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How to find fake torrents uploaded by the MPAA

torrentfreak.com — The MPAA, RIAA and several anti-piracy organizations are constantly trying to trap people into downloading fake torrents. These torrents are hosted on trackers that are setup to collect IP addresses of all the 'pirates' who try to download these files.

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  • Overmind12812, on 10/12/2007, -3/+139Any half descent torrent tracking site will have already filtered out the fake files. Not going to find those fakes on sites like thepiratebay or isohunt.
    • KiaserLies, on 10/12/2007, -27/+4site is dead. DB problem
    • skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -37/+4And for those that don't - surf using the Tor network.
    • TomP, on 10/12/2007, -2/+61Duggmirror is down nooooo!!

      The MPAA, RIAA and several anti-piracy organizations are constantly trying to trap people into downloading fake torrents. These torrents are hosted on trackers that are setup to collect IP addresses of all the ‘pirates’ who try to download these files.

      popular fake torrents To make these traps more visible, Fenopy just introduced the FakeFinder. The FakeFinder lists the most popular fake torrents and the latest fake trackers. It also allows you to search for fake torrents by keyword or infohash.

      The actual .torrent links for these fake files are blocked, and FakeFinder serves an informational purpose only. It is actually quite amusing to browse through these fake files and trackers. The companies that host these anti-piracy trackers came up with some interesting hostnames like “dirtydevils.cyberbox.com.br” and “bittorrent.isthebe.st“.

      Although most of the IPs of these fake trackers are already blocked by blocklist software like PeerGuardian, they still manage to collect the IP addresses of thousands of users who do fall for this trap. Most torrent site admins are aware of these fakes, and remove them as soon as they are uploaded. It is kind of a paradox. On the one hand anti-piracy organizations send thousands of takedown requests to torrent sites, while they upload fake files with similar titles themselves.

      Some might argue that downloading a fake file is not really a criminal offense. And yes, it is doubtful if this evidence will hold up in court. However, the job of organizations like the MPAA is to scare people, and that is often enough for them. The first thing they will probably do is send a letter to your ISP saying that you tried to download so-and-so file. And even if they take it a step further, they try to settle before these things are played out in court.

      FakeFinder shows that BitTorrent site admins are trying to track down these fake torrents, and it’s a nice way to expose the darker side of anti-piracy organizations like the MPAA.
    • TonyCubed, on 10/12/2007, -17/+5Wordpress ftw!

      /sarcasm
    • xsproutx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+70I don't know... I recently (two or three weeks ago) got a cease and desist letter from my ISP attached to a letter from Sony pictures. Listed the two torrents I had downloaded, also. Both of those files were working files and were what they said they were. So how's THAT work? For what it's worth, it WAS from the piratebay. I'm asking out of genuine curiosity here, because now i've stopped most of my downloading (mostly t.v. shows) because I don't feel like dealing with this crap. I'm sure if it happens again, i'll be searching for a new ISP.
    • a0me, on 10/12/2007, -4/+28The same thing happened to a few friends.
      Once they turned the encryption on on their Torrent client
      the C&D letters stopped.
    • expresso, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22When I was in Japan I got a notice from my Japanese ISP about a movie I had downloaded from Pirate Bay, which was also a working file. I got a letter that demanded an apology for downloading the file. If they wanted to scare me, they were successful. I don't download movies now, actually I have always been reluctant to pirate movies, but there just aren't any legit options for getting the files I want (unless you count bits burned on pieces of plastic, so last decade). Give me an option to pay $1 per episode of Prison Break in Europe and I happily will.
    • bigred, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Those letters have been around for years. It's not from fake torrents, its that the MPAA is paying monitoring companies to grab the IP's downloading and uploading real files on bit torrent and on other networks, then if they detect you are downloading or uploading the file, they send your ISP a letter, then your ISP sends you one telling you to stop.
    • Markpdotcom, on 10/12/2007, -4/+33No one uses Peer Guardian?
      http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2 - blocks all MPAA crap, even if they are tracking on legit torrents.

      Edit: Oh, and when you install it, right click on it and uncheck "Block HTML" otherwise you wont be able to surf, that freaks out most people when they first install it! :)
    • clempka, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4They can catch you for the real files if you seed them and they download the entire file from you.
    • kurish, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21A lot of misinformation in this thread. Don't trust digg comments as authoritative.
    • Spikito, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3"Any half descent torrent tracking site will have already filtered out the fake files. Not going to find those fakes on sites like thepiratebay or isohunt."

      I got a cease and desist letter from my ISP, with an attached note from paramount, my torrent was from thepiratebay.
    • OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13[quote]No one uses Peer Guardian?
      http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2 - blocks all MPAA crap, even if they are tracking on legit torrents.[/quote]

      If you use Azureus, the Safepeer plugin uses the same blocklist as Peer Guardian. So you don't have to run an extra app this way.

      http://azureus.sourceforge.net/plugin_details.php?plugin=safepeer
    • thidranki, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4someone should make a Firefox extension for this!
    • broomett, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0Yeah, OB..and Azureus just takes up far MORe memory that iusing utorrent and PeerGuardian combined. So what is your point?

      Oh yeah...you are OBKenobi. You have never had, nor ever will have, a point.
    • merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10"I got a cease and desist letter from my ISP, with an attached note from paramount, my torrent was from thepiratebay."

      There are two ways they can get you:
      1) set up and seed a fake torrent (described in TFA)
      2) download/seed a legit torrent that someone else created (probably what happened to you)

      Remember, BT is *peer to peer*. That means every peer you share with or download from can see your IP. Only one of 'em has to be an **AA bot.

      Of course, if there's an **AA computer out there, sharing full files, then you kinda have to wonder how they can claim you're violating their copyright, since they sent you the file willingly. Someone should create a BT client that *only* downloads from **AA IPs :)
    • crweaks23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4broom...

      I think the important thing to note here is that in the case of say a cop impersonating a prostitute, and arresting the solicitor, the operation was _run by a cop_. Everything is recorded, and there is evidence to submit to the court along with the officer's testimony.

      In the case of someone downloading a fake file... where is there any evidence that places person A "at the scene of the crime." An IP address?? Who's to say they didn't just write it down. There is no solid proof of any crime here.

      Another question: if you go out and sell fake drugs, record the transaction, and try to have the buyer arrested, what happens then?? We are not officers of the law... and neither are the **AA, as much as they try to be.
    • Saiing, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1>Of course, if there's an **AA computer out there, sharing full files, then you kinda
      >have to wonder how they can claim you're violating their copyright

      They have to provide evidence that you've downloaded the file, so they have to seed it. Downloading an empty file, or just a .torrent isn't illegal since you haven't actually received any copyrighted material. You can download as many empty files as you want and not break the law. If they stopped you downloading, they would have nothing against you.
    • 91degrees, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In reply to most of the other replies...

      The AA's tend to target uploaders rather than downloaders. Torrent users are, of course, both uplodaeers and downloaders. So they give you the file, and then try to catch you when you upload it. They didn't give you permission to do that. Assuming an implied permission to upload if they're torrenting as well is a little mroe of a stretch than assuming a right to download.
    • benradler, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I got caught using a torrent from demonoid. Thank god for public universities.
    • mookieXL, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7uTorrent also supports blocklists.
      Just place ipfilter.dat in %appdata%/utorrent and enable filtering in advanced options.
    • lifendeath, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i have been downloadin movies for 2 yrs now with ma pc having a rest of 30 mins on weekends, i have never got anything, mayb this is only valid for countries which have strict cyber laws, and from where i come, i bet i would be downloading for another 20 yrs bfore any1 is served any notice out here :P

      my heart goes out to people who stopped downloading and are missin on the action
    • fenopy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Actually for the first post regarding "most good sites remove them anyhow is totally false. 60% of the files on the fake list existed on the majority of the sites, most of those sites have no method other than users commenting to even find the fakes which is why we have made this. For example, take practically ANY of the file names on the "popular fakes" list and search for those on ISOhunt.. I would guestimate 20% of the "most popular" items on ISOhunt happen to be fakes.
      Ever start downloading and get stuck at the last 5% remaining?? guess what guys, you were duped, that was a fake and those scumbag agencies that work for the copyrighters have just logged your IP. They do this because they get paid per IP they supply the MPAA, RIAA, or others, they really don't care if it was baiting you to get it. ALSO, just so you guys know, Fenopy indexes ONLY the big "quality" sites, for us to index these fakes in the first place means they still exists on your favorite sites. Most admins don't give a sh_t, they are too proud of their stats for indexing a ton of torrents regardless of the quality, at least we sort ours, we display only quality torrents on the search results, we mark fakes as fakes to allow users to stop the fakes they may already be downloading. Anyhow guys, we just want to clean up all the crap that everyone else is just ignoring. keep your eyes pealed for a new kind of tracker & client we will be releasing very soon with 100% real, 100% verified, 100% live seeded files.
  • abrooks, on 10/12/2007, -25/+4Dead.
    • Truegod, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Seems to be working now.
    • TonyCubed, on 10/12/2007, -11/+57It's dead Jim.
    • jgtg32a, on 10/12/2007, -5/+28Star Trek quote getting dugg down, the world is going to hell
    • MrMacMan, on 10/12/2007, -7/+16Star Trek Quotes must always be dugg.
  • Jonny5alive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+28And Word Press fails again.
    • JackThompsonDig, on 10/12/2007, -23/+3http://www.duggmirror.com

      Jack Thompson supports piracy of rap because it means the artists don't get paid for telling kids that it's ok to shoot others.
  • aguilera, on 10/12/2007, -16/+4I'ts Amazing how wordpress goes down fast....65 diggs and down, it should have some load monitoring :)
    • Frost9999, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Using the number of Diggs as a metric for measuring load performance of a website is not very useful. Unless you have a consistent corolation between number of Diggs and amount of traffic it's hardly worth mentioning.
    • aguilera, on 10/12/2007, -19/+6ok, digg me down
    • devindotcom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Isn't it more dependent on their hosts anyway? I thought wordpress was just an authoring thing...
  • interiot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Are they that easy to spot? So if you download a torrent, knowing it's fake, will the RIAA summon you to court, where you can say you were just doing research? Granted, that's more likely to work if you're a professor, but presumably the defense could still work...
    • toomuchpete, on 10/12/2007, -1/+39I think the more interesting defense would be:

      1. If the torrent was fake, I clearly didn't download anything to which I didn't have the rights.
      2. If the torrent worked, the RIAA/MPAA served it to me, thereby consenting to the download

      Of course, that being the case, I doubt any case based on evidence like this will ever go to court. They'll just use it to intimidate people who won't hire attorneys. If they ever subjected themselves to the discovery process of a real civil trial they'd have a world of a hard time convincing a judge to grant them any sort of damages.
    • Tweekster, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21INTENT people, it does matter.

      you dont actually have to buy real drugs, if you bought fake drugs but thought they were real thats the same as buying real drugs (just because you got ripped off is completely irrelevant)

      intent does count (and is easy to determine, you were not trying to download fake files, you were going for real ones and just happened to get screwed)
    • form3hide, on 10/12/2007, -3/+19i thought entrapment was illegal?
    • D3koy, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3Tweekster: Say I INTENDED to punch you in the jaw

      But I never met you, and have no idea what you look like, however I still INTENDED to hit you....Is that a crime?
    • neko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Maybe my intent was to confirm if that torrent was pirated material, and if so, notify the tracker admin to take it down?

      I'm doing a public service here!
    • mikeyj10, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7While intent is necessary it is not sufficient of itself. You need some action that will reasonably result in an illegal action. The fact that a file is fake leads to a very plausible defense of factual impossivilty. Let me give you an example. Vinnie is a moron. Vinnie is intentionally taking an act to kill the dali llama. In order to complete this intention Vinnie is going to throw an apple from downtown NYC into orbit and have it land on the Dali's head in Tibet thereby causing grievous bodily harm.

      Under Tweekster's fine enunciation of criminal law Vinnie would be doing twenty-five to life in Attica. That's how factual impossibility works.

      Now granted Vinnie in all likelihood would be grabbed by the CIA and tortured on an airplane, because the idiot son of an ***** would label him as a domestic terrorist.
    • broomett, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1toomuch...so...you own the rights to everything that isn't a real movie? Is that your defense?

      form3hyde...it is. this is not entrapment. No one forces people to download the fake files. Merely providing them to be downloaded is NOT entrapment, any more than police putting out bait cars for people to steal. Which also is not entrapment, nor should it be.
    • broomett, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0D3koy...your comparison makes no sense. If you intended to punch someone in the jaw, and followed through on your intent, but missed, then YES, you are guilty.

      Your scenario would be like if someone said "I think I will download the latest blockbuster movie", but never get around to it, or decide it is not worth it. In that case, you would not be guilty of pirating.

      Trying and failing is not a defense.
    • merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"toomuch...so...you own the rights to everything that isn't a real movie? Is that your defense?"

      If the copyright holder (MPAA) creates a public torrent of a copyrighted file, they're making said file publicly availble.

      It's like leaving a bowl of candy on the street with a sign saying "Free candy, take all you want", and then trying to charge anyone who takes some with theft.


      And the whole "Intent" argument goes out the window if you knowingly and exclusively download only from **AA IPs. Which is why I think people should use peerguardian as a whitelist. You can't sue me for downloading files you intentionally made available to me.
    • johnholmes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Intent is necessary but it is not sufficient.

      If you try to hit someone in the jaw and miss you are NOT guilty of assault - you need both the intent and the act. At best you are guilty of attempted assault although I doubt that charge gets laid very much.

      If you think you are buying drugs, but are sold baking powder you CANNOT be convicted of buying drugs, just the lesser charge of attempting to buy. And if the police are involved there are entrapment issues which make it difficult to charge you with anything unless the police are very careful to show they did induce you to commit the criminal act.

      And regardless, these discussion are moot as they apply to criminal law, not civil law. You cannot be sued for "attempted damages" as damages must be proven, at least not likely sucessfully.
    • dizzley, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1As stated in earlier comments -

      A copyright holder might invite you to download - but they have much more to gripe about once they see you seeding and uploading. Of course, P2P needs uploading to work so you are soon royally screwed.

      It's the uploaders (i.e. not leeches) they will go after.
    • thecoffeeguru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"If you try to hit someone in the jaw and miss you are NOT guilty of assault - you need both the intent and the act."
      You *would* be guilty of assault (a threat of violence), but not battery (actual violence).
    • toomuchpete, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@tweekster:

      Wrong on that point. Attempt is a gloss put on the criminal law, there's no such thing as "attempt" in terms of a civil suit. You can't sue someone for attempting (and failing) to cause you harm (infringe your copyrights, etc). You can be charged with attempting to buy drugs because that's a criminal violation, not a civil one.
  • doshindude, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2site is down, and duggmirror is down.
  • arkmtech, on 10/12/2007, -3/+75Wouldn't matter - It was someone who hacked my WiFi that did it... not me!
    • pkkid, on 10/12/2007, -30/+5I believe your responsible for what happens on your wifi. Someone hacks in, still your fault if you didn't secure it.
    • fofusion, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21If you tell the RIAA/MPAA that you have an unsecured wi-fi they drop the case - it's happened a few times.

      Even if they did take it to court although I'm sure it'd be a nightmare trying to get non tech-savvy people to understand I'm sure you'd win your case.


      But what the hell I'm in the UK so those laws/excuses wont apply here :-D
    • adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+37"Someone hacks in, still your fault if you didn't secure it."

      I want you to read that VERY carefully and see if you can spot the error in your argument.
  • ty1993, on 10/12/2007, -18/+1Darn! That sure went down fast.
  • jake8689, on 10/12/2007, -7/+7the RIAA posting fake torrents isn't that like entrapment i not sure so if someone could clarify that would be nice
    • h0dg3s, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1Entrapment is when a cop doesn't tell you they're a cop when asked. The RIAA/MPAA aren't putting up fake torrents themselves, they pay other companies to do it.
    • tuxidomasx, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2entrapment is only a defense against a crime if its used by law enforcement officials (i.e. popo, 5-oh, coppers, etc)
    • m0shen, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10I wouldn't think so because it's not a law enforcement agency doing it. Here's a wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrapment

      *edit* i'm way to slow
    • kingkilr, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3It is the corporate equivilant of entrapment, I can imagine in court,

      "Yeah, we posted a fake to torrent to get people to download it so we could prosecute them."

      Your honor I rest my case!
    • jzurawski, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22Entrapment is when someone is put in a situation where they can do nothing but break the law. Say for example a cop that tells you that he is going to shoot you unless you rob the store (extreme example).

      Making it easier for you to break the law is not considered entrapment. Take the show Cops, how may times have you seen episodes where they have an unchained bike or a car with the keys sitting inside. The people that steal those items are making the choice to do it.
    • fershizzle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14think of it as a sting...not entrapment
    • david76, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Entrapment:
      Entrapment is a defense to criminal charges when it is established that the agent or official originated the idea of the crime and induced the accused to engage in it. If the crime was promoted by a private person who has no connection to the government, it is not entrapment.

      http://www.answers.com/entrapment&r=67

      Posting fake torrents and prosecuting upon downloading the fake is not entrapment. If someone works for law enforcement and suggested you download the files, when you wouldn't have otherwise, and then prosecuted you, that is entrapment.
    • fenixconnektion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+36Entrapment only works when a young welsh woman and an old scottish guy go to Kuala Lumpur to steal a buttload of money on New Year's Eve.
    • Tweekster, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1a cop can lie about being a cop...

      entrapment has NOTHING to do with that/
    • elroy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4No, it's not entrapment.

      1. It's not a law enforcement agency
      2. The action does not result in criminal charges, but rather, a civil case.
  • Johnpaine, on 10/12/2007, -27/+3they can't prove you downloaded the whole thing, anyways.

    I use nntp + ssl, ***** bittorrent.
    • netzdamon, on 10/12/2007, -28/+2Well ***** you i use scp plus my friends ip's
    • tuxidomasx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+102***** you both, i get my friends to read me the bits over the telephone
    • smegthelight, on 10/12/2007, -1/+39Pfftt..telephone..
      We use signal flags..
    • kllrfoot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22ARE YOU KIDDING ME... signal flags are for n00bz... i prefer the 2 cups with a string in the middle. You should see our network ;)
    • adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15smoke signals FTW.
    • phil.busch, on 10/12/2007, -9/+8@tux

      I'm in ur phonez stealin ur bitz
    • joeydoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Screw all those sophisticated signalling and communication equipment. I use shouting.
  • kazsymonds, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24If they could sue you for downloading torrents then surely they themselves should be sued for seeding/uploading them?
    • dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"The thing is, they can't sue you since they aren't hosting real files"
      I suppose they can use the argument you were obviously trying to download illegal content. It's like being arrested for "intent to commit [crime]".. But really, I doubt you'll ever be sued for it, most that will probably happen is a scary Cease and Desist letter will be sent.
      - Ben
    • david76, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Of course they can. If you can get hauled off to jail for selling baking soda as cocaine, you can get sued for downloading a fake torrent.

      http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/Justices/pfeifer/column/2006/jp071206.asp
    • Yoshi39, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"I suppose they can use the argument you were obviously trying to download illegal content."
      The can only sue for damages (loss of sales) but since it was a fake file there was no damages ergo you can't be sued.
    • broomett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yoshi...clearly you are not a lawyer, so please don't act like you are. You are wrong.

      By the way...once they get the IP of known pirates, they can track it to see if you are sharing (because they have yet to file a single lawsuit for DOWNLOADING) real files.
  • FatherG, on 10/12/2007, -1/+441) Don't download from major sites that don't do much filtering (ie mininova)
    2) Use vcdquality (if downloading movies) to check what you're downloading
    3) Group names are your friend. LOL, DiAMOND, RAZOR, PMS and the like are quality release groups. However you must always...
    4) Do your homework. Google search group names to insure what you're downloading is legit
    5) Be weary of files that have far more seeds than peers on public trackers, moreso for popular files. Don't worry about it on private trackers; they will always have more seeds thanks to people working their seed/leech ratio.
    6) Disable DHT on your BitTorrent client of choice. Yes this will cut down on the # of peers you connect to but it will also make sure you keep a lower profile while downloading.
    7) Private trackers (OiNK, Demonoid, etc) are your friend.


    Any others to add?
    • aguilera, on 10/12/2007, -0/+34"4) Do your homework. Google search group names to insure what you're downloading is legit"


      lol, make sure the pirated file you are downloading is legit :)
    • AzraelRenegades, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Demonoid FTW!
    • Pifko, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Good advice there.

      And yes ^ Demonoid FTW indeed.
    • SteveRogers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Make sure the comments aren't *****. I can usually tell fakes because commenters have real '90's-generic-Internet names like "pir@tedude1234" and all the comments are variations of "this torrent is totally legit ur farout for uploading this so we can all pirate it lol gj."
    • D3koy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's nice to know I have so many friends : ), even if they are just private trackers and pirating groups...
    • cosmicr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I have seen fake torrents with a group name included in the filename though.
    • wilf_brim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+28) Enable encryption. Also makes bit shaping harder by your ISP.
      9) Download blacklists and enable blocking.
    • Providence, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Interesting thing here. I looked up Axxo (another trusted ripping group) on fakefinder, and about a dozen or so came up. Children of Men and Jackass 2 being a couple of them.

      Kinda creepy considering I just got Jackass 2 from him a few weeks ago. *Waits of ISP CandD letter.*

      Watch out guys; not even the big names in the torrent world can be trusted all the time.
    • Spikito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the torrent that the MPAA busted me with had a Diamond tag on it, looked very legit, you gotta remember, they may be dumbasses, but theyve done their homework too. the thing ive noticed, is watch out for trackers, xml tags, etc.
  • ckokotay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Umm, if the torrent is fake - as in not the real movie, what exactly is the crime?

    And, if it were real, then, aren't they distributing it? I mean they can legally distribute their own stuff. This seems absurd, and I cannot think that is what is going on. My guess is that they are doing what the RIAA did, poisoning the system so people will give up on Bittorrent, having received more good than bad files. Just a thought.
    • TonyCubed, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3No, it makes sense. It's like someone robbing loads of banks and the police want to catch the robber. So what they do is, make a setup where a money truck will stop to collect some money with like millions of pounds/dollars, then wait for the stupid robbers to come and try Hijack it.
    • TSAU956, on 05/12/2008, -6/+3Except that the money in the truck would have to be fake to be a perfect analogy, and in that case, the robbers never actually stole anything.

      "Your honor, we parked a truck and had it broken into! A bunch of fake money was stolen too!"
      "Fake money?"
      "But it looked really real!"
    • Derrekito, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8@TonyCubed

      Your example would be more valid if inside the money truck there was only fake money and if the money truck was being used by paid subscribers, not to mention on the side of the money truck it said FREE MONEY, COME AND GET IT -- UPLOADED by UrMOMidzdaChit.
    • broomett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If they had fake money, and someone robbed the truck of it, it absolutely WOULD be a crime.
  • Pifko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6So, by this logic of uploading fake .torrent files, you can be arrested for writing "12PM - Rob bank" in your daily planner, going to the bank, hesitating and leaving without committing an offence? no
    • smegthelight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15No, but change it to say "12PM - Blow up Sears Tower", and you can get locked up in Guantanamo Bay for the rest of your natural life..
    • KChambers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Conspiring to commit a felony could be in play there.
  • S!L3N7, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5So sick of seeing ***** stupid wordpress sites.
  • MrMacMan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Why does Wordpress suck so badly? I mean we all know that it can't handle a fraction of the traffic a site needs after any sites that is anywhere near popular links to it. What makes their software such so hard?
    • devindotcom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I thought it was just that people using wordpress often have cheap hosting.... isn't wordpress just a page authoring program?
    • Firehed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Indeed. Wordpress isn't the problem. $5/month hosting is the problem.
  • placidified, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4great! i received an email from my ISP who received an email from NBC for copyright infringement!

    time to install PeerGuardian and dont use mininova!
    • Aksumka, on 11/01/2007, -1/+1ESA here, had PG, too bad I can't use it for *****.
    • BlindIrishman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15He's infected! RUN AWAY
  • osbjmg, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3These aren't anti-piracy organizations. They are just bullies that don't like change, they are thieves.
  • coyo7e, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1If they are hosting fake torrents, then what legal actions can they take against you for downloading a file that doesn't do anything?
  • jsimonson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Was I not supposed to download "thisisnotahoneypot.torrent"?
  • lcmatt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just use private trackers,encryption on your client and peer guardian and you should be alright.
  • Surfer51, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15They have 'Limewire' rigged. Try making up a fake name and watch what happens. I put "Monkeys barking at trees" in the search box and up came all sorts of "Monkey barking at trees" files of all types, Video, zipped, audio etc... Evidence that there are servers out there to track your activity. Be careful out there, it's a zoo.
    • tizz66, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11A zoo with barking monkeys? Sounds awesome to me...
    • kurish, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2those servers that have a copy of "whatever random thing you searched for" are hosting spyware, not anti-piracy goons
  • tizz66, on 10/12/2007, -10/+6I find a good way of avoiding these fake files is not to pirate music in the first place. Crazy logic, I know.
    • lcmatt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Great but why should I pay £15-16 ($30-35) for an album? When they stop ripping me off I might just start buying the artists music again.
    • tizz66, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Don't buy it then. You don't have a god-given right to listen to music. I think fast cars are a rip-off, so I don't buy them.

      And if you're paying £16 for an album, you're a mug. Even high street shops are matching internet prices now, you shouldn't have to pay more than £9.
    • jesuschrysler, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5yeah, but why pay $15 when you can pay $0? call me idealistic, but the idea that there are people that say "i want to listen to [music] but don't have enough money" strikes me as complete *****. free music seems to be where evolution is headed, and rightly so.

      then again, if you get a c&d for downloading the siqq new 30 seconds to mars/hawthorne heights/britney spears/whatever vaguely talented band album en masse, i can't say i have much sympathy.
    • tizz66, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Ah yes, the pro-pirating digg diggs me down - as long as it's not some individual person taking photographs who's been ripped off.

      Against the machine! woo yeah!

      Why pay for ANYTHING when you can just take it without paying? That is the most ridiculous argument I perhaps have ever heard. It is not you who decides how much something costs. It is the person selling it. You as the consumer have the choice whether to buy it or not - you don't have the right to choose the price. Get a ***** clue.
    • jesuschrysler, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1ok... but i'm still not paying for music.
  • elbxmatatan, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2lawl again Us > MPAA
  • 5hop4orce, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Why would you want to download MPAA movies anyway?

    1) They're big budget Hollywood crap.

    2) You can easily find them in the theaters, at Blockbuster, or through online shops.

    It's always bothered me that pirates consume the worst possible crap imaginable--just like real consumers. Look at the average pirate's multimedia collection and you'll find nothing but big budget Hollywood crap and porn.
    • cosmicr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17thats because we pay for the good stuff.
    • Nerys, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1hehehe thats funny cosmicr - sorry for the waste of a post but that was just too funny and so to the point to pass up
  • transform100, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Just look at these sites there is no way i would fall for that $hit we should DOS attack them to hell!
  • toddsayshi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Does anyone have any suggestions (precautions) on downloading (just tv shows) off of a university network?
    • djepik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Use uTorrent with encryption. Preferences > BitTorrent > Protocol Encryption > Forced. Also you may want to try peer guardian. I have no idea how well it works as I just started with it.

      I wasn't using encryption on a university network (I didn't know it existed) and I was fine for about 5 months, but then I downloaded something from torrentbox.com and I got a cease and desist order. My friend downloads twice the weekly limit on downloads every day (yes he downloads 14 times the weekly max every week) using encryption. He has not got a cease and desist order.
  • OneZeroZeroOne, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3It seems to me that if a copyright holder willfully places their copyrighted material on the internet and advertises it for download, that they have implicitly waived their rights to their own copyright. Even if the torrent actually links to fake content, advertising it as real should be enough to get you off the hook.

    I wonder how that'd hold up in court.
  • scabbers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3596701/Pans_Labyrinth

    It didn't report this one as fake, but maybe it only reports MPAA fakes and not just random troll fakes?
  • Wonderkind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Everyone seems so scared. Does anyone know what the odds are of actually getting caught or prosecuted?
    Seriously, NO one wants to be the one made an example of, but has anyone here actually been sued/fined?
    • djepik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I agree that the likelyhood of getting sued is reallllly low. But I was recently served a cease and desist order and my internet was disconnected for a week. Apparently they would have sent this out to anyone else downloading the same thing I was. So although I wasn't getting sued they certainly scared me.
    • KSava, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The only advice is to use private trackers only (that means no mininova for you), use Peer Guardian and use Encyption for outgoing connections.
  • Nerys, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It can never be criminal to download a fake torrent since either one its fake in which case you broke no laws or #2 its real and you STILL have not broken any laws since they WILLINGLY gave it to you IE its legal.
    • Chumbuh1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1so if an under cover cop offers you drugs, even though they're not real, and you accept them, then they're not going to arrest you?

      there are a million other posts saying that your statement is wrong
  • Raidenwolf, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Here is my idea of a new torrent client/server farm Called WorldWind. It would be a Linux distro that builds a server has to have 2 nics they work in promiscuous mode much like a snort box or an ids it would be setup inline to your firewall but contain no ip address. Anyway WorldWind minimum requirements would be 20 gig hard drive.1 gig for operating system 9 gig for the WorldWind stream 10 gig for users Sail (captured wind) The appliance must always stay on. It would have encryption and some new form of file system for the WorldWind network. Anyway using java on local console of appliance you would be able to upload files and choose files to download and set a crawler to look for future hits, also you would be required to vote on files downloaded for authenticity (Not crap).
    The cool thing would be you would never really seed When you upload a file first the title, size, and md5 checks get delivered to all servers (More likely just 25%) then the file quickly gets broken apart and distributed to many worldwind appliances in a random nature until it dissipated from your appliance after this happens the file encryption key is propagated on another 25% of servers and this file is now available to be downloaded by all others.(Who clicked on it earlier as a file of interest) I really think tracing may be crushed down to a minimum. the thing with torrent is 200 people have the entire file lets say 100 megs to share and they do combine upload but since they have entire unencrypted file they would be legally responsible for uploading that data (Trouble with RIAA). Worldwind on the other hand would always take that 100 megs and split it up hundreds and hundreds of times with encryption and distribute it to hundreds and hundreds of systems, remember their would be no choice 9 gigs always for the worldwind. On the download side you would have a database to search (Built into the 9 gig) that you can choose which file to download. Downloads proceed in a random order so if someone was merely capturing all your packets the file would still be a small amount of data moving inside a large stream (Once again making it hard to trace) Finally there are ways to customize the database so you only see what you want to see you can also vote on what Things should be classified (Kill all spammers and fake files that riaa would be trying to throw to the wind) as. Anyway just an idea I see tons of holes but not enough time to finish this out.
  • u16085, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3One Statement.... Private Trackers
  • Splitt3rxx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I get most of my movies from AxxO so i know they aren't fake torrents. this is a nice tool to have though.
    • Firehed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3What makes you think that the MPAA can't add "upped by AxxO" at the end of the title, or whatever? Stupid as they may be, they're not *that* stupid.
  • geekee, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3...or you could rent or buy the movies instead. You cheap bastards are ruining it for the rest of us. You're the reason why DRM exists.
  • Radiowar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8this story was planted by the RIAA trying to trap people into digging stories about trapping people into downloading fake torrents. this story is setup to collect IP addresses of all the 'diggers' who try to digg these stories about 'pirates' who try to download these files.
  • vadche, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2DAMN IT. who the hell stole my 2000th digg. This isn't cool anymore :(

    If only I was already logged in
  • broomett, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I is amazing that all of you are missing the obvious point. They are not necesarily going to get you for downloaing that fake torrent. (As of today, there have been ZERO lawsuits filed for people downloading files. Not one.) They ARE going to make a note that the person at IP is interested in pirating movies, and possibly specifically that movie.

    Then they monitor the other sites for that IP and see if they are sharing all other copyrighted material
  • Shinnokxz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1lots of thoughtful posting on this digg, guys. :)
  • Quadduc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I have downloaded and shared the movie "Elephants Dream" - didn't know doing that was illegal. I have been sharing several operating systems in the past too, like Debian, Knoppix, FC4, FC6... Who knows when I'll get a C&D letter...
    Seriously, how should I know if downloading/uploading a certain file via BitTorrent is illegal? I've seen sites hosting software for "downloading the latest in music and movies" without mentioning any legal issues at all.
  • finnor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0it sounds like most of you have gotten these letters for downloading movies, it seems (although im not positive) that they care a lot more about the film houses then the music industry. Are these letters being sent more recently? ive never heard of them. For those of you who have recieved one, did it say to stop or youll be prosecuted or was it more of a suggestion?
  • fenopy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Actually for the first post regarding "most good sites remove them anyhow is totally false. 60% of the files on the fake list existed on the majority of the sites, most of those sites have no method other than users commenting to even find the fakes which is why we have made this. For example, take practically ANY of the file names on the "popular fakes" list and search for those on ISOhunt.. I would guestimate 20% of the "most popular" items on ISOhunt happen to be fakes.
    Ever start downloading and get stuck at the last 5% remaining?? guess what guys, you were duped, that was a fake and those scumbag agencies that work for the copyrighters have just logged your IP. They do this because they get paid per IP they supply the MPAA, RIAA, or others, they really don't care if it was baiting you to get it. ALSO, just so you guys know, Fenopy indexes ONLY the big "quality" sites, for us to index these fakes in the first place means they still exists on your favorite sites. Most admins don't give a sh_t, they are too proud of their stats for indexing a ton of torrents regardless of the quality, at least we sort ours, we display only quality torrents on the search results, we mark fakes as fakes to allow users to stop the fakes they may already be downloading. Anyhow guys, we just want to clean up all the crap that everyone else is just ignoring. keep your eyes pealed for a new kind of tracker & client we will be releasing very soon with 100% real, 100% verified, 100% live seeded files.
  • Sioen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1this FakeFinder is sorta useful, I guess, for noobs. Yes, PeerGuardian is a necessity, and no, they can't "get you" at all yet. No successful litigation has happened, only settlements, so we don't know if any of their crap will stand up in court.

    But here's the key: If you are downloading a torrent from a tracker with a name you don't know and trust, you deserve to be "gotten." Actually, just stop downloading torrents and go buy the content in stores, you dumb piece of noob.

    Trusted membership sites (like FileList and TorrentLeech, etc.), PeerGuardian and just a little bit of common sense add up to waaaaay frigging smarter and more effective than the MPAA and RIAA could hope to be.
  • vwgtiturbo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yep, I got my first C&D two days after downloading Studio 8. It really freaked me out, as they had the file name, file size, etc. I never could figure out if they nailed me for downloading, or seeding... When I tried to contact them, and play dumb, I just got a canned response.
  • JungleMan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not to sound elitist, but make some friends and join a private torrent site. You'll never look back.

    Or simply purchase whatever it is you're trying to steal.
  • holochik, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0fakes has very little seeders ;)
    http://torrent-finder.com
  •  

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