Why Blocking Peers does not work
The Blocking of Anti P2P Organizations from your peer list
Simply blocking the access to a peer list that participate in a torrent download
does not stop ANYONE else accessing the same .torrent and viewing the list of
those in the list.
Your real IP will still appear in that list
and can be traced by the very people you are trying to block!.
If an "Anti P2P" organization (APO) were to be connected to the "pool" of peers using an IP obscuring software program you would see their FALSE IP address along with your OWN. If this list were to be used to reverse look-up these IP address's you can be identified (unless you are also using a program to obscure your IP.
Q & A
For more details on this section please see here
- does peerblock stop detection from anti p2p groups - 12 July 2010 uk.ask.com - Visitor landed on my recap of p2p for December 2009
They should have read what I have said on this page.
It is extremely unlikely that an Anti P2P group would be using a web access location that would be included in the PeerBlock exclusion list. If they wanted to see who is downloading copywrited material they would be using an anonymous connection themselves. Blocking IPs that are known to be owned by so-called Anti-P2P organizations is pointless in my opinion.
What PeerBlock (PeerGuardian) is supposed to do
Prevent the participation of APOs in file sharing networks. But, "Does PG2 work?"
All the blocking of APOs does is to stop them from injecting "bad" data into the torrent stream. Or even worse (on their behalf) contaminating the downloaded file with a virus or trojan. It has also been reported the APOs post purposely infected torrents to snare the unwary file sharer.
PeerBlock (PeerGuardian 2 - PG2) is undoubtedly a fine program and works the way that it says. It was developed with the nobelist of intentions - it is just that it is useless (IMO) in keeping you from detection.
There are also other side effects of using a program such as PG2 - sites that you want to access are blocked as they are in the list of IPs that PeerBlock has determined as "hostile". Sure, you can tell PeerBlock not to block HTML requests and your browser will be able to "see" these sites (such as the BBC) - but this is like locking the door after the horse has bolted.
There are legit reasons that you may want to block IP addresses
However, these are not really relevant to keeping yourself secure from detection.
Some of the reasons are described above but the fact that they are excluded from access to your computer from their own IP address doesn't mean that they are not present in the peer list all the same!
Peer Guardian and ip Blockers Don't work
From the comments of the isohunt tracker for the download of Up (An Oscar Nomination, 2010)
Got a not from ISP courtesy of Disney Police, PG2 wasn't working the day I got this copy, should of just waited, note to all it is being tracked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! use ip blocker or peer control program.
Note:
PG2 means PeerGuardian 2
If the "Disney Police" were looking for p2p'ers who were downloading "Up" they would more than likely to havebeen using an Internet connection other than one registered to a Disney company. Blocking ip addresses that have been identified to be belonging to Disney or one of their affiliates would only, possibly, stop them downloading parts of the file from you. Their ip and hence their connection would be prevented from accessing your computer and thus (possibly) not being able to download the parts of the file that you are downloading. Their ip address would not appear in your Peer List but, as I predict, the ip that they would be using would not be their own!
The only advantage of blocking the likes of Disney is that they will not be able to upload "bad" data into the torrent-stream (or wrse malware - although I have yet to see this proven). This only prevents the torrent from becoming corrupted, slowing down and possibly useless.
I presume that the commenter means that he or she recieved a NOTE forwarded from their ISP and that PG2 is Peer Guardian 2. The conclusion that Peer Guardian was not working on the day that they made the download is an indication, to me at least, that PG2 is no defense against the detective efforts of the copyright holders.
Undercover Cops rather than "Disney Cops"
The ONLY way that you are going to stop the agents of the film and music companies from detecting your participation in a P2P file-sharing network is to obscure YOUR IP!
Links
About external links from this website
- Why does peerblock block the BBC?
- AfterDawn - Downloading new lists for Peer Guardian
- IpfilterX-u23 ---- Another filter list to be investigated. (however Nexus23 dot org look highly suspect to me!)
- BTGuard - this was an alternative (to TorrentPrivacy) that first came to attention May 2009
- Anti P2P Organizations
- Is TorrentPrivacy a Scam?
- How easy it is to obtain media from the Internet
- The Three Strikes and you're out rule and Copyright
- A Sample ACTA "Take-Down" letter
