http://www.peerblock.com/PeerBlock lets you control who your computer "talks to" on the Internet. By selecting appropriate lists of "known bad" computers, you can block communication with advertising or spyware oriented servers, computers monitoring your p2p activities, computers which have been "hacked", even entire countries! They can't get in to your computer, and your computer won't try to send them anything either.
1. What IS PeerBlock?
The short version is: PeerBlock blocks "known bad" computers from accessing yours, and vice versa. Depending on the lists you have it set up to use, you can block governments, corporations, machines flagged for anti-p2p activites, even entire countries! Whether you're sharing files with Bittorrent or just surfing the web, PeerBlock can help protect you from the bad guys.
2. How does it do that?
An IP Address is like a telephone number, or a street address, for your computer - any time you connect to the Internet, your IP address is used to make that connection. If you go to "
www.google.com", your computer first translates this to an IP address (e.g. 66.102.1.104), then sends a request to that address for a web-page; when the
www.google.com computer receives this message, part of it contains your computer's IP address so that it knows how to send the web-page back to you.
PeerBlock is a type of program known as an "IP Filter". It lives way down deep inside the networking code on your computer - the stuff in Windows that actually makes/receives network connections for you - and inspects everything that flows past it. It looks at the IP address this network "packet" is coming from, and compares it against a list of "bad" ip-addresses; if it finds a match, it doesn't let that network packet make it through to the rest of your computer. It also looks at the IP address your network packets are going to, and does the same thing.
3. Where does it get these lists?
PeerBlock has a few default lists included, lists that are updated often so that they always contain the most up-to-date information. You can also specify other lists, for example many people enjoy using the lists provided by iblocklist.com. And you can create your own lists, too: either "known safe" ip addresses like websites you trust, your company's servers, or gaming servers to which you need to connect; or your own "bad" lists of people you want to block.
4. What lists should I use?
That depends on what you want to do with PeerBlock! Do you want to block Ads? Use the built-in "Ads" list. Are you in college and want to protect your doings from the campus Network Police? Use the built-in "Edu" list. Many more blocklists are available, we recommend those available at iblocklist.com.
5. What happened to the "Gov" list?
The old PG2 "Gov" list - which contained governmental IP addresses - was merged into the "P2P" (aka "Bluetack Level1") list a couple years ago and has been empty ever since. If you look at the old Gov list url with your browser, you can see it's contents . . . just one line saying that it's now empty. So by selecting the P2P list you'll still be just as safe as you were before.
Don't like it? Prefer to have the Gov list separate from the P2P list? You'll need to contact the folks who author the list, Bluetack. PeerBlock doesn't create or maintain any of these lists ourselves, we simply point you towards other peoples' creations.
6. Why is "Some Company or Site" Blocked?
The lists PeerBlock uses to determine what to block are not actually created by us . . . we simply block any IP addresses on the lists you tell PeerBlock to use. The most commonly used lists - including the P2P ("Bluetack Level1"), Advertising, Spyware, and Education lists we include as "default lists" - are authored by a group called Bluetack. So if you find that some website or company is being blocked by PeerBlock, we're not the ones to talk to about it.
Is the P2P list blocking Microsoft on you? Or the site you happen to host your personal website on? Well while we hate to pass the buck on things, we really have no control over this - you'll need to talk to whoever wrote that specific list, and ask them.
To figure out who you need to talk to, you should head over to iblocklist.com's Search page and enter the IP address in which you're interested. The search results page will include links to the various lists that contain this IP address, along with the ranges in each list that it's part of. Clicking the list's URL will take you to a description of that list, from where the Author Website link will take you to the website of whatever group maintains that list. They are the people you'll need to contact to ask why a particular IP address is on a list, or who'll you'll need to petition to get your own IP address removed.
7. Does this mean my P2P downloading is completely safe now?
Not necessarily. While many people do use IP Filtering software like PeerBlock to help "protect" themselves from being sued for copyright infringement, it is not 100% protection. In fact some people believe that using blocklists like this are completely useless. Others disagree, and believe that even if it's not 100% safe, it still lets them download files more safely. Sometimes they invoke the "Bear Principle": when running away from an angry bear you don't need to be faster than that bear . . . you only need to be faster than the guy next to you. However, as I seem to remember seeing on the old Peer Guardian site at one point:
The only way to be "safe" with P2P downloading is to not share copyrighted content!
PeerBlock is good at what it does - keeping your computer from "talking" with ip addresses on your configured blocklists. Everything else is up to those blocklists themselves. And heck, even if the blocklists provided 100% coverage of "bad" ip-addresses, and if blocklists were 100% proven to work, there could still be some bugs in the PeerBlock software that may prevent it from working correctly on your machine; we offer no guarantees that it works, and disclaim any and all responsibility for the consequences of your own actions online. If you're sharing copyrighted music/video files and get sued by the relevant organizations, it's not our fault. If you're stuck in a country with an oppressive government and are trying to get out your plans regarding the upcoming revolution, and those in power break down your door and haul you away, it's not our fault. If you're sharing some secret footage of Area 51 and the "Men in Black" come knocking on your door, it's not our fault!
If you choose to download copyrighted material from the Internet, be aware that you may be breaking the law.
While the odds are in your favor because of the vast numbers of downloads/downloaders, the only real way to be sure you don't get caught is not downloading.
You can extend those odds considerably if you use a
PROXY:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server (many proxies are free or at least offer some limited free service
http://proxy.org/ see also:
http://proxy.org/cgi_proxies.shtml ) Proxies can also be used to by pass ISP blocks on sites like TPB see eg; EIRCOM Block of TPB:
http://forum.suprbay.org/showthread.php?tid=84969VPN:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network (some VPN reviews:
http://bestvpnreviews.com/ Keep in mind some of these providers come and go and service with them may not be the best) or use a
SEEDBOX:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seedbox (some seedbox reviews
http://filesharefreak.com/2009/05/19/11-...-torrents/ and
http://filesharefreak.com/2010/03/17/12-...-torrents/ Again, keep in mind some of these providers tend come and go)
You should also note that any re-routing of your traffic to avoid detection (proxy or VPN etc) will probably cause a slow down in torrent speed.
Some would also say you can extend your odds of not getting caught by not chasing after the newest or pre releases.
5 Ways To Download Torrents Anonymously:
http://torrentfreak.com/5-ways-to-downlo...ly-100819/A seed box is essentially a computer (server) in the cloud from which you seed (upload) torrents and to which you download torrents.
The cloud computer's is the IP which the world sees. Any complaints/threats would be sent to the cloud computer's owner who, if a reputable seedbox owner, would ignore them or file them in an appropriate place.
You can move files between that cloud machine and yours, but when you do it's a private connection, unexposed to others. The data to and from that machine is not in torrent form so even if your ISP screws with torrents, it won't affect you.
In my opinion a VPN is the best way to go. I've had no problems with my ISP, infringement, or anything else for that matter. While connected all my data is encrypted(128-bit or 256-bit SSL). Download speeds are good and unlimited. I do see a slight, yet tolerable reduction in speed due to the fact that the server I chose to connect to is half way around the world from me. I am charged by the month rather than the actual data usage as some do. I even use it on my iPhone at times.
I recommend anyone concerned with ISP, infringement, or IP address issues find a VPN and protect yourself. It's a small price to pay to stay out of trouble.
The one I use is here
https://www.goldenfrog.com/vyprvpn. Do some research and find one that works for you and use it.
