Watch out! Direct Connect is not safe from agents!

**Jelsoft** · September 12th, 2003, 06:31 PM

Be careful which hub you connect to because one of those users on the hub might be an agent.

I suggest you read this post. A hub user got nailed by the ESA.

I got a certain letter in the mail today. It contained, among others, the following pages:

Intro
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5

So obviously, the ESA has fucked me over. I went back and checked my DC logs, and can confirm that the sneak was on swedenxp.mine.nu and never downloaded a single file or even a sharelist of mine. He must have gotten all the shit from simple search results.

Notice the cited files: N64 roms, with one PSX game. No mention of movies, music, or PC games, which comprise the vast majority of my share. But anyway, I probably won't be on DC for a while, if ever- sorry for all downloading at the time. My mother (who, naturally, flipped out) is ready to execute me if she ever finds my computer on overnight again.

My advice:

1. STAY AWAY FROM THE GIANT HUBS. YOU DONT KNOW WHO THE HELL IS OUT THERE.

2. EVEN ON THE SMALL HUBS, MAKE SURE THEY HAVE A DAMN GOOD ANTI-ANTI-PIRACY BOT.

3. WATCH YOUR FUCKING BACKS.

So what do you all think?

**Wolfie** · September 12th, 2003, 06:45 PM

He did not specify but I assume he was in a public hub.

**Explicit** · September 12th, 2003, 07:10 PM

The riaa is after direct connect too?:(

**Winphuk** · September 12th, 2003, 08:14 PM

Originally posted by Explicit
The riaa is after direct connect too?:(

No, this is a different entity. Software companies have been trolling everywhere.
The difference is that they mostly send cease and desist letters to ISPs rather than fish for your name, and take you straight to court like the RIAA is doing.

**Winphuk** · September 12th, 2003, 08:36 PM

I'm on Optimum online which is kind of scary.
I read the letter, and I'm glad that they are courteous, and suprisingly no RIAA busts yet *knocking on wood*.
They are in debt and they desperatley need their customers, so they can't afford to be assholes like, Time Warner, or Comcast.

**eivioolla** · September 12th, 2003, 10:28 PM

DC doesn't support hashing so without downloading the file, all they have is a file name , i.e. absolutely nothing...

Luckily our university hub is blocked from outsiders with several firewalls. :)

**shawners** · September 13th, 2003, 02:15 AM

i have a problem with trading video games. I see how long it takes to devolope and the mass of money that goes into production, and engineers. So i wont trade video games, or have to wrry too much about the ESA.
So in mean time mp3s are forever=)

**Malicious Intent** · September 13th, 2003, 02:25 AM

Great time for everyone to get paranoid - just as I apply for entry to the zeropaid hub...

**Evil_Dweller_01** · September 13th, 2003, 03:14 AM

Heh..I just stick to the zeropaid hub

If we have a nice population with a lot of files shared we can trade all we want...safely

**method** · September 13th, 2003, 03:21 AM

I thought BayTSP were hitting DC a while back already?!

**Winphuk** · September 13th, 2003, 04:55 AM

Originally posted by Malicious Intent
Great time for everyone to get paranoid - just as I apply for entry to the zeropaid hub...

This was a public hub, not a private one.

**jonnymnemonic** · September 13th, 2003, 05:09 AM

Even private DC hubs aren't totally safe. I mean, what kind of vetting procedure do they use: a thorough background investigation of each person? Do they visit your home? Do they go through all the effort the government does when issuing a top secret security clearance? (That costs around a hundred grand per person - I used to have a top secret clearance in the army.) And even THAT isn't secure as anyone can be compromised with enough incentive.

Just depends on how paranoid you are, and how you balance the risk versus the reward, whether you feel safe in any particular situation. But you cannot ever be TOTALLY safe. Even your best friend or your own mother might be compromizeable with enough incentive. (As you can see, I'm damn paranoid. Lol)

**Kyle06** · September 13th, 2003, 05:10 AM

Originally posted by Winphuk
This was a public hub, not a private one.

NO wronge

the hub is private.....

**Malicious Intent** · September 13th, 2003, 06:42 AM

I know that zeropaid is a private hub, but cpugenious may be concerned that i'm an agent after this report. And I didn't say that seriously.

**Wolfie** · September 13th, 2003, 08:24 AM

Originally posted by jonnymnemonic
Even private DC hubs aren't totally safe. I mean, what kind of vetting procedure do they use: a thorough background investigation of each person? Do they visit your home? Do they go through all the effort the government does when issuing a top secret security clearance? (That costs around a hundred grand per person - I used to have a top secret clearance in the army.) And even THAT isn't secure as anyone can be compromised with enough incentive.

Just depends on how paranoid you are, and how you balance the risk versus the reward, whether you feel safe in any particular situation. But you cannot ever be TOTALLY safe. Even your best friend or your own mother might be compromizeable with enough incentive. (As you can see, I'm damn paranoid. Lol)

If you go by that logic (which is to some extent true) waste and private news networks are not also completely safe. The way I look at it, nothing is 100% safe and anonymous on the internet (I know "some" ppl will jump throat about how completly safe thier application is but so be it, lol). To be completely safe you have disconnect your p2p software and go to the store. Otherwise just stick ones that there is less likely chances of getting caught and take your chances. If your are using p2p there always some element of risk, which differs according to what you are using.

NO wronge

the hub is private

Kyle, I thing winphuk meant the hub that the guy who caught by the ESA was public not the zp hub.