tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65051876741532490782024-03-14T02:23:22.770+00:00TorrentWatchTorrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6505187674153249078.post-4478965873205295432011-03-13T10:18:00.001+00:002011-03-13T22:26:14.944+00:00The Most Popular Torrent Software in 2011<b>Although uTorrent and Vuze remain firm favourites amongst file-sharers there is a great selection of torrent clients available, all offering a different user experience. The choice of which software to use is a personal one so it's always a great idea to keep searching and trying out the alternatives. It only takes a few minutes to get started with a new client so what are you waiting for? Have a look through the selection below and try something new!</b><br />
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<a name='more'></a><b>uTorrent</b><br />
<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Ltyn4jMPHFE/TXyX4jP360I/AAAAAAAAACE/Z5YZMeLOO4o/s1600/utorrent.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Ltyn4jMPHFE/TXyX4jP360I/AAAAAAAAACE/Z5YZMeLOO4o/s1600/utorrent.jpg" /></a>uTorrent is the most Popular Torrent client and for very good reason. It has all the functions that most file-sharers need and it only requires a tiny 1MB of space and memory. With a good connection and set up, uTorrent will offer excellent download speeds and seeding performance with minimal impact on the rest of your computer.<br />
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<a href="http://www.utorrent.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">http://www.utorrent.com/</span></a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><b>Vuze</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-byCAJQTXtHs/TXyYLOnpCOI/AAAAAAAAACI/hdKYpvNXzOo/s1600/vuze.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-byCAJQTXtHs/TXyYLOnpCOI/AAAAAAAAACI/hdKYpvNXzOo/s1600/vuze.jpg" /></a></div>Vuze (previously Azureus) is a larger piece of software with a huge array of features. You can play most media files within Vize, including HD videos and music. Vuze has a 'web remote' feature so it can be controlled from any computer of mobile browser and has a drag and drop feature to play files across a huge range of devices (includes iPhone, iPod, iPad, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PSP and TiVo). If you have only ever used the more basic features of a client, you need to try Vuze and see what you have been missing out on.<br />
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<a href="http://www.vuze.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">http://www.vuze.com/</span></a><br />
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<b>Tixati</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7uxgU12m_J0/TXyYYVYqYsI/AAAAAAAAACM/YFDvHoOIfVI/s1600/tixati.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7uxgU12m_J0/TXyYYVYqYsI/AAAAAAAAACM/YFDvHoOIfVI/s1600/tixati.jpg" /></a></div>Toxati is a relatively new program and points towards the future of torrent clients. Tixati is embracing the shift towards trackerless torrent swarming: magnet links, PEX and DHT swarming are all handled well in this client. The throttling features and wide range of adjustments you can make are helping it to gain popularity and download speeds are easily as fast as uTorrent or Vuze. The 'executive dashboard' display has a professional appearance and completes an impressive package. Definately another great client to try.<br />
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<a href="http://www.tixati.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">http://www.tixati.com/</span></a><br />
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<b>Deluge</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-biRnHXI3IOs/TXyYc65Je7I/AAAAAAAAACQ/Z4N5iK_anZM/s1600/deluge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-biRnHXI3IOs/TXyYc65Je7I/AAAAAAAAACQ/Z4N5iK_anZM/s1600/deluge.jpg" /></a></div>Deluge is a popular torrent client with Linux and OS X users. It has a clean-looking interface, just about any statistic you could possibly need on your uploads/downloads and like most torrent clients is free and built by dedicated enthusiasts who truly believe in file-sharing. <br />
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<a href="http://deluge-torrent.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">http://deluge-torrent.org/</span></a><br />
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<b>Transmission BitTorrent</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4cexNvavxgw/TXyYjIPqbhI/AAAAAAAAACU/OwnAYS4T_XI/s1600/transmission.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4cexNvavxgw/TXyYjIPqbhI/AAAAAAAAACU/OwnAYS4T_XI/s1600/transmission.jpg" /></a></div>Transmission is hugely popular with Mac and Linux users, and it's not hard to see why. It is an extremely lightweight program (the makers claim it uses the smallest memory footprint of any torrent client today), it is open source and has a nicely design user interface. Mac fans, if your not using this - try it out:<br />
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<a href="http://www.transmissionbt.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">http://www.transmissionbt.com/</span></a><br />
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<b>BitComet</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VtDTlwYzoqM/TXyYpus8PoI/AAAAAAAAACY/zYTy2w8GFcw/s1600/bitcomet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VtDTlwYzoqM/TXyYpus8PoI/AAAAAAAAACY/zYTy2w8GFcw/s1600/bitcomet.jpg" /></a></div>BitComet is a great product but it has lost many of it's users to both Vuze, uTorrent, Transmission and Tixati. For seasoned downloaders, BitComet can still hold it's own as a great client although it may not be as approachable for those new to torrents. Also, some private torrent sites don't like the use of BitComet after claims that BitComet could report incorrect ratio information.<br />
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<a href="http://www.bitcomet.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">http://www.bitcomet.com/</span></a><br />
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You may also be interested in the new development named <a href="http://torrentwatch.blogspot.com/2011/03/bittorrent-release-project-chrysalis.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">Project Chrysalis</span></a> from BitTorrent Inc. or if you are stuck with an extremely slow connection <a href="http://torrentwatch.blogspot.com/2011/03/bitmate-speeds-up-slow-bittorrent.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">BitMate</span></a> could be the perfect solution. This is just a sample of what is available but there are some really great programs here that you should try out. <br />
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Let me know what your favourite torrent sofware is and what you might try out next.Torrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6505187674153249078.post-57388669038838126692011-03-09T19:26:00.002+00:002011-03-13T22:24:54.543+00:00How To Speed Up BitTorrent Downloads Part 2<b>In<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://torrentwatch.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-to-speed-up-bittorrent-downloads.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">How To Speed Up BitTorrent Downloads Part 1</span></a> </span></span>we covered the basics you need to follow to achieve a good download speed. If you haven't read it yet go and do it now (link above)! Here in part two we will look at configuring your BitTorrent client to maximise your download speed and achieve optimum performance.</b><br />
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<a name='more'></a>To begin, you need to know your maximum up and download speed. Go to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;"><a href="http://speedtest.net/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">speedtest.net</span></a> </span>to do this but make sure you stop all internet activity first to get an accurate reading.<br />
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Note that there’s a difference between kb/s (kilobits/second) and kB/s (kilobytes/second). To explain; kB/s is kb/s divided by 8. This guide will refer to kB/s as most torrent clients do. This means that you might need to calculate your max speed in kB/s yourself if the speedtest only gives you the results in kb\s (divide by 8 to do this). <br />
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Go into your BitTorrent client's settings and adjust the following:<br />
<div><br />
<b>1. Maximum upload speed</b></div><div><b></b>Probably the most important setting there is. Your connection is like a pipeline in that, if you use you maximum upload speed there’s not enough space left for the files you are downloading. So you have to limit your upload speed. Set your upload speed to 80% of your download speed. So, for example, if your maximum upload speed is 40 kB/s, the optimal upload rate would be 32kB/s.</div><div><br />
But keep on seeding! </div><div><br />
<b>2. Maximum download speed</b></div><div><b></b>Although setting your maximum download speed to 'unlimited' may sound great, ultimately it will not help your connection. If you still want to be able to browse properly, set your maximum download speed to 95% of your maximum download speed. So, if your maximum download speed is, for example, 400 kB/s, then the best download speed is 380kB/s.</div><div><br />
<b>3. Maximum connected peers per torrent</b></div><div><b></b>This is another setting that's all too tempting to max out on. However, going to extremes (too high or too low) here will slow down your torrent. This is one you may need to experiment with but I am running an upload speed at 1.3. Again, the example is coming up: If your maximum upload speed is 40 kB/s, the best amount of connected peers per torrent is 40 x 1.3 = 52.</div><div><br />
</div><div>One of the biggest problems for many BitTorrent users is ISP throttling, which will affect your speeds throughout the day depending on your usage. In upcoming articles we will looks at how to encrypt your BitTorrent traffic and other options to fileshare anonymously.</div><div><br />
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</div>Torrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6505187674153249078.post-54637429587012315062011-03-08T18:20:00.002+00:002011-03-13T22:31:24.961+00:00How To Speed Up BitTorrent Downloads Part 1<b>In the first of a new 'How To' series on TorrentWatch we begin with How To Speed Up BitTorrent Downloads Part 1. BitTorrent is an excellent way to download large files, providing you can achieve a good download speed. In this article we will cover some of the basic but essential methods to help increase your speeds.</b><br />
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</b><br />
<div><b></b><br />
<a name='more'></a></div><div><b>Get the Best Ratio</b></div><div><b></b>This one may be obvious to some but it's essential to understand how the ratio of seeds to peers will affect speeds. Always look for torrents with the best seed to peer ratio. Generally, the more seeds (in relation to peers), the better. So, for example 100 seeds/100 peers is better than 100 seeds with 150 peers. Keep in mind that the ratio makes the biggest difference, not just the total number of seeds.<br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>Disable Windows Firewall</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">Windows Firewall doesn't work well with P2P and can be unreliable. So disable it and download a good (and free) firewall, such as Kerio or Zone Alarm.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></b></div><div><b><br />
</b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"></span>Change the port</b></div><div><b></b>By default setting, BitTorrent uses a port 6881-6999 but as BitTorrent generates a lot traffic it is common for ISPs to limit the connection available on the these ports. To avoid this, you can change to another range in your BitTorrent client's settings (if you are behind a router make sure you have your ports forwarded (<a href="http://www.portforward.com/english/applications/port_forwarding/Torrent/Torrentindex.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">portforward.com</span></a>) or UPnP enabled). <br />
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<b></b><b>Optimize your connection</b></div><div><b></b><a href="http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">The TCP optimizer</span></a> is freeware that optimizes your internet connection. It can help speed up your connection for both regular internet activity and for downloading torrents. Make sure that when you implement it you don't set the slidebar higher than your maximum download rate (this may impact your download speeds).</div><div><br />
</div><div>In part two we will look at encrypting your torrents. Nearly all ISPs throttle BitTorrent traffic so encrypting your torrents is a must. The guide will cover the most popular clients (uTorrent, Bitcomet etc) and try to make it as quick and painless as possible to follow!</div><div><br />
</div>Torrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6505187674153249078.post-13122384049845003612011-03-07T20:06:00.002+00:002011-03-13T22:31:46.606+00:00Google Censoring BitTorrent, Rapidshare and Others<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>This may have been a long time coming, in fact you may not have believed this would happen but Google has finally given in to the pressure from entertainment industries including the MPAA and RIAA. The leading search engine now censors terms including BitTorrent, torrent, utorrent, RapidShare and Megaupload from its instant and autocomplete services. The companies that have been affected have spoken out, with BitTorrentent, RapidShare and others raising complaints at the drastic censorship move.</b></div><br />
<a name='more'></a>Google compiled list of keywords for which auto-complete is no longer available and although this change does not currently affect full search results, it does send the message that Google is willing to censor its services and to an extent that is far greater than many expected.<br />
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Some examples of forbidden keywords are 'uTorrent', an extremely popular and legal piece of software and 'BitTorrent', a legitimate file transfer protocol and the name of San Fransisco based company BitTorrent Inc. These keywords will no longer be suggested by Google when you begin to type and will not show up in Google Instant. Further, all combinations of the word 'torrent' are also completely banned.<br />
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<div><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7iudEIJ_nek/TXU4TcFkxDI/AAAAAAAAAB4/FL8KM2rFWUQ/s1600/google-piracy-filter1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7iudEIJ_nek/TXU4TcFkxDI/AAAAAAAAAB4/FL8KM2rFWUQ/s320/google-piracy-filter1.jpg" width="320" /></a>What is unusual about the banned keywords list though, is the omissions. The list does include BitTorrent clients such as uTorrent and Xunlei but not Vuze or BitComet. In the same way, cyberlockers sRapidShare and Megaupload are on the banned list whilst 4shared, HotFile and MediaFire are not. Perhaps to avoid the headlines the Pirate Bay is also not on the blocked list.<br />
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It's entirely disappointing to see this move of Google to broadly censor it's services to please private, albeit extremely large and influential industries. Censoring search results won't reduce piracy but does nudge the world a step further towards a corporate controlled internet.</div>Torrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6505187674153249078.post-66524254742823813632011-03-06T21:47:00.002+00:002011-03-13T22:32:13.855+00:00US Government 'Accidentally' Shut Down 84,000 Websites<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><b>The US Government has forcefully closed several domain names this week. The Department of Justice and Homeland Security’s ICE office proudly announced that they had seized domains related to counterfeit goods and child pornography. What they haven't mentioned however, is that one of the targeted domains belongs to a free DNS provider and that 84,000 websites were wrongfully accused of links to child pornography crimes. </b><br />
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</b><br />
<div><a name='more'></a></div><div>As part of “Operation Save Our Children” ICE’s Cyber Crime Center has seized several domain names, but not without making a huge error. Thousands of site owners were surprised by a rather worrying banner that was placed on their domain. This banner was visible on the 84,000 sites:<br />
<div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-74GgAMOWnMM/TXP8JOnAsqI/AAAAAAAAABI/b_5zjQGNoEg/s1600/C3_Banner_2011_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-74GgAMOWnMM/TXP8JOnAsqI/AAAAAAAAABI/b_5zjQGNoEg/s320/C3_Banner_2011_02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
<div>A District Court judge signed a seizure warrant and then contacted the domain registries to point the domains in question to a server that hosts the warning message. However, somewhere in this process a mistake was made and as a result the domain of a large DNS service provider was seized.</div><div><br />
</div>The domain in question is mooo.com, which belongs to the DNS provider FreeDNS. It is the most popular shared domain at afraid.org and as a result a massive 84,000 subdomains were wrongfully seized as well. The FreeDNS owner was taken by surprise and quickly released the following <a href="http://freedns.afraid.org/news/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">statement</span></a> on their site. </div><div><br />
</div><div>“Freedns.afraid.org has never allowed this type of abuse of its DNS service. We are working to get the issue sorted as quickly as possible.” <br />
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Eventually, the domain seizure was reverted and the subdomains slowly started to point to the old sites again instead of the accusatory banner. Since the DNS entries have to propagate, it took another three days before the images disappeared completely. Most the subdomains in question are personal sites and sites of small businesses - a rather damaging accusation, which scared and upset many of the site’s owners. <br />
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One of the customers quickly went out to assure visitors that his site was not involved in any of the alleged crimes, stating, “You can rest assured that I have not and would never be found to be trafficking in such distasteful and horrific content. A little sleuthing shows that the whole of the mooo.com TLD is impacted. At first, the legitimacy of the alerts seems to be questionable — after all, what reputable agency would display their warning in a fancily formatted image referenced by the underlying HTML? I wouldn’t expect to see that.” <br />
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Although it has not been explained how this massive error was made the Department of Homeland security appears to be sweeping it under the rug. In a new press release, the authorities were obviously proud of themselves for taking down 10 domain names, failing to note that 84,000 websites were wrongfully taken down in the process, shaming thousands of people in the process. </div></div>Torrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6505187674153249078.post-13526910609261581052011-03-06T19:57:00.002+00:002011-03-13T22:28:12.466+00:00Leaked Documents Reveal Malware Scam<b>In late march 2010, a new piece of malware began to circulate names iqmanager.exe which was capable of scanning Windows for BitTorrent files. If .torrent files were found the user was presented with a screen claiming that they had been caught infringing copyright by groups such as the RIAA and MPAA and could face 5 years in prison or a $250,000 fine.</b><br />
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</b><br />
<div><a name='more'></a></div><div>Of course, users were also provided the option to make the whole thing go away by paying a settlement of around $400. The scam was run by a group calling themselves the ICCP Foundation and thanks to a report from security expert Brian Krebs, we can see what kind of money was involved in this scam.<br />
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Last year, thousands of documents were leaked from Chronopay, Russia’s largest processor of online payments and Krebs managed to review them. The documents showed that Chronopay is heavily involved in the operations of 'high-risk' industries, ones with the greatest chance of credit-card chargebacks and the companies that appeared to do swift disappearing acts.<br />
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Krebs notes that Chronopay “handsomely profited from the market for scareware, programs that infiltrate victim PCs to display fake security alerts in a bid to frighten users into paying for worthless security software,” so it comes as no surprise that ICCP Foundation, or ICCP Online as they are noted in Chronopay’s documents, are partners of the payment processor.<br />
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Hundreds of people fell for the scam. In just two months 451 people used Visa to pay nearly $220,000 and 129 used Mastercard to hand over just under $63,000. With those 580 people paying $283,000, each payment averages to about $483.<br />
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The success of this scam demonstrates just how easily money can be extracted from BitTorrent users through the threat of prosecution or unfeasibly large fines, whether it's come from 'official' sources or not.</div>Torrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6505187674153249078.post-21548668390661952942011-03-06T09:46:00.002+00:002011-03-13T22:28:02.226+00:00Movie Sharer Jailed... Pirate Party Call Protest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Vp9A8NjLSec/TXNXo9MAzaI/AAAAAAAAABE/w9Eer4xXAYA/s1600/montevideo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Vp9A8NjLSec/TXNXo9MAzaI/AAAAAAAAABE/w9Eer4xXAYA/s200/montevideo.jpg" width="135" /></a></div><b>Following an investigation into the online sharing of a new movie, Serbia’s high-tech crime unit has targeted an apartment in the capital city Belgrade where they arrested a 51 year old man, Goran Cujak. The man was arrested on suspicion of making links to the movie ‘Montevideo, bog te video’ <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1634013/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">(Montevideo, God Bless You)</span></a>. Cujak was interrogated, apparently confessed to copyright infringement and in the space of one day a judge has ruled that he may be detained in jail for 30 days. The Pirate Party have responded, calling for a protest. </b><br />
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<div><a name='more'></a>Given the millions of internet users who engage in such activities every day, such arrests are a rare activity. Although when they do happen the authorities make sure they are high profile and widely publicised to make their point clear.<br />
<div>The Ministry of Internet Affairs said in a statement, “The suspect was a member of one the most popular internet forums [for sharing copyright works]...the suspect [posted links to copyright works] to allow others to download movies, music and software material, from domestic and foreign authors, without their knowledge or approval, causing them so enormous material damage.” <br />
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The <a href="http://piratskapartija.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">Pirate Party of Serbia</span></a> has a responded by organising a formal public protest in Belgrade but if reports are to be believed, further arrests are on the cards. The police say that they will track down the individuals who downloaded the movie from the forum in question and bring them to justice too, although raids on several street vendors have yet to prove productive. <br />
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According to Serbia’s PressOnline, since January 2007 the High Court in Belgrade has convicted 181 individuals for media piracy with most of those receiving probationary sentences.</div></div><div><br />
</div>Torrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6505187674153249078.post-87339177697495104962011-03-05T10:57:00.002+00:002011-03-13T22:29:28.591+00:00BitTorrent Release Project Chrysalis - A Download Client for Everyone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><b>BitTorrent - the parent company of uTorrent have released a completely new BitTorrent client titled <a href="http://www.bittorrent.com/chrysalis/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">Chrysalis</span></a>. The new software is designed to eventually replace the mainline BitTorrent client offering a more user friendly experience for novice BitTorrent users.</b><br />
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</b><br />
<div><a name='more'></a></div><div>Although BitTorrent already has a large user base, the company have found that many who download the BitTorrent client quickly uninstall the application as they simply don't know how to use it. BitTorrent have acknowledged the need for an intuitive interface to really bring their product to the masses.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The current release is at Alpha stage but already offers a different experience than the 'traditional' clients. One of the immediate differences is that Chrysalis offers a media-rich interface, with content displayed upfront - the idea being to sustain the interest of casual users who may not know where to look for content or understand how to use previous clients.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-cpN_XJpDhKw/TXIVbSOEppI/AAAAAAAAABA/LEsIQqoIAJQ/s1600/chrysalis1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-cpN_XJpDhKw/TXIVbSOEppI/AAAAAAAAABA/LEsIQqoIAJQ/s400/chrysalis1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>The default interface has example 'apps' which provide easy access to downloadable content. Downloads are achieved via a single click and can be launched by a media player directly from the application. Other basic functions (starting, stopping, removing files) can also be done easily.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Chrysalis is not intended to replace the popular uTorrent interface as this will continue to be developed separately. The Chrysalis Alpha release is available now (currently Windows only).</div>Torrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6505187674153249078.post-42023063271159715862011-03-05T10:02:00.001+00:002011-03-13T22:29:46.751+00:00Anti-Piracy Group BREIN Suffer Large Scale DDoS Attack<b>The website of Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN has gone offline following a major DDoS attack. BREIN's cheif, Tim Kuik (pictured) believes he knows who is behind it stating that the DDoS is a revenge attack following his company’s involvement in the recent takedown of the FTD Usenet community.</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-eYR6FEd3O_s/TXIKA-ta7MI/AAAAAAAAAA4/yP6iTRcJOjo/s1600/timkuik.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-eYR6FEd3O_s/TXIKA-ta7MI/AAAAAAAAAA4/yP6iTRcJOjo/s200/timkuik.jpg" width="190" /></a></div><div>“Supporters of FTD are probably behind the attack,” Kuik said. “We think that because the timing of the closing of FTD and the beginning of the attack exactly coincide,” he added.<br />
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However, Arnoud Engelfriet, the lawyer who defended FTD in their case against BREIN, said that FTD were not in favor of the assault. <br />
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“FTD deplores the DDoS attack as this isn’t the way to fight BREIN,” Engelfriet responded, “Executing DDoS attacks only strengthens the image that file sharing or downloading is a criminal activity, which does not help the cause.” <br />
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This is not the first time that BREIN has followed up an attack on it's site to go on blaming on of it's targets. Back in 2009, the founders of The Pirate Bay threatened to sue BREIN after Tim Kuik accused them of carrying out a DDoS attack against his company’s site.</div></div>Torrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6505187674153249078.post-88494928733647614082011-03-04T20:40:00.001+00:002011-03-13T22:30:05.779+00:00'Piracy is Not Theft' Says Minecraft Creator<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-QInNmfoa4ck/TXFONF040tI/AAAAAAAAAA0/M7RR-xteqwo/s1600/minecraft-the-pirate-bay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-QInNmfoa4ck/TXFONF040tI/AAAAAAAAAA0/M7RR-xteqwo/s320/minecraft-the-pirate-bay.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b>Speaking during the closing session yesterday at the Independent Games Summit in San Fransisco, Minecraft developer Markus "Notch" Persson dismissed the notion that piracy is the same as stealing, or ‘looting’ as described by MPAA chief Chris Dodd.</b><br />
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“Piracy is not theft,” he explained to those at the Summit. “If you steal a car, the original is lost. If you copy a game, there are simply more of them in the world...There is no such thing as a ‘lost sale’” he added; “Is a bad review a lost sale? What about a missed ship date?”<br />
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Many people just can't get to grips with the idea that every illegal download does not represent a lost sale. Plenty of downloaders are happy to pay the creator once they have seen that they like the product. <br />
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“If you just make your game and keep adding to it, the people who copyright infringed would buy it the next week,” Notch said. And he's right - currently 1,469,513 (30.1%) people have paid for Minecraft.<br />
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</div>Torrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6505187674153249078.post-44989006463128992242011-03-04T18:51:00.000+00:002011-03-05T09:38:27.009+00:00BitMate Speeds Up Slow BitTorrent Connections up to 70%<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-AjmnDQ21hMA/TXE0PkzAOvI/AAAAAAAAAAw/IOm1u4g5T6k/s1600/medium_bitmate.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="89" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-AjmnDQ21hMA/TXE0PkzAOvI/AAAAAAAAAAw/IOm1u4g5T6k/s200/medium_bitmate.png" width="200" /></a></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>BitTorrent is a great way to share large files, unless your stuck with a slow internet connection. BitMate is a new BitTorrent client that claims to boost download speed on slow connections by up to 70%.</b></div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">the Vuze-based BitMate improves your speeds, just by optimizing your connection. It doesn't cheat any other peers out of bandwidth - it just makes the most of the connection you have. The program is aimed at developing countries but could be the perfect solution for those with a really slow, maybe even dial-up connections</div><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">BitMate is a free download for all desktop platforms available <a href="http://bitmate.sourceforge.net/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: lime;">here</span></a>.</div>Torrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6505187674153249078.post-27965370530535548242011-03-04T18:35:00.001+00:002011-03-13T22:30:35.858+00:00U.S Government Targets The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, isoHunt<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: PTSansRegular, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"></span></span></div><b>The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has issued an “Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets”, listing more than 30 Internet and offline physical ‘markets’ which it says exemplify “key challenges” in the fight against piracy and counterfeiting. Some of the largest BitTorrent sites are included as examples global piracy, with indexing and search engines; The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, isoHunt, Kickasstorrents and BTJunkie all making appearances. Demonoid, OpenBitTorrent and PublicBT are also included and are described as trackers which have become “notorious for infringing activities.”</b><br />
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6URiWxxlWao/TXEuR99-HFI/AAAAAAAAAAo/elG4r-IszG8/s1600/Kirk_Ron.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6URiWxxlWao/TXEuR99-HFI/AAAAAAAAAAo/elG4r-IszG8/s200/Kirk_Ron.jpg" /></a>United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk said, “Piracy and counterfeiting undermine the innovation and creativity that is vital to our global competitiveness. These notorious markets not only hurt American workers and businesses, but are threats to entrepreneurs and industries around the world,”<br />
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“The review we are announcing today shines a light on examples of many offending markets, and highlights an opportunity to work together with our trading partners to curb illicit trade and expand legitimate commerce in creative and innovative industries.”<br />
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The report divides the sites into two categories – BitTorrent indexers and BitTorrent trackers. Leading the indexing list is The Pirate Bay, followed by isoHunt with the USTR pointing out out that the former has been targeted in a criminal prosecution and the latter by civil litigation. In third place is BTjunkie, noted by the USTR to be “among the largest and most popular aggregrators of public and non-public torrents.” Kickasstorrents – “notable for its commercial look and feel” – and Torrentz – “a major aggregator of torrents from other BitTorrent sites” are also listed. <br />
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There is no indicator of what this list will mean for the sites involved, other than the threat by the USTR that they “may merit further investigation for possible Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) infringements.”Torrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6505187674153249078.post-39601967180571717072011-03-04T17:46:00.001+00:002011-03-13T22:30:56.295+00:00Majority of Public Finds Piracy Acceptable<div style="margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: PTSansBold, Arial, sans-serif;"></span></div><b>A recent study that took place in Denmark, researching moral standards and whether some law breaking is socially acceptable has revealed some interesting statistics about perceptions of file-sharing. 70% of responses in the study said that downloading illegal material from the Internet is acceptable. Where downloading is seen to be acceptable for personal use, selling the content for profit was found to be unacceptable by 3 out of 4 people in the survey.</b><br />
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Clearly, this is bad news for a content industry that has spent the last decade leading a war against file-sharing. Over the last decade the entertainment industries have tried numerous strategies to defeat online piracy. One of these methods was to sue some file-sharers and use the reasonably high profile cases as a deterrent; a warning to other file-sharers. Obviously, this didn't have the intended impact.<br />
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Efforts to take down sites have been equally pointless and the longer term plan to brainwash 'educate' the young by planting the seed of moral doubt doesn't seem to be coming into fruition. In fact, despite the various anti-piracy campaigns that have been implemented over the last decade, the attitudes of the public don’t seem to have changed at all. <br />
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The study found that overall morality in society hadn't changed much over the years. In 1997, similar results on the acceptability of piracy were recorded. So, if it's for personal use is piracy acceptable? Under what circumstances can you condone illegal file-sharing?Torrent Watchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04908640229779364203noreply@blogger.com0