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Advicenators discussion: Safe P2P
theymos wrote Wednesday February 13 2008, 9:40 pm:
Downloading anything on P2P is dangerous. You can get viruses and you can be caught downloading illegally.
To help you remember how to be safe on P2P, use the acronym SOBS, which you will be doing if you don't.
-Use SECURE P2P networks
-Use OBSCURE P2P networks
-Use BITTORRENT
-Don't be STUPID
Let's break those down:
SECURE P2P networks protect you from being caught by RIAA and friends. They protect your identity. The OFF and Nodezilla networks are secure. However, they have much fewer files than regular P2P networks. Search secure networks first, you might get lucky; then you wouldn't have to take the risk of getting caught, you're completely safe.
OBSCURE P2P networks are ones used by few people. Any network other than eDonkey, Fasttrack(kazaa), and gnutella(limewire) are obscure. Since RIAA and friends have less people to harass, they avoid these networks.
BITTORRENT is a P2P network that is both secure and obscure. If you use bittorrent primarily, your chance of getting caught is very low. See my guide here:
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
To avoid being STUPID:
-Don't download executables
-Don't download files when other people say they're bad
-Don't download compressed files
-Don't download anything that looks too good to be true
Here are some situations to look out for:
Any files that end in .vbs, .exe, .dmg, .bat, .inf, .msi, and .reg are certainly viruses. They are not music or videos. The only time when downloading these files are OK:
-When you are downloading a known PROGRAM from BITTORRENT, and bittorrent only.
-When you are downloading a keygen (though this is still extremely dangerous)
Only the last extension counts. song.mp3.exe is a virus.
Any files that have odd sizes. Music is 4-13MB in size. Any deviation from this is a virus, unless you know the song to be very small or large. Viruses are smaller than normal, usually around 200KB(1/5 of a MB). Decoy files from RIAA and friends are usually much larger than normal, sometimes as large as 100MB. Video files should be 50MB-200MB per half hour, in general. .mp4 files will be smaller than .wmv files, and .avi files will be between the two.
Files with very long filenames. Files that have very long filenames which are full of random words are not what they appear to be. Often they are decoys from RIAA and friends.
Files ending in zip, rar, or 7z. Unless there are at least 5 comments from other people that this specific file is legit, they are probably fake.
If you follow this guide, you will be very safe. I use P2P extensively, and I have never once gotten a virus.
Some people may recommend you use PeerGuardian to stay safe. PeerGuardian will protect you against a lot of threats, but that's because it blocks 65% of the ENTIRE INTERNET. In fact, chances are good that *you* are blocked by PeerGuardian. So I recommend strongly against it.
theymos wrote Wednesday February 13 2008, 9:52 pm:
Note that keygens and nocds, which often come with pirated software(including games), will very often set off antivirus programs, even when they are not viruses. This can be very confusing for you.
In bittorrent comments, you'll often see n00bs saying "OMG, it's totally a virus, trojan-ABC, don't download". These people just trust their antivirus programs, and they fail epicly.
You can only trust comments on keygens when they actually *describe* what the virus does: "This file includes a virus. It installs a toolbar which spies on your activities. Very difficult to remove, do not download".
It is for this reason, and many others, that keygens and nocds(to a lesser extent) are very dangerous. Only download them when you're 100% sure you know what you're doing.
theymos wrote Wednesday February 13 2008, 10:06 pm:
A bit on legality:
-Downloading anything you would normally have to pay for is illegal in the US, but legal pretty much everywhere else.
-Uploading anything you would normally have to pay for is illegal pretty much anywhere.
-All P2P programs automatically upload while you are downloading. It's sometimes possible to disable this, but you shouldn't.
In the US, you are usually have to pay around $5,000 if you are caught using a P2P program. You can only be fined if your ISP rats you out, so pick a good ISP. If you are uploading A LOT of stuff, you can sometimes be fined up to $300,000. If you get a pre-release screener, or record something in a theater and make it available on P2P, you can get 10 years or more in jail, plus a huge fine.
The chance of getting caught downloading/uploading normally like most people do is less than getting struck by lightning. Very rare, you're pretty safe. The more you upload, the more you're likely to get caught, and the more you'll have to pay if you are caught. If you get a pre-release or something like that, you will get caught, it's only a matter of time.
You're less likely to get caught pirating a program, but the amount you have to pay is higher.
NoCDs are legal to make, download, and link to.
Keygens are legal to download, but illegal to make. Providing links to keygens and posting keys are of questionable legality.
theymos wrote Wednesday February 13 2008, 10:13 pm:
Another thing to avoid are pre-releases(the jargon term is "screener"). Probably 1 in 20 mainstream movies are leaked before they are even in theaters. When this happens, it's sort of big news to the P2P community. You'll see it on P2P websites like torrentfreak.
If a movie isn't leaked, you'll still find files claiming to be screeners on P2P networks. These are always fake or viruses. Avoid them.
You will never find real pre-releases on a website. It takes too long to "travel down the grapevine", and it's much more dangerous. It's also rare to find them on P2P networks other than bittorrent.
theymos wrote Monday December 1 2008, 12:03 pm:
Also see these examples:
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
The most important indicator of a fake file is the name. Query-style names are fake. Here are some examples:
beyonce ladies
dance colby
lockdown west
boy beyonce found fray love swift
Here are those sames songs with realistic names, which (along with proper file size) indicate good files:
Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) Beyonce
Lady GaGa & Colby O'Donis - Just Dance
Love Lockdown by Kanye West
201-If I Were a Boy
301 - The Fray - You Found Me
Love Story (Taylor Swift)
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