identities for tracker and data communication"
Tracker > Server = "send peer identity to downloaders" = ensure this box is NOT TICKED.  Again, tick box for "enable key passing to trackers". 
If you want to be extra cautious, further down this page you will notice an option for selecting networks from which your client (Vuze) will accept peers (seeds and leechers).  Deselect "Public IP Network".  Also, still in OPTIONs > Connection, you  will notice the same selection criteria for networks.  Again, deselect "Public IP Network".  Then, above that, you will see a selection of "Peer Sources".  ONLY tick "From a tracker". Deselect the other choices.
Still on "extra cautious" in "OPTIONS > Sharing" = leave all boxes unticked.
 

 

 

 

 

I just read this thread and trying to find more on this subject but I DID do all the things suggested and now Im getting a red emoticon and ZERO peers on my downloads!!! So, while its "safe", I cannot DL ANYTHING really. I DLed CyberGhost VPN but it doesnt cover torrents and downloading for the free version. Im still looking.

[Valtiel]

Just change the ISP, go with some company which respects their clients...

A good VPN isn't free, and it's not 100 % safe, either.

Downloading shouldn't be illegal as long as you don't get any monetary benefit from it, and it isn't illegal, actually, at least in most countries. But then again, they make and interpret laws as they please...

[RgaDawg]

I'd go with GaryE and Vltiel. All someone one has to do to detect who is downloading or uploading their copyrighted file is join the same *.torrent. Then they become a user of the same swarm you are downloading or uploading from. All the IP's in the swarm are listed. So, without some VPN, your real IP will be listed as a member of that swarm. And your ISP knows your particular router, even if you don't think so.

The ones with vested interests in thwarting copyright infringements are usually the original media companies who produced the media. They will contact all the IP's they see in the swarm that your IP is downloading a copyrighted file. I think you get 3 warnings then it gets reported as a copyright violation.

The best solution is to get a good VPN. I use PureVPN (currently running a promo). I hope that wasn't a violation of posting rules. Even though you are using a good VPN, understand that only certain countries allow P2P activity. Many countries make it illegal to use P2P software. Only your VPN provider can tell you if you can use P2P and if they support those countries.

Also, it's very friendly to continue to seed the files, else no one else gets the files, the more you seed uploads the more you leave yourself open to detection.