author: programming

How to hide ip: Do Not Use Tor Servers with BitTorrent

Posted: 11 May 2011 04:28 AM PDT

Disturbing news regarding the “bombardment” of Tor servers with DMCA notices were published by TorrentFreak.com last week. The news is important as may lead (at some point) to the service shut down.

As you probably know, Tor is a network of servers that can be used by those who wish to browse the Internet anonymously and uncensored. The service can be also used to anonymize and hide BitTorrent downloads. Unfortunately, the result is that the servers are bombarded with DMCA notices, which in some cases may lead to them being disconnected.

For those that want to be protected while downloading with BitTorrent there are plenty of solutions, like VPN services and proxies. The benefit of such services is that they allow users to browse and download anonymously at full speeds. The downside is that users have to pay a monthly fee (usually between $5 and $15) for these premium services.

In order to avoid this fee, many BitTorrent users anonymize their traffic with Tor. This is the big problem. Although one BitTorrent user taking this option is unlikely to prove problematic, a few thousand can cause some serious damage. Tor servers are also being monitored and notified by copyright holders (the DMCA notices) for facilitating "infringing" transfers.

The conclusion is that those who value anti-censorship tools should not abuse Tor by running their BitTorrent traffic over it. Aside from the fact that torrent traffic slows down the network, the massive amount of DMCA notices may lead to servers being disconnected and, finally, Tor would no longer be available to the people who it was built for.

Post from: How to hide ip

Do Not Use Tor Servers with BitTorrent