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finknottle · Apr 11, 2004, 09:28 AM

Hi. Just looking for some opinions. With the risk that seems to be now involved in using regular p2p networks (I use limewire and share just over 40GB of mp3s), I was wondering what people think of these "Anonymous" file sharing networks and are they any good? I came across MUTE http://mute-net.sourceforge.net/ and it seems like a way forward to avoid getting prosecuted. There are other networks such as Freenet and GNUnet but I'm not sure these work in OSX.
Anybody got any experience with these networks? Or are there any other Mac friendly ones out there? How do they work? Are you really anonymous?

Thanks in advance!

ambush · Apr 11, 2004, 12:39 PM

Yes, the RIAA could easily get a ton of offending IP, but is your ISP going to give your identity?

I know mine would not, in fact they recently said no to the RIAA.
So I'm safe.

finknottle · Apr 12, 2004, 08:51 AM

That's true I guess. I live in Ireland and there is legislation pending in the EU which could make the situation much the same as the US. The Canadian ruling gives me some hope but still, knowing the way the Irish government tends to over react (i.e. smoking ban!), God knows what may happen.... and my ISP use to be government owned...
So I ask again, anybody got any experience with MUTE or any other software that would do the same thing?
Any suggestions appreciated!

mitchell_pgh · Apr 12, 2004, 09:17 AM

Comcast would hold their hands to my front door.

yukon · Apr 13, 2004, 07:06 PM

there's always freenet, but it's very slow and resource intensive. best to use the PeerGuardian database (minimal protection at least), a firewall, and avoid protocols which are the easiest to watch (BitTorrent, etc)

finknottle · Apr 13, 2004, 07:38 PM

Pardon my ignorance but what is the "PeerGuardian Database" ? and is Limwire one of those protocols that is easy watch?
Thanks very much for replying

ambush · Apr 13, 2004, 07:43 PM

Originally posted by finknottle:
Pardon my ignorance but what is the "PeerGuardian Database" ? and is Limwire one of those protocols that is easy watch?
Thanks very much for replying

LimeWire uses GNUtella, and yes it's VERY easy to catch offenders.

finknottle · Apr 13, 2004, 07:55 PM

I see. What would you recommend? (Aside from stop sharing which may have to happen)

ohm^n · Apr 14, 2004, 08:03 PM

I'd use PeerGuardian. There is an app called PeerVanguard which will add all the PeerGuardian addresses to your OS X firewall. *But* it also ends up blocking some websites. I think ubi.com was blocked for me... (you can flush your firewall rules using: 'sudo ipfw -f flush' in the terminal) Anyway, use it if you know what you're doing.... maybe get BrickHouse if you don't so that you can see the rules in a GUI or something..

And it's not true that your ISP will protect you in the USA. If they are issued a subpoena, by law, they are required to hand over information....

I don't know what penalties, if any, are incurred if they do not have the logs. The only difference now is that the RIAA must get a subpoena the 'normal way'.

All the protocols are easy to watch. They don't even verify that they can download actually... I think they are concentrating on KaZaA right now...

yukon · Apr 14, 2004, 10:19 PM

just search google for peerguardian. unfortunatly it can block legitimate sites, but most often, you'll find if you look, those who complain are being legitimatly blocked by peerguardian because of something their ISP does or something the website does to track users. Most notable are the media websites (universal, etc), and university systems which track or log user habits.

GENERAL_SMILEY · Apr 15, 2004, 05:19 AM

Mute looks good, but crashes after a few minutes, download rates are not bad though - for a brief few seconds.

No real selection, but if it works properly it will be cool.

sanity assassin · Apr 15, 2004, 01:13 PM

Originally posted by ohm^n:
I'd use PeerGuardian. There is an app called PeerVanguard which will add all the PeerGuardian addresses to your OS X firewall. *But* it also ends up blocking some websites. I think ubi.com was blocked for me... (you can flush your firewall rules using: 'sudo ipfw -f flush' in the terminal) Anyway, use it if you know what you're doing.... maybe get BrickHouse if you don't so that you can see the rules in a GUI or something..

I checked out peervanguard, but the database is pretty old, from last year. I've got peerguardian on the pc, works a treat, any ideas on if there's something else for the mac that has a more up to date database?

the_glassman · Oct 2, 2004, 07:50 PM

Anyone else using MUTE?
http://mute-net.sourceforge.net/

[APi]TheMan · Oct 3, 2004, 10:45 PM

Originally posted by the_glassman:
Anyone else using MUTE?
http://mute-net.sourceforge.net/

I just tried it... Either it was confused by my crappy network or there were no results for the search I did... I will try it when I am a little better-off network wise.

Is it workin' alright for you?

CaptainHaddock · Oct 4, 2004, 12:21 AM

"The only difference now is that the RIAA must get a subpoena the 'normal way'."

Which is very difficult, since copyright infringement is a civil matter. First the RIAA have to file separate cases against each John Doe, then present enough evidence for a judge to sign a subpoena, then figure out which ISP the IP address belongs to, and then cross their fingers and hope that 1. the ISP keeps detailed records of IP address assignment, and 2. the IP address isn't shared behind a NAT. For a while, they were trying to forge their own non-legal subpoenas under the DMCA, but a court ruled they couldn't do that.