Newbie Torrenting Question

[quercusnut]

Great info. Thanks. I think I'm pretty safe then. I only download/upload with Bitport and stream with Roku/Bitport channel. I delete the file after watching.
I know my phone is spying on me. But I'm pretty much a nobody with nothing much to hide. I use my phone for just about everything and rarely ever use my laptop. Should I be concerned about something I'm unaware of?
Thanks again.

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OK lets clarify some issues.

Roku is, as I understand it - a streaming service. Typically these use RTMP type protocols that are ONE WAY. There are no uploads involved. I beleive there is one streaming service that has tried to add P2P to its streaming service, and refer to it as some kind of community 'antenna'. But I dont think Roku is it.

P2P - Person-to-Person - protocol is just that. Its the basis of torrents, magnets, and related file sharing. It is TWO WAY, and will upload while downloading. (Some streaming *clients*, like Popcorn use it, so a VPN is essential with that. Sickbeard uses Usenet typically, so there are no uploads there. )

Now, P2P CLIENTS like uTorrent, qBittorrent, etc  can have their upload methods adjustable, so as to only upload (*seed*) so much, and then stop.  Some, like Vuze with addons, can be directed to not seed at all. The oroblem with P2P is that even if you are not actually uploading, by simply being identifiable in a swarm (without a VPN/Proxy) the corporations will assume you are also uploading (seeding), as that is how the software is normally configured.

Complicating matters is the fact that most P2P clients can be easily coaxed to yield up their list of downloaded torrents, unless deleted from the client.

Generally ISPs dont care to go through the trouble of packet sniffing to identify what you download. Its the MPAA cand the cottage industry of copyright nazis who will make a fuss, and typically can only make a complaint with the content torrented, and the IP address to the ISP who simply matches IP against its logs and sends you a pink slip. Or, the server of the VPN which will utterly ignore it, as it should ideally have no logs at all.

Bitport complicated the issue because it is essentially a seedbox. It acts like the client software, by taking supplied tracker/magnet (dht) info and handling all data downloaded from the swarm to its server, and from its servers to you. Any seeding would be done from ITS servers, and IT would be the recipient of thousands of MPAA complaints.

I do not know if your software has any control over ITS seeding, but that can be terminated by simply deleting the file.

If you stream directly from Bitcloud, there is no issue. If you torrent from it, it *should* act as a private tracker, and not put you into the swarm.  In any case your use of a VPN should protect you while downloading content.

That should provide you with anomymity from the copyright nazis, but actual privacy is a different matter.
Browsers are typically configured as spyware, and for those issues google :
disabling referrer
disabling geolocation
setting DNS
disabling IPV6

As to the phones I am a bit clueless as I hate them, keep them in a different room, and check my messages once a week, whether I need to or not. They are pure corporate spyware.

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"Browsers are typically configured as spyware, and for those issues google :
disabling referrer
disabling geolocation
setting DNS
disabling IPV6"

Another stupid question please? Do any of those issues matter if I'm using DuckDuckGo?

[dueda]

If you pay attention to the address bar in DuckDuckGo, you'll see the stuff you type in there converts to a web address (URL) in a two-step:

1) What you type (let's say "www.pirates-forum.org" becomes something like "www.pirates-forum.org/ref=1..." and this is more than DDG needs to find it. It's actually a way to report to DDG servers what you're doing...
2) Most tracking and monitoring is done on the sites you visit, not the search engine - So you don't need to care about the DDG watching, but the sites. So YES, it does mean a lot to avoid IPv6, WRTC, and other exploits, including mouse movement tracking.

[waregim]

Dueda is correct about search engines. DDG is fairly safe, but as a free service, it is somehow making money - and *you* are the product.

The stuff I was referring to have to do with *browser* issues. Avoid Chrome - its google and ergo spyware. forefox, Opera, Palemoon, etc have a bunch of nasty stuff enabled by default. They can be turned off or spoofed, and in that list I would include User Agent. There are usually extensions to handle them, but best metod is in about:config or the browser configuration file - if possible.

You want to spoof as much as possible THIS info:
http://www.whatsmyip.org/more-info-about-you/

Blocking tracking sites is also important. Best done with a combination of a minimum of three extensions:
Adblock Plus
Ghostery
NoScript (and/or uBlock Origin and/or uMatrix)

Now, also keep in mind that M$ actively spies on you. Windows *IS* is virus. And it phones home through its own built in VPN so site blockers are useless. Now, I have not been able to find anythng of real substance to block the telemetry as all the methods I have seen do not work when on *my* VPN.

One good place to START is
http://www.blackviper.com/
http://www.blackviper.com/windows-servic...g-modules/

IPSec is NOT needed by OpenVPN, and disabling it *might* disable telemetry. Turn it off and see if it affects your streaming/VPN services.
Update: I see *something* turned IPsec back on here. Disabled it. VPN, Tor, Psiphon, KMS - all seem to be working fine.

Mind you, what we are discussing here is NSA type privacy, not MPAA type anonymity.

The NSA hates the MPAA for driving so many people to VPNs.

There is also the issue of *HARDWARE privacy*, and all processors after 2006 are buggered with hidden crap in cores.
You might be safe if your BIOS will enable turning off the XD bit, however. There are some scripts that promise to disable those functions, but run the risk of bricking the machine. The issue with this stuff, is that whoever has the switch to it has the ability to shutdown your machine. Permanently. Until they see fit to turn it back on.

[quercusnut]

Thanks all, for all the great info.
I know there's spying all over the place and I'm resigned to the fact that a bunch of someones somewhere know pretty much everything I do online and probably off too. Like I mentioned previously I'm pretty much a poor nobody and don't have much to hide. Except some questionable torrenting.
As long as I don't get another DMCA email from my isp or get dropped by them I'm happy.
So. Who would be interested in tracking a little fish like me out of millions of others?

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Thanks all, for all the great info.
I know there's spying all over the place and I'm resigned to the fact that a bunch of someones somewhere know pretty much everything I do online and probably off too. Like I mentioned previously I'm pretty much a poor nobody and don't have much to hide. Except some questionable torrenting.
As long as I don't get another DMCA email from my isp or get dropped by them I'm happy.
So. Who would be interested in tracking a little fish like me out of millions of others?

edit:
To refresh. All my downloading is to Bitport cloud. Viewing on Roku/Bitport channel.

[waregim]

Your data, and metadata are big $$ for corporations who will often pay $10 or more for personal info and profiles.

Enough profiling they can use that data to screw you if they need to add proles for the upcoming gulags. Scummers can use the info to create IDs for illegals, and corps to barrage you with useless ads, share your medical info, deny bank accounts and flights - and eventually directly affect your 'social credit' scores.

My Win10 laptop is airgapped from my network, and has minimal security. I dont care if it is a honeypot, as I only use it for media, and have no personal info on it.

I have already had my PayPal account hacked, though I suspect it was at their end. It was a bank transaction, when I do not have a linked bank account! But they did have my userID - which suggests that something 'leaked'.

In other words its not just the Gestapo you need to be concerned about.

[quercusnut]

I don't doubt it. But they're going to get me in the gulag anyway even if I had no online presence at all. If things go on as they are. Appreciate the info.