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Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
http://www.x404.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=5590		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  pcernie [ Tue Jan 19, 2010 10:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.c ... d=3210515&

Quote:
Any file-sharing activity will be then be checked against a database of music and films.


Anybody know how that actually works? :?
Author:  JJW009 [ Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
pcernie wrote:
Anybody know how that actually works? :?

They inspect your packets.

They inspect your packets deeply.

Not sure how or if it copes with encryption though. Looking for a plain text mp3 header is one thing, but finding it in an encrypted RAR or in an encrypted bit torrent packet is quite another.
Author:  pcernie [ Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
JJW009 wrote:
pcernie wrote:
Anybody know how that actually works? :?

They inspect your packets.

They inspect your packets deeply.

Not sure how or if it copes with encryption though. Looking for a plain text mp3 header is one thing, but finding it in an encrypted RAR or in an encrypted bit torrent packet is quite another.


It's the last bit I was curious about, since I knew they were ways of 'masking' downloads and what have you... It'll be interesting to see what figures they come up with :oops:
Author:  finlay666 [ Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
Direct downloads ftw, it's faster than waiting for some people who don't want to share to upload

Especially when Virgin host Ubuntu ISOs themselves, full speed downloads ftw :D
Author:  paulzolo [ Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
And so the game of cat and mouse begins.
Author:  Nick [ Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
Don't most torrent clients encrypt when possible??

I'm pretty sure I've see an option in mine to only accept transfers from clients who support encryption.
Author:  finlay666 [ Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
Nick wrote:
Don't most torrent clients encrypt when possible??

I'm pretty sure I've see an option in mine to only accept transfers from clients who support encryption.

No

There is the option, but it has to be manually turned on
Author:  big_D [ Wed Jan 20, 2010 6:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
With torrenting, they probably just need the tracking cookie ID to find out what you are sharing.

Here, downloading isn't totally illegal, you shouldn't but given that people can share a "reasonable" number of copies with friends, it is a gray area.

The problem with torrenting is that you are sharing at the same time as downloading, which is illegal, because you can't generally limit the number of people who take bits of the file from your torrent.

The German equivalent of the RIAA used to set up dummy clients which would spy on which nodes were working on a torrent.
Author:  cloaked_wolf [ Wed Jan 20, 2010 6:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
So wait...let's say I'm downloading a multi-part rar file and it is password protected, would they be able to see what it is ?

(I'm not too concerned since I'm with another ISP).
Author:  big_D [ Wed Jan 20, 2010 7:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
cloaked_wolf wrote:
So wait...let's say I'm downloading a multi-part rar file and it is password protected, would they be able to see what it is ?

(I'm not too concerned since I'm with another ISP).

Yes and no... They'd probably know what the file is called / what the torrent is called... If the name is "Britney Spears' Greatest Hits", they will probably assume you are downloading something illegal... :lol:

Using cover names (E.g. sjdier.rar) might work for a while, but the powers that be will probably start downloading and checking such files as well. Likewise, source. If you are downloading from a known "source" of illegal content, then they will know that you are downloading something naughty.

They mustn't track every bit, they need to sniff enough packets to workout where it is coming from (known bad?) or what it is called (known bad?) etc.
Author:  HeatherKay [ Wed Jan 20, 2010 8:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
Oh goodie. Just as I become a VM customer.

:roll:

It'll be a laugh if they find anything suspicious on me. Richard Branson will get a right flea in his ear, I can tell you.
Author:  nvj1662 [ Wed Jan 20, 2010 1:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
HeatherKay wrote:
Oh goodie. Just as I become a VM customer.

:roll:

It'll be a laugh if they find anything suspicious on me. Richard Branson will get a right flea in his ear, I can tell you.


With the greatest respect to your good self Heather, do you really think he'd give a flying fig ?
Author:  HeatherKay [ Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:03 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Virgin Media starts monitoring customers' downloads
nvj1662 wrote:
With the greatest respect to your good self Heather, do you really think he'd give a flying fig ?


I don't know. He comes across as a decent sort. A very wealthy sort, admittedly.
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