5 ms·

Until the cops kick your door in on copyright infringement charges to "make an example" of someone. Don't think it can't happen.

zeth___ 8y ago
Safety in numbers is a thing.
- _emacsomancer_ 8y ago
  They can still make examples out of individuals. A good VPN is probably a better increaser of safety.
  - swsieber 8y ago
    They can. It still is probably safer than driving though.
    - _emacsomancer_ 8y ago
      Especially driving while torrenting.
      - sigfubar 8y ago
        The exception being torrenting while wardriving.
  - mirimir 8y ago
    This can't be said too much! Torrenting anything potentially problematic without using a reputable VPN service is foolish. And make sure that the machine is firewalled, to block all traffic (including DNS requests) not using the VPN. Only the VPN client should have direct Internet connectivity. For extremely sensitive material, it's prudent to use nested VPN chains. So no one provider knows both who/where you are, and what you're doing. The bandwidth hit for chaining is smaller than you might think. You can also setup your own VPN server on a VPS. But make sure to lease that VPS anonymously, and pay with well-mixed Bitcoin. Do all that through Tor. But do not torrent through Tor. It's usually very slow. And it screws up Tor for people who really need it.
    - rolandog 8y ago
      Thanks, mirimir. I live in a country that's been having a lot of trouble recently with crimes against the freedom of the press and this may actually help me recover some peace of mind when writing anything that might upset powerful people.
      - mirimir 8y ago
        That would be very prudent. And it's arguably good practice for everyone. Good OPSEC. Why do I say that? Well, even in "free" countries, one never knows how stuff will go down. What will change. It's better to be safe, than to be sorry. Also, mass adoption helps protect me, and others who love their privacy. Because it makes us less unusual. That's one of the standard arguments for widespread Tor use. But even so, I prefer to obscure my Tor use with VPN services. Because VPNs are still far more common than Tor. In some areas, VPN usage is over 50%. And finally, it's a great hobby. Better than puttering in the woodshop. Or whatever.
    - Roritharr 8y ago
      Do you have recommendations for actually anonymous leaseable VPS/Seedboxes? Just buying some bitcoin on Coinbase defeats the purpose. Can I mail cash somewhere?
      - 2RTZZSro 8y ago
        Find a local bitcoin exchange. Meet in person to exchange
      - icebraining 8y ago
        LocalBitcoins has sellers who accept cash or cash-equivalent payments. Alternatively, you can buy on Coinbase then exchange for some Monero, or use a mixer.
      - mirimir 8y ago
        I've come to like Host Sailor. Some consider their reputation to be iffy. But their prices are reasonable, and their reliability is good. And their customer support is fast and capable. Bithost is also OK. They're a Digital Ocean reseller. But their prices are too high for anything but testing. Back in the day, I sent cash to Nanaimo Gold for Bitcoin. But I can't vouch for them now. In mailing cash, use printed labels, because handwriting attracts attention. It's best to use a B&W laser printer. Most inkjet printers use watermarking. And use a valid return address, because they're typically scanned. But not yours, obviously. I would often use an address for some charity, so they might get the money if something went wrong. And mail from a public box, not a post office, at some distance from your area. If LocalBitcoins works in your area, that's a good option. But there's always risk of surveillance. Or theft. These days, I mostly just use mixing services. Any one service could be incompetent or compromised. So it's best to mix at least twice, using different mixers. Let's say that your Bitcoin are in some hosted wallet, and aren't anonymous. You need at least two ~anonymous wallets. One gets Bitcoin from the first mix. The other gets Bitcoin from the second mix, and spends. I use Whonix instances in VirtualBox, each with a local Electrum wallet. The Whonix instances (VM pairs) reach Tor through a VPN service, running in the host machine. DeepDotWeb runs CoinMixer, which seems OK. I've used Bitcoin Fog for years, at http://foggeddriztrcar2.onion/ http://foggeddriztrcar2.onion/ but it requires creating an account. Edit: re Host Sailor and Bithost, I've typically gotten 800-900 Mbps (iperf3) for their gigabit uplinks, measured between VPS on each. And ~700 Mbps using such public test servers as iperf.volia.net and bouygues.testdebit.info
sigfubar 8y ago
I'm a prolific BitTorrenter... and don't get me started about my wife. Our piracy knows no bounds.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
DmenshunlAnlsis 8y ago
In over twenty years of piracy, I’ve never actually met someone online who got something more than a pissy email from an ISP. It’s possible to be made an example of, but if you’re not profiting from the piracy it’s vanishingly unlikely. The only people I know of who got more than a token fine were involved in some other criminal enterprise besides just downloading something.
- kevingrahl 8y ago
  I can tell that you’re not from Germany or know anyone from here that pirates. There are special law firms (Waldorf Frommer comes to mind) specializing only on sending out cease and desist letters carrying fines of around 1.000€ per infringement (mostly movies and tv shows). ISP’s willingly hand over any customer data to those firms. Of course the only one benefiting from this is the law firms not the copyright holder who never sees any decent payout. Torrenting in Germany can get very expensive very fast if you don’t know what you’re doing. I got big folders full of letters from Waldorf Frommer & Co from before I learned about VPN’s and I still get the occasional letter when my VPN fails or I’m being stupid. They can/will freeze your bank accounts if you don’t pay, it’s no joke.
  - acqq 8y ago
    So what did you do after you received such letters? It seems you haven't paid. How?
    - kevingrahl 8y ago
      I paid a small number of those, appealed others in court (sometimes going through multiple instances) and the last years just kept ignoring the few letters that still come from time to time until they sue me or try to freeze my accounts. I think they have me tagged in their system because they give up pretty quickly as soon as I actively communicate with them. Might have to do with some small won cases against them. Maybe I’m not worth the risk to them anymore. Plus my VPN-fu is strong now.
  - slrz 8y ago
namlem 8y ago
That's what VPNs are for.
kankroc 8y ago
Not everyone lives in the authoritarian US where the police are legitimate psychos.

zeth___ 8y ago

Safety in numbers is a thing.

_emacsomancer_ 8y ago
They can still make examples out of individuals. A good VPN is probably a better increaser of safety.
- swsieber 8y ago
  They can. It still is probably safer than driving though.
  - _emacsomancer_ 8y ago
    Especially driving while torrenting.
    - sigfubar 8y ago
      The exception being torrenting while wardriving.
- mirimir 8y ago
  This can't be said too much! Torrenting anything potentially problematic without using a reputable VPN service is foolish. And make sure that the machine is firewalled, to block all traffic (including DNS requests) not using the VPN. Only the VPN client should have direct Internet connectivity. For extremely sensitive material, it's prudent to use nested VPN chains. So no one provider knows both who/where you are, and what you're doing. The bandwidth hit for chaining is smaller than you might think. You can also setup your own VPN server on a VPS. But make sure to lease that VPS anonymously, and pay with well-mixed Bitcoin. Do all that through Tor. But do not torrent through Tor. It's usually very slow. And it screws up Tor for people who really need it.
  - rolandog 8y ago
    Thanks, mirimir. I live in a country that's been having a lot of trouble recently with crimes against the freedom of the press and this may actually help me recover some peace of mind when writing anything that might upset powerful people.
    - mirimir 8y ago
      That would be very prudent. And it's arguably good practice for everyone. Good OPSEC. Why do I say that? Well, even in "free" countries, one never knows how stuff will go down. What will change. It's better to be safe, than to be sorry. Also, mass adoption helps protect me, and others who love their privacy. Because it makes us less unusual. That's one of the standard arguments for widespread Tor use. But even so, I prefer to obscure my Tor use with VPN services. Because VPNs are still far more common than Tor. In some areas, VPN usage is over 50%. And finally, it's a great hobby. Better than puttering in the woodshop. Or whatever.
  - Roritharr 8y ago
    Do you have recommendations for actually anonymous leaseable VPS/Seedboxes? Just buying some bitcoin on Coinbase defeats the purpose. Can I mail cash somewhere?
    - 2RTZZSro 8y ago
      Find a local bitcoin exchange. Meet in person to exchange
    - icebraining 8y ago
      LocalBitcoins has sellers who accept cash or cash-equivalent payments. Alternatively, you can buy on Coinbase then exchange for some Monero, or use a mixer.
    - mirimir 8y ago
      I've come to like Host Sailor. Some consider their reputation to be iffy. But their prices are reasonable, and their reliability is good. And their customer support is fast and capable. Bithost is also OK. They're a Digital Ocean reseller. But their prices are too high for anything but testing. Back in the day, I sent cash to Nanaimo Gold for Bitcoin. But I can't vouch for them now. In mailing cash, use printed labels, because handwriting attracts attention. It's best to use a B&W laser printer. Most inkjet printers use watermarking. And use a valid return address, because they're typically scanned. But not yours, obviously. I would often use an address for some charity, so they might get the money if something went wrong. And mail from a public box, not a post office, at some distance from your area. If LocalBitcoins works in your area, that's a good option. But there's always risk of surveillance. Or theft. These days, I mostly just use mixing services. Any one service could be incompetent or compromised. So it's best to mix at least twice, using different mixers. Let's say that your Bitcoin are in some hosted wallet, and aren't anonymous. You need at least two ~anonymous wallets. One gets Bitcoin from the first mix. The other gets Bitcoin from the second mix, and spends. I use Whonix instances in VirtualBox, each with a local Electrum wallet. The Whonix instances (VM pairs) reach Tor through a VPN service, running in the host machine. DeepDotWeb runs CoinMixer, which seems OK. I've used Bitcoin Fog for years, at http://foggeddriztrcar2.onion/ http://foggeddriztrcar2.onion/ but it requires creating an account. Edit: re Host Sailor and Bithost, I've typically gotten 800-900 Mbps (iperf3) for their gigabit uplinks, measured between VPS on each. And ~700 Mbps using such public test servers as iperf.volia.net and bouygues.testdebit.info

sigfubar 8y ago

I'm a prolific BitTorrenter... and don't get me started about my wife. Our piracy knows no bounds.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

DmenshunlAnlsis 8y ago

In over twenty years of piracy, I’ve never actually met someone online who got something more than a pissy email from an ISP. It’s possible to be made an example of, but if you’re not profiting from the piracy it’s vanishingly unlikely. The only people I know of who got more than a token fine were involved in some other criminal enterprise besides just downloading something.

kevingrahl 8y ago
I can tell that you’re not from Germany or know anyone from here that pirates. There are special law firms (Waldorf Frommer comes to mind) specializing only on sending out cease and desist letters carrying fines of around 1.000€ per infringement (mostly movies and tv shows). ISP’s willingly hand over any customer data to those firms. Of course the only one benefiting from this is the law firms not the copyright holder who never sees any decent payout. Torrenting in Germany can get very expensive very fast if you don’t know what you’re doing. I got big folders full of letters from Waldorf Frommer & Co from before I learned about VPN’s and I still get the occasional letter when my VPN fails or I’m being stupid. They can/will freeze your bank accounts if you don’t pay, it’s no joke.
- acqq 8y ago
  So what did you do after you received such letters? It seems you haven't paid. How?
  - kevingrahl 8y ago
    I paid a small number of those, appealed others in court (sometimes going through multiple instances) and the last years just kept ignoring the few letters that still come from time to time until they sue me or try to freeze my accounts. I think they have me tagged in their system because they give up pretty quickly as soon as I actively communicate with them. Might have to do with some small won cases against them. Maybe I’m not worth the risk to them anymore. Plus my VPN-fu is strong now.
- slrz 8y ago

namlem 8y ago

That's what VPNs are for.

kankroc 8y ago

Not everyone lives in the authoritarian US where the police are legitimate psychos.