The reason the concept of IP blacklists is flawed is because of the dynamic nature of IP addresses. Further, in the case of torrent monitoring, the companies involved in this have a vested interest in avoiding your blacklist, so they employ a wide range of tools to avoid detection. There are a number of IP lists broken down into categories like agencies and countries. I found five IPs in the Nigeria file that were identified as belonging to other countries by the GeoLite database from MaxMind, and over in the Russian file that were reported as belonging to other countries.
This is a fairly typical example of how transient IP addresses can be. They can then participate in the same torrent swarms that you are participating in and will be able to see your IP address. The above screenshot of the BitTorrent client for MacOS shows how readily available the IP addresses of other participants in a swarm are. The bottom frame of the main window contains the reverse DNS of everyone seeding the torrent being downloaded.
It also appears that a subscription is required to keep IBlocklist lists up to date, although I was able to initially add lists to PeerBlock without a problem.
To update the lists without purchasing them, Peerblock must be completely uninstalled and reinstalled. All VPNs are not created equal. The important features for VPNs that you intend to use for torrenting are speed, shared IP addresses, and a kill switch. The need for speed is self-explanatory. Every layer added to your network connection adds some latency. The kill switch is a another very important feature. VPNs can be fickle and unexpectedly drop connections. Most VPN clients will reconnect when that happens, but for that brief period of time while it is reconnecting, your real IP address can be exposed to the swarm.
A kill switch feature prevents that from happening because it blocks internet activity until the VPN connection is reestablished. There are various IP checker websites out there that will allow you to verify your IP address. It provides a magnet link to add to your BitTorrent client. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Also, a false feeling of security might lure people to become careless, and engage in activities which might harm them downloading copyrighted material, for example.
In fact some people believe that using blocklists like this are completely useless. PeerBlock FAQ. In , file sharing enthusiasts from Slyck. In a discussion on PeerBlock forums , several people pointed out alleged inaccuracies in this article. So how effective is PeerBlock in practical use? Forum user Bluepeas tells his story of how he used torrents for years and never had any problems, while he received two notices within a short time period when he accidentally forgot to install the software on his new PC.
But of course, this kind of evidence is very anecdotal and should not be taken as gospel. While the software is free, some of the blacklists require paid subscriptions. The free lists receive updates once per week, and the paid lists receive frequent updates. After installing the software and configuring it, PeerBlock begins blocking peers with the IP addresses found in the blocklists. And, although this particular example is fictional, it is very similar to what really happens.
This means that now, whenever a user downloads the new version of the list, this IP is included. After updating the software with the new list, the entity will be blocked. If you think about it, there is a huge catch. The entity in question would simply have to change the IP address.
There are weaknesses and disadvantages in this method that compromise the anonymity of the users. The most obvious flaw of PeerBlock is the fact that these monitoring agencies will change their IP addresses when they realize they are now part of a PeerBlock list. This completely ruins the IP blocking method. The groups that monitor torrenting activity can get around the software by masking their own IP addresses or simply obtaining a new one.
By doing that, they can keep monitoring PeerBlock users without any problems. The third parties that manage the blocklists do not have the ability to track every watchdog group or government. Some groups naturally get through the firewall. By blocking governments and watchdog groups, you may assume that no one is watching. However, PeerBlock does not encrypt data or hide your IP address. Monitoring agencies that do not get blocked can still see your activity.
All traffic routes through your ISP without any encryption. Your ISP can monitor everything you do, including the sites you visit and files you download through a BitTorrent client. PeerBlock works by blocking IP addresses from third-party blocklists. Unfortunately, it blocks too many IP addresses. When downloading a file through BitTorrent, the speed depends on the number of peers in the swarm.
0コメント