Tech: Info on Bit Torrent

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 16 Jun 05 - 10:06 PM

Coincidentally perhaps, but of possible interest:

Spyware Floods In Through BitTorrent eWeek By Ryan Naraine, June 15, 2005
"BitTorrent, the beloved file-sharing client and protocol that provides a way around bandwidth bottlenecks, has become the newest distribution vehicle for adware/spyware bundles. "

While the headline is perhaps a bit escessive (or not), anyone using or considering use of BitTorrent should be aware of what's happening. One very large adware/spyware organization is/has been distributing it's spyware program(s) via BitTorrent. The agency insists that their program is not installed without user's permission, but if you're using BitTorrent to download any program, the EULA for the spyware may be mixed in with multiple other "permissions," so it could be easily missed.

It appears that if any BitTorrent participant you connect with has installed this spyware, it will be passed on to you, and you will be "offered" the "option" to install it. It is not, in fact, clear whether you must install the software for it to remain on your machine and be passed on to other "peers" who connect to you.

This article probably does NOT mean that you can't use BitTorrent; but you need to look at the full article (and probably some of the links) to be informed about what to watch for if you do. Note that the shitmonger involved is selling this BitTorrent method, so others even less "reputable" may be expected to follow.

(A comment at the original link for the eWeek article indicates the link in the article to the shitmonger site may not work, since the site was "hacked by a group that doesn't like the adware bundle in their torrents." It wasn't working when I tried to check links.)

A link at the page where this article is posted offers To read about spyware threats associated with file-sharing program Kazaa, click here. This may be of interest to some who don't care to read the BitTorrent article.

Some may have already seen some of the articles, but a list of recent "Spyware" articles is at eWeek Special on Spyware.

A couple of others:

Symantec strikes back at adware vendor Hotbar. Click here to read more." (One of the difficulties with Adware/Spyware is that it's marginally "legal," so vendors have a tough time deciding what to flag and what to allow.)

eWeek Special "Selling the Web" is another list of recent articles possibly of interest.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: Amos
Date: 16 Jun 05 - 10:39 PM

I have used it occasionally before it became all the rage with the scriptkiddies, and it was successful at downloading very large files from multiple sources (parts of a file from each); as John says it also involves your machine with sending parts out to others who want to build up that file.

I wouldn't use it carelessly, especially if I were using a Windows environment with all the vulnerabilities that entails.

A

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: Cluin
Date: 17 Mar 09 - 12:44 AM

But what does cd-kl stand for?

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: Cluin
Date: 23 Mar 09 - 07:29 PM

I see. Nobody else knows either.

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: Jack Campin
Date: 23 Mar 09 - 07:52 PM

Cluin, where did you find that acronym? Why does it matter?

I'm currently doing my first ever BitTorrent download. Not so much a torrent as a prostatically hypertrophied piddle. Average download speec about 2 KB/sec.

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 23 Mar 09 - 10:40 PM

Strange - I view 12 postings to the thread and click in to find only 5 a peculiar Mudcat TRAP

To Jack - attempt a new connection - also try at a different time of day - or select for your first "experiment" something less esotheric.

To Cluin -

BitTorrent - is a truly dynamic interface. Exciting to watch. CD-KL deals with the "compression" or shortening of files. You will find more in other discussion forums (some of these Mudcaters have a hard time indentifying if they are using a PC or MAC) so for the folkies dropping in (and not knowing if you are one of those) we will keep this VERY Lite.

In short... your question about CD-KT refers to the encoding/decoding data stream.

CD = Codec/Codex KL = K-Lite - A compression of the Codec compression that includes vid/aud variations.

The number prior refers to the "entire complete" copies available for referencing the BITS (and pieces) that TORRENT brings in from around the globe. It determines the "integrity" of the packets. Watch a "ping" and notice the "skips" that is what BT is doing.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: Cluin
Date: 24 Mar 09 - 12:12 AM

Oh. Thanks, garg. I thought it was some kind of code that meant "entire CD tunelist" since the cd-kl torrents I've seen seem to include the entire album more often than not.

Been trying to find digital files of some of the old LPs I have. I could make transfers myself, but if I don't have to... if somebody else has already done the work.... so much the better.

Not much luck trying to find my old Nash the Slash EPs but what I have found is pretty amazing. Apparently my younger musical tastes weren't as esoteric as I once thought.

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: Jack Campin
Date: 24 Mar 09 - 06:01 AM

My first download is still going on. 935 MB of 1.20 GB, after nearly four days. It'll be worth having when it finishes but I can't see myself doing this very often.

If I read the "Torrent Inspector" window correctly, someone is now getting parts of the thing from me. At least my machine is permanently on the web and using broadband, my source seems to be using a slow dialup link for a few hours a day.

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: GUEST,woodsie
Date: 24 Mar 09 - 06:18 AM

I use bit torrent all the time the speed of downloads varies depending on your download/upload ratio and obviously your broadband speed and the number of seeds/leechers you are connected to. The more people downloading the same file, the faster it goes. I have had download speeds of up to 700kps and sometimes as slow as 5kps. Use a clent called Utorrent for your downloads

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: Jack Campin
Date: 24 Mar 09 - 06:32 AM

I'm using Transmission (for MacOS 10.4.11) and it seems to do the needful - why would uTorrent be better?

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: GUEST,woodsie
Date: 24 Mar 09 - 10:29 AM

I thought you were having problems with download speed - four days!. Utorrent is supposedly much faster see HERE

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: Jack Campin
Date: 24 Mar 09 - 10:59 AM

The speed problems have to be at the far end - what I'm getting isn't something there'll be many copies of (the songs of Ruhi Su, most of which I already have on cassette, but I wanted to have them on MP3 CDs as well and don't have the wherewithal to do the transfer). My guess is the only person who's got this is on a dialup link in Turkey.

933 MB so far, current speed 0.1 KB/sec. Should be done by the weekend.

I'll give uTorrent a spin next time, but I'm unlikely ever to use this method for anything more mainstream and widely available, so I doubt my software is the limiting factor.

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 24 Mar 09 - 03:11 PM

I use ABC Bittorrent client with a mighty 4Mb (up to) broadband connection from British Telecom. When I switch on at 7am I get download speeds of up to 460Kb/sec which slow down to maybe 10Kb/sec in the late afternoon/evening, then it picks up after 11pm.

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 25 Mar 09 - 05:16 AM

It is uncanny how something will pop up at the Mudcat and then you stumble upon it again browsing a website. From the good people at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Released this month. "Switzerland Test Your IP" (This is a fascinating organization that I beleave goes back to the olden days of the orginal "Well" forums.)

"Is your ISP interfering with your BitTorrent connections?"

"Switzerland is an open source software tool for testing the integrity of data communications over networks, ISPs and firewalls. It will spot IP packets which are forged or modified between clients..."

"Worried that your broadband provider is slowing down your Web traffic?"

"If so, you might want to download the aptly named "Switzerland" —"

An interesting series of articles onthe site.

............add your own H and WWW

eff.org/testyourisp/switzerland

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: Gulliver
Date: 25 Mar 09 - 10:11 PM

Thanks for the info, folks. I was wondering what this torrent stuff was until I found this thread today and tried it out. Seems to work fine - I can download a 600 Meg file in a little over half an hour on my 10-year-old PC. Need to start looking for sites now, I suppose (and a lot more storage!). Don

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Mar 09 - 10:24 PM

Interesting to watch what happens with this - still very much in slow motion, my download has now got to a bit over 1GB and might finish tomorrow. People are managing to download from me must faster than I'm downloading from the original source, but occasionally another download source pops up which goes a bit faster (maybe because they have parts I haven't got to yet from the primary source). It looks as if the more people take an interest in a particular file, the more effectively the whole process goes. So if you're interested in Ruhi Su, get in before I disconnect.

Sociology by looking through a keyhole.

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: M.Ted
Date: 26 Mar 09 - 12:08 AM

Try Miro--it connects you to a world of video and audio far beyond YouTube, as well as offering the ability to schedule downloads, download torrents--I recommend the latest version because it allows you to set ports, as Garg points out above, some ISP's block or at least limit bandwidth on the most commonly used ports--

Subject: RE: Tech: Info on Bit Torrent
From: Cluin
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 03:45 PM

Update: I DID finally download MP#s of all my old Nash the Slash albums.