Bittorrent
A peer to peer (
P2P) file transferring client that is much safer then
Limewire. Look down for why it is (second paragraph).Many people
fret over legal issues and the chances of them getting caught downloading (or uploading) copyrighted material, however, the chances are virtually nil.Because Bittorrent and all those P2P
torrent clients are not connected to a
centralized server, there is no way to actively monitor who connects and who doesn't, with the exception of your ISP (however, note that they can only target individuals at a time.).And malware? Yeah, you get that with some torrents inevitably, but a key thing to downloading a torrent is to ALWAYS check comments (if there are any) on that specific download. People will report whether the download is clean or not. If you read a comment saying the torrent has
a trojan, that's usually a sign to back off, however, there are some exceptions (i.e.
Anti-virus picks up something as malicious even though it isn't. It happens.).Now, on the topic of legal issues and uploading, let's say a massive
torrenting site is taken down by the RIAA, like
The Pirate Bay. They might think "A job well done", however, even though that site is taken down, not only are there hundreds more to suffice for it, but the same uploaders can take THEIR material and re-upload it on a different site!That's another point I have to bring up. Seeders (I'm assuming you know what this means, but think of it as an
uploader if you don't. More on this later...). When you seed a torrent, you are giving out pieces of information for the download to peers, or the people sitting there downloading whatever it is they are downloading. So even if a couple uploaders are sued and jailed, anyone could immediately take their place and it wouldn't matter.It's quite amazing and complex how far
file sharing technology has gotten.Don't take it the wrong way though; anonymity is extremely hard, if not impossible, to obtain unless you're on a
private tracker. A simple DOS command reveals all the current IP addresses coming in and connecting to you. But are they honestly going to sit there and count off the over 300 million users that use P2P, probably gaining new users every day?Don't think so.
bitTorrent
by mitchapalooza on Apr 30, 2005 08:57:59
Gary Fung, creator of
isoHunt website wrote, "Legally, BitTorrent requires simultaneous upload in order to download. So the concept of "file
sharer" on BitTorrent is blurred. Technically, everyone is a sharer, it's a requirement in order to download. So its openness is an unintentional strength. No anonymizing system is completely crack-proof anyways, just like DRM, so poor privacy isn't much of a weakness.
Strength in numbers, and security by obscurity."
Unlike what other people have said, because bittorrent involves the sharing between every bittorrent user, this system is more safe because there are no main uploaders who will be targeted. If the RIAA or MPAA would sue a person, it would have to be at complete random. Like Gary Fung said up there, we have ,"
strength in numbers, and security by obscurity.
BitTorrent
by a pseudonym on Jun 17, 2004 12:52:38
BitTorrent is a popular file sharing program. It is most commonly used for large file downloads, such as movies and operating systems.
BitTorrent is also one of the most dangerous file sharing programs out there. With any download, you will recieve a
small text file with the words "tracked by (webpage, eg:
demonoid.com)". That webpage keeps a list of users IP addresses so other users can connect to them. This list of IPs is easily easily accessible to orginazations like the
MPAA or the RIAA. In fact, nearly everyone who downloaded the partial source code for Microsofts' Windows platform recieved a letter from Microsoft.