Comments on: Why You Shouldn’t Run BitTorrent Over Tor

By: Why for not

Why for not — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:57:56 +0000

Personally what led me to TOR was partially the fact that I do download Torrents. I mainly hate the fact that I have to share any info (the amount shared and stored I only realized is now staggering) with anyone directly so I wished to solve that and TOR solved it on so many levels. I must say why not package with Privoxy preset for TOR Usage though?
For me I Torrent to a small degree. Most movies I buy but wait till they are far cheaper than they start off. There is so much info and other materials that I would wish to torrent other than simply the newest movie. As for pirating, look at the profit stats (let alone what the players make) on any new release and tell me that pirating is such an issue to really bother to discuss it as an issue.
As to Torrent downloading, I believe many have said it, add in a program that allows torrenting but with band with caps that work in conjunction with what the person is willing to provide. Kind of a credit for credit idea. You would get a ton more users that would widen your nodes and certainly a large number of exit nodes to use in that as well. Added in with the fact if it’s packaged with the TOR stuff it can be tweeked to better work on the system and give better anonymity to users. I understand the bandwidth usage and myself, if I do use for torrenting which looks like I may not for all the headaches I am finding, will be limiting my usage and thus will be providing bandwidth for everyone’s use and getting a bit of something back for myself…better anonymity.
As it stands if I cannot use it as such I will simply wipe it off my comp. I don’t mind helping out but I have enough in running what I do and keeping up with everything that between the money I spend on my bandwidth and running my comp 24/7 and added things to run and cause issues….well just isn’t worth my while. In the fact that I see only in the thousands of users on after this program has been out for so long tells me that it has limited interest for a reason.
You can tell me great get lost but the fact that millions use torrents daily you are missing on the final idea of anonymity let alone the chance to actually add bandwidth to your usage.

By: justposted

justposted — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 15:10:43 +0000

I know this is an old page, but it comes up high on a google for Tor + BBC so hopefully is still worth commenting on.

Can anyone tell me whether a paid for service like VPN4All is a more ethically acceptable way to access, say, BBC iPlayer? Do the exit nodes get paid?

For the record, I’ve got about 30 years of paying the BBC license fee under my belt, but I’m abroad at the moment. No moral dilemma accessing iPlayer for me!

By: :|

:| — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:19:49 +0000

I’m sorry, but you CAN expect them to know what they are doing. You don’t need to be a brain surgeon to know that if you are using a high-traffic protocol like bittorrent over tor then you are going to use a substantial amount of bandwidth.

It shouldn’t need pointing out! But I do agree that it should be in the docs.

By: jez

jez — Mon, 31 May 2010 07:40:46 +0000

I found this when searching for “how to configure vuze with tor”.

It makes sense to only use Tor for the trackers and then let the existing direct nature of p2p be safe enough, however like the people from France, here in the UK we now have a law that forces your ISP to take measures against any kind of p2p. There is no details of what techniques they will use or how they will identify copyright material, but whether technically possible on such a scale or not, there are those in the large ISPs and Government who want to see DPI.

At that point running all p2p over TOR will be necessary.

TOR installation docs need to tell you to run TOR as an exit node if you BT. Increase the users sharing bandwidth, since you cannot expect them to know what they are doing if they never saw this article.

By: gicxjo

gicxjo — Sun, 30 May 2010 15:19:56 +0000

I have just checked, and the default in tor is to reject those ports you suggested (at least in Archlinux, which in principle should be like the vanilla).
I wonder if we could set up a “tor” network (call it e.g. “bor”) which would be completely separated from the real tor network, and be intended for more banal uses, in particular P2P sharing.
I guess, also, that this could be like having certain people agreeing on accepting a given range of ports which should only be used for P2P sharing or similar. Suppose every P2P user who wants to use tor opens an exit relay which accepts ports 6881-6999. This would increase the whole tor network while not perturbing those who by default reject these ports. That even sounds benefficial for the network! Or not?
Great article, thanks!

By: btlaunchmanycurses and tor

btlaunchmanycurses and tor — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:06:29 +0000

[...] Originally Posted by eteck Yeah no shit. But I want to I already knew you wouldn’t understand. In this order please carefully read: http://www.torproject.org/faq-abuse.html http://www.chrisbrunner.com/?p=119 http://www.joselise.com/wp/2006/07/2…nd-bittorrent/ http://www.hermann-uwe.de/blog/howto…-some-pitfalls <- especially this one http://azureus.sourceforge.net/doc/A…/howto_0.5.htm and maybe: http://torrentfreak.com/free-anonymo…linder-090611/ http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-h…ia-tor-090725/ http://www.i2p2.de/ for possible alternatives. I hope these shows you it ain’t worth it for various reasons. And if you need a snack after all of that maybe see http://arxiv4.library.cornell.edu/pdf/1004.1267v1. [...]

By: Slicehost: Setting up a Tor relay on Fedora to help keep Iran connected #IranElection | Tequila Fish

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:39:22 +0000

[...] References: http://www.torproject.org/faq.html.en#ExitPolicies – Exit Policies in Tor https://www.torproject.org/eff/tor-dmca-response.html – DCMA Response Template http://www.orient-lodge.com/node/3622?dsq=11687593 – A Slicehost user who also received a DCMA notice http://www.chrisbrunner.com/?p=119 – Why You Shouldn’t Run BitTorrent Over Tor [...]

By: Pat

Pat — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:22:05 +0000

What, if a torrent user provides an exit node as well?
Wouldn’t (most of) his torrent traffic go over his own exit node?
Sure, the degree of anonymization would drop to “credible deniability”, but that would be enough against most law enforcement.
If one can claim, that a specific torrent traffic might be initiated by someone else it might be anonymous enough.

By: Nick Russell

Nick Russell — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:26:03 +0000

The fastest way to speed Tor adoption is to embrace those services 1) people are using most and 2) most require anonymity for. As the privacy war goes on, BT is going to be a constant target… the faster BT is moved into Tor, the larger the Tor network will become.

The same with Skype… basically, look at any service that is restricted somewhere, somehow by someone and that is a market for Tor…

Web browsing: Chinese authorities
Skype: Mobile phone providers
BT: ISPs

It would be great if you could configure Skype to use Tor and in kind, Skype would donate a portion of SkypeOut credit used over Tor to the development of Tor. Yes, Skype already encypts data but now this would add location… however it would require more nodes and some level of QOS in the software, hence the need for development fees.

By: question

question — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:32:06 +0000

“Transmission with built-in ip filter. And route tracker announces and scrapes through tor-network.”

i read this somewhere else, and i was wondering a couple of things.
1. does this strain the tor network?
2. is it actually any good to protect yourself from anti-piracy agencies?
3. how does one set the tracker to go through tor?

By: Big Daddy

Big Daddy — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:57:45 +0000

There could be legitimate reasons (for whatever definition of that you chose) to want to run BitTorrent through tor. I wholeheartedly agree it’s a waste of tor’s resources to use it for things that don’t require it, but I’m not entirely convinced blocking it outright is a good solution.

By: j

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:24:30 +0000

Thanks for this! I had set up a Tor Relay to assist with the situation in Iran, but I got a DCMA takedown notice a few days after setting it up. I have entered your suggested ExitPolicy settings. How do I know if they are actually working and blocking BitTorrent?

By: Nobody

Nobody — Sun, 10 May 2009 08:08:34 +0000

Anyone runnin bittorrent over tor should be taken out back and shot. There are hundreds of faster and more anonymous ways to get torrents than through tor. Die anyone downloading torrents over tor, die!!

By: frenchie

frenchie — Sat, 09 May 2009 12:33:05 +0000

I agree, the future french law will allow a private organization (HADOPI) to cut Internet access to people downloading protected files. No judge, no proof of illegal sharing/downloading, only an IP found on a tracker.
If I use Tor only to change my IP on the tracker, what’s wrong? Do I overload the Tor network?

On my Linux OS, when I run Tork (KDE guy for Tor), and I start KTorrent (KDE Bitorrent client), my Tor IP appears on the tracker. It’s the way it’s works.

As long as HADOPI does’nt look for more than an IP on a tracker, I think I’m protected.

By: Zaf

Zaf — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:43:23 +0000

My country is currently trying to pass a law that will basically allow some kind of higher authority to check everything you get from the internet.
Anyway, whil I’m not too worried yet, I keep myself aware of what my solutions maybe. This article enlightened me on some things however you link to another article that seems to have disappeared:

“Besides, if you want to download files from a torrent, there are much more efficient and much faster ways of doing it. See this article for example. Using Tor for your BitTorrent download will undoubtedly take much longer than any other method around.”

I would very much like to read this as well, can you put the article back online ?
Thanks

By: bob bob bob

bob bob bob — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:46:57 +0000

The problems with tor are:
(1) It is really slow
(2) Just running tor makes you a target
(3) there are not enough relays & exit nodes to make it truly anonymous.

So since I don’t seriously need strong anonymity I don’t run it. However I do support the aims of the project. It seems to me that more people want to pirate movies than are dissidents then since pirate downloads also want privacy then surely the pirates can be used to build a fast and truly anonymous network. Someone needs to build a bit torrent client which automatically acts as an exit node and where bit torrent trackers can be run as tor hidden services preventing people running trackers from being arrested.

The motivation to get free movies and music builds the network and people who really need privacy such as political dissidents get a faster and bigger load of traffic to hide in.

By: A passing stranger

A passing stranger — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:27:52 +0000

I disagree with your blog. Just because some people use torrent clients with TOR to download huge files it doesn’t mean you should block all torrent traffic. Why not encourage people to use TOR – AND run an exit node.
That way everyone’s a winner.
TOR get another exit, the torrent lover doesn’t get a nasty fine, and they might tell their friends to do the same.

Data is data – just because it’s a bit bigger it doesn’t make it wrong.
If you take bandwidth, give more back and help TOR grow.
Simple.

By: Anonymous coward

Anonymous coward — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:58:53 +0000

[...]It is, in theory, possible to slow down the abuse of Tor by configuring your BitTorrent client to block traffic that’s going to or from Tor exit nodes.[...]

—

I’d like you to consider dumping Tor Exitnode list https://check.torproject.org/cgi-bin/TorBulkExitList.py?ip=0.0.0.1

And transforming it into peerguardian etc readible form.
That way you can use it with your bittorrent client.

By: ExitNode

ExitNode — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:12:05 +0000

Provide a way to run Bittorrent through the blockers of countries that prevent legitimate usage. Also, the ISP’s in the USA that flag your use of bittorrent even if it is to download Linux. TOR is the answer.

By: Anonymous BitTorrent « Bolzano2910’s Weblog

Anonymous BitTorrent « Bolzano2910’s Weblog — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:11:24 +0000

[...] Mentioned previously, it is possible to configure BitTorrent traffic over the Tor network. It’s not a recommended alternative to anonymous BitTorrent, however, it does work. This causes a strain on the entire Tor network and all users that share it. Here’s an article that explains why it shouldn’t be practiced. [...]