Torrent Downloading and Hiding IP?

[demonseed]

Hey Guys
My kids like to download movies and I just read that there is new laws with torrents in Canada... I guess they send letters based on your IP if you download copywrite items. I have heard there is VPN? to block your IP? not sure if these work or not.. I would hate the kids to download something and I get sued!

[jasonec]

Long story short - don't worry.
ISPs are now required (as of Jan 1st 2015) to forward warning notices to anyone that downloads pirated stuff (if...and ONLY if....they are requested to do so by some copyright troll).
But they can't (and won't) do more than that.
ISP don't have any legal authority (or desire) to cut off their customer's access to the Internet - unlike the U.S.
Plus, you can't get sued, because privacy laws in Canada require that ISP customer names that match any infringing IP addresses cannot be disclosed to the copyright trolls.
So, the law enacted on Jan 1st has no teeth - just make sure you NEVER respond to any warning notices from anyone (which is voluntarily telling them your name).

[tekkaraiden]

I'm curious how you came to that conclusion. I read the law (to the best of my understanding of legalese) and the seem to be giving them quite a bit of power to come after us but limiting how much they can come after us for.

[jasonec]

I'm curious how you came to that conclusion. I read the law (to the best of my understanding of legalese) and the seem to be giving them quite a bit of power to come after us but limiting how much they can come after us for.

It's a different law (a privacy law) that restricts the disclosing of your name - but a quick Google search turned up the same info from a CTV article: http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/illegal- ... -1.2169729

The ISP or website host must also keep the notification letters for six months, should the copyright holder decide to sue. However, the ISP or website host cannot hand over your personal information unless a lawsuit is launched.

You can't launch a lawsuit to an unknown party...
I should add, that I didn't go through hoards of legal manuals to learn this - I just have a friend who owns an ISP, and he told me about the laughability of it all during the last time we got together for beers

[Law212]

yeah still nothing to worry about. Now you may get a notice, but use it for TP because that's all its worth.

[nagamitsu]

I've gotten several notices (now using Rogers for internet), probably about the worse that can happen is the ISP terminates your account/connection. So I've backed off downloading, I don't want to lose that.

I worked for an ISP, and used to laugh at the cease and desist emails coming through from Warner Bros. etc.

Tim

[tekkaraiden]

Interesting, so our privacy law being a pain is actually a benefit for a change. Good to know.

Personally I've dialed back on the movies and show I download since I got my warning back in Jan. Most of the shows I can stream off canadian sites and most of the movies end up on Netflix eventually.

[underachiever]

I used to use newsgroups to download and then had to switch to torrents when that became a hassle. I never had a problem until my downloads became uploads. As a general rule they are less interested in what you download until you share it with someone. If you download a torrent, move it over to another directory that is not shared once finished. Keep a few non copyrighted files or junk in your shared directory. You can even make up a few word documents. Limit your simultaneous uploads to 1. If you don't share anything you'll usually find you are getting the worst download speeds. Make sure you download stuff with tons of seeders that way it won't take to long to download. All these things limit your amount of exposure but does not stop it. All of these things I suggest are from my own personal experiences with warnings and copyright infringement letters and threats from ISP's.

I haven't had any problems for a while following these procedures. You can turn uploads off in your torrent program. It just seems takes longer if you don't share. Sites that you just straight download from without sharing are the best.

www.icefilms.info has most everything you could want.


WARNING WARNING WARNING
If you go to icefilms.info be extremely careful. Do not opt to upgrade any video player or install any codec. Be extremely careful to have your antivirus up to date. Be really quick on finding the ALT and F4 key to close unwanted popups. Once you've done it a few times successfully you'll see that it's not that hard to do, just requires your attention to what you are doing.

You might also want to look into running xmbc hub.

instructions here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr2ZFYYjf1s

If you have a computer you can hook to your tv xmbc works great.
You can also buy stand alone units for less than $100.

Good luck!
Send us a post card from prison

[demonseed]

I think it's a joke.. We have criminals that stab people, beat people, kill people etc.... They get nothing ... Download a movie and they threaten suing people? Joke..... I got a letter once about 5 years ago when I downloaded like hundreds of gigs of month...I dont download squat now but don't want to get sued.

[Scott84]

I have used a VPN for the past year or two.

I use IPVanish and it works great.

https://www.bestvpn.com/blog/11430/5-best-vpn-2014/

[Cornchip]

Make sure that VPN is located outside the US including Canada. In the US, they have to keep logs for Obama's thugs. It's a shame it comes to this, but online security is starting to count for something. I have nothing to hide and always assumed that nobody cared, but the new Federal 'Note and Notice' means your data is being sniffed. Do they have any teeth?....I can't say. I'd rather just avoid the hassle. ROM torrents are about as far as I go, and they are some what 'Grey' until some lawyer sends me a letter.

If you still decide to transfer files around, run some simple IP tests first and see if your DNS is leaking. Many VPN's don't strip the out going packets deep enough depending on the software you use.

Be safe.

[Scott84]

Make sure that VPN is located outside the US including Canada. In the US, they have to keep logs for Obama's thugs. It's a shame it comes to this, but online security is starting to count for something. I have nothing to hide and always assumed that nobody cared, but the new Federal 'Note and Notice' means your data is being sniffed. Do they have any teeth?....I can't say. I'd rather just avoid the hassle. ROM torrents are about as far as I go, and they are some what 'Grey' until some lawyer sends me a letter.

If you still decide to transfer files around, run some simple IP tests first and see if your DNS is leaking. Many VPN's don't strip the out going packets deep enough depending on the software you use.

Be safe.

Did the law just change because the US never required to keep logs.

Many of these US-Based VPN's still advertise that they don't.

Infact, that's why many people recommend to choose a US based VPN because many other countries have laws in place to have logs.

[DigitalAssault]

Everyone here should watch the movie "citizen four".

For the record, everything you do online is tracked. It just a matter of what the people who have that data do with it. Privacy filters and incognito modes are nothing more than a front. Someone somewhere has a record of every packet of data that hits your machine. It's what they do, or don't do with it that information that counts.

[samjohan]

Most people know by now that downloading a torrent in today's ... and most effective ways to hide your IP address when downloading files.

[mike boss]

I use Peerblock and Utorrent, I was told to use Deluge (and always download magnet links). I'm not the most informed when it comes to this stuff, I just pick up on what the guys @ work talk about.

I was told the VPN is the best, anyone know a good free one to try ?

I ask cause a few of my buddies got letters as of late, they suspect for a DL on Game Of Thrones. ...and I wanna watch True Detective Season 2.

I also may get back to using XBMC more, I've recently moved my OUYA to the man cave.