"Peerblock + P2P (default list)" blocking IPs while downloading a Bittorrent Bundle

[Karolus.Magnus]

While downloading this torrent from Mandonna's Bittorrent Bundle (with uTorrent):

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:AA6F189AE75B0470EA2BA3B27D9D04A9B116BDBB&dn=BitTorrent-Madonna-Revolution-Unlocked&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.publicbt.com%3a80%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3a80%2fannounce&ws=http%3a%2f%2fapps.bittorrent.com%2ftorrents%2ftorrentdata%2f

Peerblock blocks two IPs via HTTP:

208.111.128.6
208.111.128.7

Both belong to "Limelight Networks, Inc." (according Peerblock's default P2P list)

If I stop this torrent, these both IPs don't appear anymore. If I resume it, it starts again to block them.

A funny thing is that downloading the Bittorrent Bundle from Moby doesn't block anything:

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:C3D646E3A55DC8AE3A1974D27A76DE33B3EB040A&dn=Moby%20-%20Innocents&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.publicbt.com%3a80%2fannounce&tr=udp%3a%2f%2ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3a80%2fannounce&ws=http%3a%2f%2fs3.amazonaws.com%2fcontent-bundles%2fproduction-df0ec56d-0fbb-bc2c-11e7-354ff3af9c4e%2f84333e8e83c78a2011bc72b6256bebf149da5713fb447ee5dd261ad435674553%2foriginals%2f

I'm baffled...

[kjf]

Which is a great example of why Peerblock doesn't actually do anything useful.

Take it as a sign it is time to get rid of it.

[Karolus.Magnus]

Which is a great example of why Peerblock doesn't actually do anything useful.

Take it as a sign it is time to get rid of it.

Perhaps... But, I'm really unsure why this is happening... you could say I'm worried

[kjf]

Take a look at the torrent file itself. Notice how it has apps.bittorrent.com listed as an HTTP seed as one of the sources. Guess what happens when you do a NS lookup on that host name?

Code:

apps.bittorrent.com.       IN   CNAME   bittorrent.vo.llnwd.net.
bittorrent.vo.llnwd.net.   IN   A       208.111.168.7
bittorrent.vo.llnwd.net.   IN   A       208.111.168.6

So, there you have it.


You can keep using it if it makes you feel better, but it is false security.

[Carjacker]

I absolutely agree with kjf.
Peerblock - and the old Peer Guardian - , as well as any IP block lists, are useless from a security standpoint, as most often they block legitimate addresses that may actually help with download speed - by connecting to more peers.
Blocking Corporate addresses of suspect Companies is also useless as those addresses are almost never involved in gathering IPs from pirate torrenters. They use actual residential class IPs to bypass such block lists.
Those block lists and programs were good when torrenting required a 'central' hub (ie., 'server' like Napster) for connections in order to be passed to a swarm.
Since modern 'pirate' torrenting is based on 'server-less' P2P, the trackers (and DHT) can be queried by those looking for IPs connected to watched content and get your address without ever needing to connect to you.

[System Folder]

I used to use a blacklist, but I switched to a VPN. Now my downloads go faster, and they are more secure.

[Aaron.Walkhouse]

Don't listen to the anti-blocklist naysayers. They literally have no experience or knowlege in that area,
and are simply repeating these myths and misconceptions as their own opinions.

They do work against literally thousands of anti-P2P IP addresses that naysayers don't know about,
the vast majority of the copyright trolls depend on actually downloading parts of a file before they can start harassing you,
the ones that simply send complaints based on only seeing your IP address have no power or authority to harass you any further,
and the few addresses you saw being blocked (because they were commercial entities, tracking you, apparently) didn't stop or even slow your download.

[Carjacker]

Don't listen to the anti-blocklist naysayers. They literally have no experience or knowlege in that area,

and are simply repeating these myths and misconceptions as their own opinions.

They do work against literally thousands of anti-P2P IP addresses that naysayers don't know about,
the vast majority of the copyright trolls depend on actually downloading parts of a file before they can start harassing you,
the ones that simply send complaints based on only seeing your IP address have no power or authority to harass you any further,
and the few addresses you saw being blocked (because they were commercial entities, tracking you, apparently) didn't stop or even slow your download.

LOL -
Try again. Methinks it is you who knows nothing on how the bittorrent protocol works or how these companies gather IPs and other network data.
I'd also say that you actually know nothing about how queries (code) work to gather IPs from trackers or DHT without the need for them to connect to any particular IP, plus the fact that for years copyright bulldog companies use residential IPs to bypass any IP block lists - example, you gonna block all of Comcast/Time Warner/Verizon etc. IPs ? Good luck on that.
You think that you have to actually have physical data in order for them to come after you? Being connected and having your IP tagged to any particular file, whether you are actually downloading or not, is cause enough for, simply put, Probable Cause to file against you for just the act of being connected to a watched torrent. It is behavior analysis and 'assumption' at it's worst when dealing with these companies. TBH, though, if you are connected to a torrent, do you think that they or the courts are going to just give you the benefit of the doubt that you was just 'browsing' without downloading? You're a fool if you think otherwise.
Plus, your ISP can give them data on your download/uploads stats at any time stamp and from/to any 'location' they desire.
 Let me put a post I made on another site to further this debate:

IMO, I think to much over-thinking and paranoia has taken hold on what constitues an 'anti' p2p tracker...I mean, really, what is an anti p2p tracker ? What does it do and how do you think it is more of a threat than,lets say, the MPAA/RIAA just querying the trackers/DHT themselves? It would be wholly inefficient and time wasting to to wait for people to connect to their custom-built tracker, grab their IPs, SNORT/Wireshark their data stream by IP, then maintain a list for future ISP letters...wholly inefficient.
 Not only are they going to miss millions of potential violators, but the overhead to then parse and collate the information will be overwhelming. Trackers only bring together swarms for better torrent piece management, even if they use an anti p2p line or are anti p2p themselves, it does nothing to hurt your swarm connections (in theory), as all they are doing is collecting information,not cutting off your service.
 So, in the end, what does it matter if they are anti p2p? If it is a stable tracker, and you are using the available precautions of a VPN/Proxy or w/e, why not use them as a tracker? For one, you will know they are more stable and liable to be active than some joe-shmoe website just collecting data for a thesis,lets say. We are here to download and seed, if it makes a better swarm, then I say use it. Good luck to you all.

[Hary1946]

They do work against literally thousands of anti-P2P IP addresses

You got that right.

By blocking your access to hundreds of millions of IP addresses they do, by coincidence, protect you from thousands of anti-p2p ip addresses.

Of course they don't protect you from all anti-p2p IP addresses (as they are careful to point out in their fine print) and it only takes one to catch you.

And blocking your access to so many legitimate peers slows down your downloads, extends the length of time you're exposed, and increases your risk.

[Aaron.Walkhouse]

Wrong on several of your points, guys.  Go back to the Myths and Misconceptions page to see the many mistakes people make about this topic.


It doesn't block access to "so many" legitimate peers because we know where the residential ISPs are and don't block their ranges.  There was
a time when one of those troll operations used one residential ISP but they quit doing that while being observed by a university researcher. 
There also was a crooked lawyer who used his own PCs [and of his employees] to seed, track and then try to "invoice" possible victims
but he was easily caught by TPB and activists and ended up getting into big problems with the judges.  

Blocking access to many thousands of AP2P servers [and the millions of IP addresses they try to hide behind] actually increases your performance
by filtering out their traffic.  There were times some of them actually tried mass denial attacks against all forms of P2P [including torrents] but
wide blocking of the ranges they used made those attacks uneconomical to the point where they all gave up.

Being protected from most of them is a lot better than being totally unprotected.  People using blocklists wisely never get anything more than a
toothless complaint and even those become quite  rare.  The only ones that "catch you" are the ones that do nothing about it beyond a complaint.


And Carjacker, who is more qualified to talk to this topic than the guy who participated in P2P development from it's early days in the Nineties
and was actively [if quietly] defending the whole P2P community ever since? 

Some 20-odd million people have apparently made their choice and I haven't been hearing any complaints from them over the past decade or so.