Researchers Expose Locations of Pirate Bay Uploaders
46 replies, posted
[quote]
Academic researchers have published information on the individuals and groups who upload torrent files to The Pirate Bay. The data reveals that most torrent files are first seeded from U.S. connections, with Comcast and Road Runner being the top Internet providers. The researchers also reveal the top 100 uploaders to The Pirate Bay along with their alleged whereabouts.
Privacy is in short supply on the Internet, especially on BitTorrent networks. Those who fail to take measures to hide their IP-addresses leave a prominent trail of information behind them.
Websites such as YouHaveDownloaded and MyPiracy have shown that it’s pretty easy to maintain a database of downloads connected to an IP address. But things can get even more scary, especially for those who publish torrents on sites such as The Pirate Bay.
A group of researchers from Universidad Carlos III and Institute IMDEA Networks in collaboration with other institutions are keeping a detailed log of those Pirate Bay users who upload torrents. Their main reason is to investigate the “fake torrent” phenomenon and to make the BitTorrent ecosystem more healthy.
To accomplish this the researchers track all files uploaded to The Pirate Bay and where possible record the IP-addresses of the initial seeders. In many cases these IP-addresses are associated with the person who uploaded the file to The Pirate Bay.
While the researchers have no intention of using the data for purposes other than research, it requires little imagination to see how copyright holders and law enforcement might use similar tactics to track down mass publishers of pirated content.
To show what information is available, the researchers have published a tool that allows everyone to lookup Pirate Bay users and see which seeder locations are associated with their account.
In addition they have published a chart of the top 100 most active uploaders during the past month, which is headed by the TvTeam, scenebalance and XxXRG user accounts. The top list might be handy for Pirate Bay users to see who the most prolific, uploaders are, per category if needed. For every uploader there are also some details on the related IP-addresses.
In some cases there are hundreds of IPs associated with a user, but there are also accounts that are linked to a single, or very few IP-addresses.
VTV’s uploads
In addition to “snooping” on individual users the data also give more insight into the geographical locations and Internet providers used by Pirate Bay uploaders.
Looking at the list of top countries we see that most of the initial seeders of torrent files published on The Pirate Bay come from the United States. Canada comes in second and the Netherlands, Australia, Great Britain, Sweden, Spain, Norway, France and Brazil complete the top 10.
As can be seen below, the U.S. also heads the list of the most used Internet providers.
Comcast, Road Runner and Verizon make up the top three. Also notable is the Dutch University of Tilburg, which is ranked 9th.
Top ISPs
Although no-one will be caught based on the data above, it is astonishing to see how much information can be gathered on Pirate Bay accounts and their associated IP-addresses.
Even when the connection to user accounts is disregarded, it is quite revealing that many BitTorrent users are appearing as initial seeders of torrent files from their residential connections, with all the associated risks.
Update: The researchers are working on updating the script, which may result in missing data in some instances.[/quote]
[url]http://torrentfreak.com/researchers-expose-location-of-pirate-bay-uploaders-120831/[/url]
[quote] But things can get even more scary, especially for those who publish torrents on sites such as The Pirate Bay.[/quote]
[quote]While the researchers have no intention of using the data for purposes other than research, it requires little imagination to see how copyright holders and law enforcement might use similar tactics to track down mass publishers of pirated content.[/quote]
[quote]In addition to “snooping” on individual users[/quote]
[quote]Although no-one will be caught based on the data above[/quote]
[quote]with all the associated risks.[/quote]
How about that spin?
Yeah it's spin that it's scary others can know your torrent info without you even finding out.
If you're uploading that is
[quote]Websites such as YouHaveDownloaded and MyPiracy have shown that it’s pretty easy to maintain a database of downloads connected to an IP address. But things can get even more scary, especially for those who publish torrents on sites such as The Pirate Bay.[/quote]
Yeah YouHaveDownloaded is a great example of using IP addresses to determine what a person has done.
Apparently I downloaded 12 volumes of shark documentaries and Johnny English.
Apparently I haven't downloaded anything :v:
Canada is second, I'm amazed.
I p much run a seed box in my laptop using my home connection because noone in my country gives a fuck and I have tons of bandwidth (I pay per month regardless of how much I use and have no caps). I've downloaded and seeded TONS of shit and never turn off seeding/uploading. MyPiracy only found the following:
- actually ima snip this don't ban me c: -
The first one isn't even accurate. I am disappoint.
Haha, no site has records of me. Being paranoid is finally paying off.
Dynamic IP
come at me law enforcement
[QUOTE=Zezibesh;37498052]Haha, no site has records of me. Being paranoid is finally paying off.[/QUOTE]
This site does now watch out they're coming for you!!
My Piracy thinks I'm clean.
That's funny. :v:
I would just like to remind everyone that admitting to piracy / warez is a ban-able offence c:
An IP address is the most vague ID of anyone. To use it in a course case would be ludicrous.
[QUOTE=Fish Muffin;37498247]I would just like to remind everyone that admitting to piracy / warez is a ban-able offence c:[/QUOTE]
It's cool, I only download Linux distros
[QUOTE=leontodd;37498316]An IP address is the most vague ID of anyone. To use it in a course case would be ludicrous.[/QUOTE]
They try anyways and they usually succeed.
[QUOTE=spekter;37498433]They try anyways and they usually succeed.[/QUOTE]
I thought (US at least) just passed something in the last year that said that IP Addresses cannot be used as a form of identification in a court of law.
According to these websites they don't have enough information about my IP adress to get anything out of it, what the fuck.
Wait, they're checking based on IP address?
lol
[QUOTE=Heigou;37498523]According to these websites they don't have enough information about my IP adress to get anything out of it, what the fuck.[/QUOTE]
Fuck now everyone's odd, insanely secret fetish is between them and these websites
Based on IP address?
Well I'm not even on a static IP adress.
And youhavedownloaded does not work for me.
[img]http://sadpanda.us/images/1186034-IVZYVHQ.jpg[/img]
Feels good man.
Is that from youhavedownloaded? The website says it will be back for me.
[editline]1st September 2012[/editline]
Nevermind, found it. Apparently I downloaded Night of the Living dead.
[QUOTE=meepugh;37498930]Is that from youhavedownloaded? The website says it will be back for me.
[editline]1st September 2012[/editline]
Nevermind, found it. Apparently I downloaded Night of the Living dead.[/QUOTE]
Mind sharing?, youhavedownloaded.com doesnt work for me either
[QUOTE=scorpinat;37499023]Mind sharing?, youhavedownloaded.com doesnt work for me either[/QUOTE]
mypiracy.net ? It says in the article the two sites, and seen as one of them doesn't work wouldn't it be logical to try the other having read the article?
youhavedownloaded doesn't work and mypiracy "does not track IP addresses from this country".
[QUOTE=Number-41;37498110]Dynamic IP
come at me law enforcement[/QUOTE]
Your ISP has plenty of logs about which customer had what IP during which period of time. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_data_retention"]Several EU countries[/url] have laws that force providers to keep these archives up "just in case", too, even if it's data from someone who's innocent. You can be caught any time, and anyone within the same Swarm as you can catch you red-handed while downloading something.
But as of now, this whole aspect is one big grey area because laws haven't caught up with internet-related innovations and problems yet. Lawyers try to make an extra buck by sending people scary letters, hoping they'll reply and confess something, because without that confession they can't do jack.
what if someone has a proxy and they download, they can't find that now can they
According to MyPiracy, I downloaded 17 copies of "All About Steve (2009)"
I have no clue what that is.
[t]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5483751/Photos/2012-09-02_0126.png[/t]
Must've been my sister, or be wrong, because I don't use torrents and have never seen that tv series.
[QUOTE=POLOPOZOZO;37498140]This site does now watch out they're coming for you!![/QUOTE]
Good luck I'm behind seven proxies
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