rujin
March 14th, 2005, 12:53 PM
Last Sunday, my internet connection went down. At first, this occurrence did not alarm me since my provider has been upgrading their infrastructure over the last couple week. My connection had gone down several times over the last couple Sundays. Later the same evening, the connection had not returned, so I decided to call Adelphia, my ISP, for a status. After holding for a longer time than usual, the technician requested my account information; and said “O, I see the problem…you have a block! Let me transfer you to the department that can resolve it.“ After a holding again, the next technician told me that he was part of level two. He proceeded to tell me that Adelphia placed a block on my account as a response to outside agency’s inquiry to file sharing on Adelphia’s IP. The technician continued by stating the Adelphia reserves the right to revoke Internet Access to customers who violate the TOSA. He graciously explained that Adelphia has a fiduciary duty to response to inquiries to avoid liability from the copyright holder. He alluded to Adelphia’s position outside the legal agreements set forth. Adelphia’s main concern relates to not what you downloads (excluding child pornography), yet what you upload.
The whole incident alarmed a great deal for several reasons. First, the situation has never occurred to me in eight years in the scene. There’s a first time for everything. Second, my computer knowledge is beyond the average user. My sensibilities kept me evolving; thus I often move from system to system as the watchdogs cramped down. My current file shares have been minimal, yet in fair regard to the P2P community. Third, my system had been recently re-formatted and wiped clean. This point left wondering if they erroneously tagged me.
My approach at this point involved asking the technician as many questions as possible. My questions were not your typical well what the hell is file sharing. Basically, I told him the allegation alarmed me a good deal. My concerns related to my privacy, false accusations, and future prevention from this reoccurrence. The technician told me not to worry that my internet would be re-instate within minutes; and my internet connectivity would not be irrupted again as long as I remove the alleged files and avoid any type of file sharing (the response sounded scripted). He mentioned that Adelphia will be sending me documentation in five business days with the extent of the allegations. He was not forthcoming on more information, yet I kept asking him questions for 30 minutes.
So I made a reference to his casual demeanor; and in short he mentioned that he reinstates 5 blocks a day; his service center has 103 technicians authorized for block removal; and Adelphia has two major call centers. Most infringers handle the block with ease blaming their kids for using Kaaza and are happy to be reinstated.
Now, I did the math; five a day for a five day work week multipled by the number of people working at the two centers; multiple by 4 weeks in a month; 5x5=25; 25 x103= 2575; 2 x 2575 = 5150; 4 x 5150 = 20,600 blocks. Later I did a search on this forum for Adelphia and found FOUR posts about blocks. Well, where the hell are these twenty thousand people a month. Hence, the reason for my post relates to warn file sharer and developers; these spiders bots are gaining momentum.
Back to my discussion with the technician, he mentioned several points. First, it was my responsibility to secure my network and computers under my household; and Adelphia could not recommend any protection other than removing file sharing programs, installing the latest M$crap security updates, and updating your anti-virus. He referred me to the TOSA. Second, he mentioned that it was an outside agency representing the copyright holders and not Adelphia flagging customers. Third, he said my account could have been flagged for music, films, or software. He was cordial, yet did not give me too many significant revelations. Finally, he said the documentation would address my questions where he could not make further comments.
Adelphia’s letter arrived five days later. It was your typical boiler plate with generic recommendations on safe internet usage. The highlights included several interesting points. According to the letter, my personal information has not been given to anyone. I assume this letter was a warning. But the letter’s language gave me the impression that they could change their policies at any time, which concerns me.
The letter includes a basic form letter from BayTSP stating the allegations and the discovery. It’s the standard form letter found on this forum. BayTSP flagged my IP for software on the eDonkey network. This letter had similar language to the Adelphia letter; the copyright right holder reserves the right to litigation. In short, it was a warning.
http://emuleplus.info/forum/index.php?showtopic=6802&hl=baytsp
http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=20686&highlight=adelphia
Now, the whole situation showed me that my lottery ticket finally paid in BayTSP’s favor (and their client). As mentioned, I performed a clean install on my system two days prior to my alleged tagging. In addition, the software was never downloaded to my computer. The allegation may only relate to a partial download. In fact, my queue had entries for less than 24 hours. BayTSP tag my IP; two days later they fired a correspondence to my ISP; six days later my ISP issued a block. The timeline is standard since the ISP must response in 7 days.
For this round, BayTSP has won since I do not intend to use the eDonkey network again. I thought my systems and tactics presented me as a minimum risk. I was complacent and WRONG. Protowall or Peergurdian were not installed on my system at the time. From now on, I plan to be agile, nibble, and read these security forums on a daily basis. I’ll only use a client that has a Security and Privacy related forums with the latest news.
Several questions and theories come to mind even though nothing is foolproof except disabling my internet connection. I want prevent other users on my network from drawing attention to the IP on registered under my account. I don’t think it’s possible with a traditional router, yet I need to throw the question out.
Could have the software activation scheme given my IP to the developer, which then retain BayTSP to find infringing evidence? This theory revolves around re-installing my system around the same time of the tagging; in addition my shares were not particular full at the time (buts that’s relative).
Could one manually release and reset the cable modem’s IP address? This point may help me avoid BayTSP when checking back with my IP in the future. The technician told me that I would have to disconnect the power from my cable modem for 8 hours before my IP lease expires. I would prefer changing it every week. The technician mentioned that Adelphia would still have log tracing IPs by lease date. Fine, I just want to avoid BayTSP from matching my IP in the future as a past offender.
Does anyone have more familiarity BayTSP spider bots like its flagging criteria? Does it incorporate new target systems? After a Google search, BayTSP has switch their focus to the eDonkey network; but targets FTP, IRC, and newsgroups as well. Links follows.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news2.php?ID=10763
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/21/SLEUTH.TMP
Does anyone have link recommendations for the latest BayTSP tactics and news? I wonder if anyone has started I-hate-BayTSP website.
Does anyone have any recommendation for privacy besides the standard boilerplate answers?
Protowall
Peergurdian
Disable partial share
Switch Ports
Anti-Virus
Remove all filesharing appz
How about creating folder loops in the share folder keep the bots busy? This suggestion comes from the Hotline days.
Does anybody have any file listings on legitimate file shares (shareware, politic debates, etc)? Just PM me with any ideas.
The whole incident alarmed a great deal for several reasons. First, the situation has never occurred to me in eight years in the scene. There’s a first time for everything. Second, my computer knowledge is beyond the average user. My sensibilities kept me evolving; thus I often move from system to system as the watchdogs cramped down. My current file shares have been minimal, yet in fair regard to the P2P community. Third, my system had been recently re-formatted and wiped clean. This point left wondering if they erroneously tagged me.
My approach at this point involved asking the technician as many questions as possible. My questions were not your typical well what the hell is file sharing. Basically, I told him the allegation alarmed me a good deal. My concerns related to my privacy, false accusations, and future prevention from this reoccurrence. The technician told me not to worry that my internet would be re-instate within minutes; and my internet connectivity would not be irrupted again as long as I remove the alleged files and avoid any type of file sharing (the response sounded scripted). He mentioned that Adelphia will be sending me documentation in five business days with the extent of the allegations. He was not forthcoming on more information, yet I kept asking him questions for 30 minutes.
So I made a reference to his casual demeanor; and in short he mentioned that he reinstates 5 blocks a day; his service center has 103 technicians authorized for block removal; and Adelphia has two major call centers. Most infringers handle the block with ease blaming their kids for using Kaaza and are happy to be reinstated.
Now, I did the math; five a day for a five day work week multipled by the number of people working at the two centers; multiple by 4 weeks in a month; 5x5=25; 25 x103= 2575; 2 x 2575 = 5150; 4 x 5150 = 20,600 blocks. Later I did a search on this forum for Adelphia and found FOUR posts about blocks. Well, where the hell are these twenty thousand people a month. Hence, the reason for my post relates to warn file sharer and developers; these spiders bots are gaining momentum.
Back to my discussion with the technician, he mentioned several points. First, it was my responsibility to secure my network and computers under my household; and Adelphia could not recommend any protection other than removing file sharing programs, installing the latest M$crap security updates, and updating your anti-virus. He referred me to the TOSA. Second, he mentioned that it was an outside agency representing the copyright holders and not Adelphia flagging customers. Third, he said my account could have been flagged for music, films, or software. He was cordial, yet did not give me too many significant revelations. Finally, he said the documentation would address my questions where he could not make further comments.
Adelphia’s letter arrived five days later. It was your typical boiler plate with generic recommendations on safe internet usage. The highlights included several interesting points. According to the letter, my personal information has not been given to anyone. I assume this letter was a warning. But the letter’s language gave me the impression that they could change their policies at any time, which concerns me.
The letter includes a basic form letter from BayTSP stating the allegations and the discovery. It’s the standard form letter found on this forum. BayTSP flagged my IP for software on the eDonkey network. This letter had similar language to the Adelphia letter; the copyright right holder reserves the right to litigation. In short, it was a warning.
http://emuleplus.info/forum/index.php?showtopic=6802&hl=baytsp
http://www.zeropaid.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=20686&highlight=adelphia
Now, the whole situation showed me that my lottery ticket finally paid in BayTSP’s favor (and their client). As mentioned, I performed a clean install on my system two days prior to my alleged tagging. In addition, the software was never downloaded to my computer. The allegation may only relate to a partial download. In fact, my queue had entries for less than 24 hours. BayTSP tag my IP; two days later they fired a correspondence to my ISP; six days later my ISP issued a block. The timeline is standard since the ISP must response in 7 days.
For this round, BayTSP has won since I do not intend to use the eDonkey network again. I thought my systems and tactics presented me as a minimum risk. I was complacent and WRONG. Protowall or Peergurdian were not installed on my system at the time. From now on, I plan to be agile, nibble, and read these security forums on a daily basis. I’ll only use a client that has a Security and Privacy related forums with the latest news.
Several questions and theories come to mind even though nothing is foolproof except disabling my internet connection. I want prevent other users on my network from drawing attention to the IP on registered under my account. I don’t think it’s possible with a traditional router, yet I need to throw the question out.
Could have the software activation scheme given my IP to the developer, which then retain BayTSP to find infringing evidence? This theory revolves around re-installing my system around the same time of the tagging; in addition my shares were not particular full at the time (buts that’s relative).
Could one manually release and reset the cable modem’s IP address? This point may help me avoid BayTSP when checking back with my IP in the future. The technician told me that I would have to disconnect the power from my cable modem for 8 hours before my IP lease expires. I would prefer changing it every week. The technician mentioned that Adelphia would still have log tracing IPs by lease date. Fine, I just want to avoid BayTSP from matching my IP in the future as a past offender.
Does anyone have more familiarity BayTSP spider bots like its flagging criteria? Does it incorporate new target systems? After a Google search, BayTSP has switch their focus to the eDonkey network; but targets FTP, IRC, and newsgroups as well. Links follows.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news2.php?ID=10763
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/21/SLEUTH.TMP
Does anyone have link recommendations for the latest BayTSP tactics and news? I wonder if anyone has started I-hate-BayTSP website.
Does anyone have any recommendation for privacy besides the standard boilerplate answers?
Protowall
Peergurdian
Disable partial share
Switch Ports
Anti-Virus
Remove all filesharing appz
How about creating folder loops in the share folder keep the bots busy? This suggestion comes from the Hotline days.
Does anybody have any file listings on legitimate file shares (shareware, politic debates, etc)? Just PM me with any ideas.