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The article gives rather short shrift at the end to what seems like a pretty strong argument against this theory, which is that it isn't clear what it would get

The article gives rather short shrift at the end to what seems like a pretty strong argument against this theory, which is that it isn't clear what it would get the FBI. Is there any info they can get from running the site that they can't from just logging torrent traffic? Plus, while the FBI is allowed to facilitate minor illegal actions during under-cover operations (like having one of their agents work as a mod at Silk Road), this would involve them essentially paying for and running the infrastructure for hundreds of thousands of acts of piracy. I'm pretty sceptical the people in charge would sign off on that, especially if most of the information could be gathered using other methods.

ryanlol 12y ago
There isn't really any valuable information FBI could get from the site, especially since TPB doesn't operate their own tracker anymore. Only possibility would be getting IPs the uploaders use to log into the site, but that's pretty far fetched.
mmmooo 12y ago
It's not unheard of for the fbi to operate (and pay for) the infrastructure to facilitate and even promote piracy. See "operation bandwidth" where they essentially did just that for 2+ years. Granted that effort was targeted somewhat higher up the food chain then your average home user trying to download a copy of the latest overhyped blockbuster.
sarciszewski 12y ago
> Is there any info they can get from running the site that they can't from just logging torrent traffic? Yes! They can glean the IP addresses of the people who upload torrent files to TPB by running a honeypot. There's a much stronger case going after the providers of stolen material than the consumers. Does that mean they're doing that? I don't know. EDIT - REPLY LIMIT HIT - REPLYING HERE SINCE I CAN'T RESPOND BELOW > If that's what they wanted to do, couldn't they just set it up so they continuously downloaded all new torrents and looked at the ip of the initial seeder? How do you know you got the new seeder and not the first consumer? That's less reliable than "hey look an HTTP/1.0 POST with the exact torrent file came from this IP address at this time".
- Lewton 12y ago
  If that's what they wanted to do, couldn't they just set it up so they continuously downloaded all new torrents and looked at the ip of the initial seeder?
- dwild 12y ago
  Well one of them will have 100% of the content and the other one 0%...
  - sarciszewski 12y ago
    Sure, but you can also exchange bittorrent packets before the .torrent file is uploaded to TPB. How do you know the seeder is the original distributor? :)
    - dwild 12y ago
      Well the same apply to the torrent file.
      - sarciszewski 12y ago
        Yes, but BitTorrent users seed without realizing it. Whereas uploading a file to The Pirate Bay is an intentional act of copyright violation. Easier sell to a jury.

ryanlol 12y ago

There isn't really any valuable information FBI could get from the site, especially since TPB doesn't operate their own tracker anymore. Only possibility would be getting IPs the uploaders use to log into the site, but that's pretty far fetched.

mmmooo 12y ago

It's not unheard of for the fbi to operate (and pay for) the infrastructure to facilitate and even promote piracy. See "operation bandwidth" where they essentially did just that for 2+ years. Granted that effort was targeted somewhat higher up the food chain then your average home user trying to download a copy of the latest overhyped blockbuster.

sarciszewski 12y ago

> Is there any info they can get from running the site that they can't from just logging torrent traffic? Yes! They can glean the IP addresses of the people who upload torrent files to TPB by running a honeypot. There's a much stronger case going after the providers of stolen material than the consumers. Does that mean they're doing that? I don't know. EDIT - REPLY LIMIT HIT - REPLYING HERE SINCE I CAN'T RESPOND BELOW > If that's what they wanted to do, couldn't they just set it up so they continuously downloaded all new torrents and looked at the ip of the initial seeder? How do you know you got the new seeder and not the first consumer? That's less reliable than "hey look an HTTP/1.0 POST with the exact torrent file came from this IP address at this time".

Lewton 12y ago
If that's what they wanted to do, couldn't they just set it up so they continuously downloaded all new torrents and looked at the ip of the initial seeder?
dwild 12y ago
Well one of them will have 100% of the content and the other one 0%...
- sarciszewski 12y ago
  Sure, but you can also exchange bittorrent packets before the .torrent file is uploaded to TPB. How do you know the seeder is the original distributor? :)
  - dwild 12y ago
    Well the same apply to the torrent file.
    - sarciszewski 12y ago
      Yes, but BitTorrent users seed without realizing it. Whereas uploading a file to The Pirate Bay is an intentional act of copyright violation. Easier sell to a jury.