Private Torrents and Safety

[BugTorrent]

I have been thinking about creating a private torrent for my friends and I to share files. On the surface it seems safe enough, as long as none of my friends are narcs, but probability says that the more people involved the higher risks. What are some potential risks that could arise from a private torrent?

[land_stander]

I have been thinking about creating a private torrent for my friends and I to share files. On the surface it seems safe enough, as long as none of my friends are narcs, but probability says that the more people involved the higher risks. What are some potential risks that could arise from a private torrent?

How large of a group? One risk is that a friend gets one of these random meaningless "we caught you" emails or letters and turns everyone in when they (or their spouse) starts to panic.

[stormium]

a private torrent has all the associated risks of a public torrent... it would just be harder to notice since the torrent would not be available publicly and anyone who would like to accuse you of sharing files would have to produce some type evidence. depending on where you live, that ability for a third party to bring charges against you would be very difficult without spying on your internet connection... which is usually illegal without a warrant.

the only downside of that is that if the torrent file ends up in their hands and they choose to care, there is no sense of privacy implied or otherwise on your part.

[kjf]

There really is no such thing as a "private" torrent.

You can set the private flag, but that just means you must use a traditional tracker to find peers. If that tracker is public, then anyone with the torrent file can find the swarm and start downloading.

Regardless, the metadata is still available to anyone with the torrent file.