Dear Lifehacker,
My favorite private BitTorrent tracker, Demonoid, has apparently gone down
for good. I was so dependent on it for its quality, security from viruses, and
protection from prying eyes. Where can I torrent safely now that Demonoid is
gone?
Sincerely,
Lost and Leeching
Dear Lost,
This is an interesting question, and the answer is going to go in
directions you may not have expected. First, we need to clear up a few common
misconceptions, about BitTorrent and about Demonoid specifically. We've already
recommended more secure ways to share files online—like the much safer Usenet
(set it up in three easy steps here) or the truly private BitTorrent trackers—so
I won't get into that here. The main thing you need to know is that Demonoid,
while a fine site, was likely not nearly as safe and anonymous as you probably
thought.
In fact, many common BitTorrent "safety" precautions aren't really doing
you any good.
Demonoid Was Not a Private Tracker
The Problem: Demonoid was often perceived as great because it was
considered a private tracker. You could only download torrents on Demonoid if
you had an account, and you couldn't just sign up for an account anytime you
wanted. You either needed to get invited by another user, or wait for one of
their limited "open signup" periods.
However, Demonoid invites were incredibly easy to come by, and open signups
were held often, meaning virtually anyone could join the community. They had few
rules on who was allowed to participate, what kind of quality was allowed, and
they'd even sometimes list torrents from other trackers. All of these things
together gave a false sense of security, when in reality anyone could come on in
and seed viruses, leech without seeding, or—in the cases of those pirating
content—track what you were downloading (potentially resulting in a letter to
your ISP).
The Solution: If you want faster, high quality downloads with strict
community rules, check out our guide to private trackers for suggestions. Note
that they'll be much harder to get into, so you'll have to be patient and ready
to seed your torrents 24/7.
Encryption and PeerBlock Do Not Protect You from Prying Eyes
The Problem: Many BitTorrent users, in an effort to hide their activity
from media companies, the government, hackers, or other organizations, encrypt
their traffic and use a program called PeerBlock to block known snoopers from
connecting to you. Unfortunately, neither of these solutions can truly hide you.
PeerBlock can't possibly know everyone that could try to snoop your traffic, and
is only going to give you a false sense of security. Many users have gotten
"caught" torrenting while using PeerBlock. Similarly, while encryption used to
protect you from ISP throttling, ISPs have found other means of snooping on your
traffic.
The Solution: There's no harm in using encryption and PeerBlock, but they
aren't enough to keep your traffic hidden. If you really want to keep other
people out of your business, you'll need to use a proxy like BTGuard, a VPN like
one of these, or other similar methods. And yes, you'll probably have to pay
money for these services, so if you're looking for free solutions, you're mostly
out of luck.
Not All VPNs Are Created Equal
The Problem: Lastly, some people go to sign up for a proxy of VPN
service—which is good—but sign up for one that doesn't take privacy
seriously—which is bad. Many VPN services, like the very popular HideMyAss, keep
logs of all your activity and will gladly offer it up to those that ask for it.
This means your data is barely safer than if you had foregone the VPN in the
first place.
The Solution: If you want to use a proxy or VPN, do your research and find
out how committed they are to privacy. Make sure they don't keep logs, and see
what their policy is on sharing information with third parties. TorrentFreak has
a great guide to finding a committed VPN provider, so I recommend starting there
if you're looking to anonymize your traffic.
Obviously, the best way to avoid getting in trouble is not to pirate, and
the best way to get high quality content is to go to the original, physical
source (if possible). But unfortunately, BitTorrent is under so much heat that
even legitimate BitTorrent users need to take precautions to avoid throttling,
viruses, and other problems, and the above suggestions should help you do that.
While Demonoid was a better site than most public trackers, it was not the Holy
Grail of BitTorrent trackers by any means, and you should take this time to make
sure you're really being safe.
