Tech-y-ish question: ISP Scanning P2P vs RapidShare

[Doctor Congo]

you could always mask your ip or use proxy servers

Is there much point doing that when using hosted sharing?

 

[quiet_riot]

RS has a privacy policy and as such, it'd be hard for any blame for illegal content to be shifted onto the downloader.

The uploader or RS would take 'blame'.

 

[GStar]

you could always mask your ip or use proxy servers

Is there much point doing that when using hosted sharing?

Hi Dr. Congo; "RapidShare is a German owned one-click hosting pay- and free-service (with limitations) website that operates from Switzerland and is financed by the subscriptions of paying users. Rapidshare is one of the world’s largest file-hosting sites with millions of files stored on its servers." - if that sheds anymore light?

ALso interested to here Shady's view.

The reason i'm asking is the ISP im working for/use, disconnects and charges users for "copyright infringement" this happens when the companies who own the copywrights scan and identify users sharing copywright protected material and pass on the IP Addresses back to the ISP to take action. Obviously i can be caught doing this so just want to know if this type of download is possible before i try anything.

 

[GStar]

RS has a privacy policy and as such, it'd be hard for any blame for illegal content to be shifted onto the downloader.

The uploader or RS would take 'blame'.

What about if they scan your internet as you are downloading a file and inspect the packets being downloaded?

Or can they scan and track what has been downloaded in the pass and identify copywright material that way?

 

[Banned Tosspot]

RS has a privacy policy and as such, it'd be hard for any blame for illegal content to be shifted onto the downloader.

The uploader or RS would take 'blame'.

What about if they scan your internet as you are downloading a file and inspect the packets being downloaded?

Or can they scan and track what has been downloaded in the pass and identify copywright material that way?

I think most Rapidshare files come with a password, if not then only download the ones that have it.

 

[andy1234uk]

If your paranoid about being caught downloading you can download something called "Hotspot Shield" and it basically creates a generic proxy that your computer can hide behind. Its a pretty cool program, you just activate it and your hid behind it. Then when you dont want to use it anymore disconnect it.

 

[standytogilvy]

Your ISP has the ability to monitor EVERY packet which goes to and from your home, of course they don't check on every user but they can have a quick snoop on high traffic users to decide if further investigation is worthwhile.

Totally seperately from ISP monitoring, copyright owners will tend to target torrent uploaders (its often not difficult to find original seeders as many torrent trackers won't work through proxies) to find their IP addresses in order to take action.

Cheers mate. The ways the guys i were talking to explained it was; it wasn't the ISP who would do the scanning/monitoring/snooping, instead it was the companies who owned the copywrights who would scan the system, send a list of IP's who have been found to be downloading copywrighted material back to the ISP's who would then ban for 56 days and charge a reconnection fee for "copywright absue".

I'm guessing what you're saying is that it's not impossible, but its must less likely they will look at rapidshare etc files?

Its less likely for them to look at rapidshare files because these companies who own the copyright material are more after the people who upload this content on these p2p networks rather than the people who download it but i cant say ive heard anything about rapidshare prosecution

 

[Doctor Congo]

you could always mask your ip or use proxy servers

Is there much point doing that when using hosted sharing?

Hi Dr. Congo; "RapidShare is a German owned one-click hosting pay- and free-service (with limitations) website that operates from Switzerland and is financed by the subscriptions of paying users. Rapidshare is one of the world’s largest file-hosting sites with millions of files stored on its servers." - if that sheds anymore light?

ALso interested to here Shady's view.

The reason i'm asking is the ISP im working for/use, disconnects and charges users for "copyright infringement" this happens when the companies who own the copywrights scan and identify users sharing copywright protected material and pass on the IP Addresses back to the ISP to take action. Obviously i can be caught doing this so just want to know if this type of download is possible before i try anything.

As I say, your ISP has the ability to view every bit of data you send to and receive from the world, which means they can see every page you browse and every file you up/download if they decide to, that is not up for debate. I don't know what legal right they have to do that (like the post office reading your mail) or under what circumstances they have the inclination to examine encrypted files, their first interest is how much you download as increased traffic costs them money.

 

[bizzbo]

the way i always understood it, every action taken against a p2p user has been on the basis that an organisation working on behalf of the copyright holders (typically major record labels and movie studios) used torrent/p2p to download copyright material from the user (at this stage the user is only identified by IP and possibly screen name). they then used this as evidence to support their request from the isp for the details of the user from the ISP, send a cease and desist letter, or, in the case of other p2p where they have a list of copyright materials shared by the user, threaten legal action. I'm not even sure that any of these cases ever made it to court in the uk, they were all settled (who knows for what amount).

rapidshare is different. when you click to download a link, you may not know what it contains. the isp knows, but, they have no reason to think as a matter of course that you would download illegal material, and they will not scan the packets on spec at the behest of copyright holders without evidence of wrongdoing. as third parties are not able to see you click that link, i dont see how a copyright holder could lawfully gather the evidence needed to get the isp to reveal your details. I am unsure about the policies of file hosting services beyond that they remove copyright material on request, and that, obviously, they have an ip address linked to the uploaded file.

tbh it's a year or so since i looked into all of this, if u are really concerned, i'd advise trawling through slyck.com for any relevant developments.

p.s. i agree that the ISP's most obvious concern is bandwidth usage, but just using a lot of bandwidth will at worst lead to you losing your provider, not to them looking for evidence of illegal activity

 

[Doctor Congo]

the way i always understood it, every action taken against a p2p user has been on the basis that an organisation working on behalf of the copyright holders (typically major record labels and movie studios) used torrent/p2p to download copyright material from the user (at this stage the user is only identified by IP and possibly screen name). they then used this as evidence to support their request from the isp for the details of the user from the ISP, send a cease and desist letter, or, in the case of other p2p where they have a list of copyright materials shared by the user, threaten legal action. I'm not even sure that any of these cases ever made it to court in the uk, they were all settled (who knows for what amount).

rapidshare is different. when you click to download a link, you may not know what it contains. the isp knows, but, they have no reason to think as a matter of course that you would download illegal material, and they will not scan the packets on spec at the behest of copyright holders without evidence of wrongdoing. as third parties are not able to see you click that link, i dont see how a copyright holder could lawfully gather the evidence needed to get the isp to reveal your details. I am unsure about the policies of file hosting services beyond that they remove copyright material on request, and that, obviously, they have an ip address linked to the uploaded file.

tbh it's a year or so since i looked into all of this, if u are really concerned, i'd advise trawling through slyck.com for any relevant developments.

p.s. i agree that the ISP's most obvious concern is bandwidth usage, but just using a lot of bandwidth will at worst lead to you losing your provider, not to them looking for evidence of illegal activity

Cheers for clearing that up mate.