You’re not alone when it comes to file sharing download sites (i.e. games, movies, music, etc.) and the risk involved. You need to know some of the crucial facts and information pertaining to file sharing networks.
P2P File sharing is in some ways very controversial. The controversy lies in the fact that it can be used illegally, although the application itself has been ruled legal in a court of law. Breaking the law of copyrighted material consist of the way inch a P2P software program downloads or shares.
Put it simply using P2P application can be risky. So when looking to get downloads online free, it’s important to use caution and common sense. So if you choose to use P2P application, it is strongly recommended to read the sites “security and privacy” in its entirety. All P2P applications should have suggestions and tips on how to stay safe while downloading files online, most important use only a legal download service.
The guaranteed way to get it legally is using “legitimately licensed sites”.
In comparison, it is almost impossible to stay completely legal. Legal P2P file sharing is only possible by staying on the right path looking for those sites that provide downloads that follow and comply with all relevant copyright laws. Ones that protect not only the site, but you as well.
Be wary also P2P file sharing applications can threaten your online privacy and security.
P2P file sharing applications make money also by adding “adware and spyware”. Adware is software that works by large media companies offering share ware developers banner ads to put in their products. Spyware secretly sneaks around in the background without your permission gathering information and performing activities hidden to you.
Spyware and Adware can scan files, spy in documents and chat rooms, monitor keystrokes (i.e. passwords, account information etc.) allow software to read, write, and delete files, change default home page, looking at websites you visit, download and install other software programs to name just a few.
In conclusion, it is always important that you get all the facts about P2P file sharing applications including the risk involved. Once again read the sites entire “security and privacy” section.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
US Holds Ridiculously One-Sided Anti-Piracy Roundtable
US Vice President Joe Biden today hosted a roundtable looking at the so-called ‘Piracy Problem’. The summit was not as ‘open’ as promised a year ago in the presidential campaign though. Only copyright industry representatives were present, further reinforcing the belief that Biden sits firmly in the pocket of Big Copyright.
Copyright is an issue that affects everyone. Every word, image and expression of thought is copyrightable. It is a system of law that places restrictions on the fundamentals of civilization – communication and expression. So when it comes to policy talks involving that subject, it would seem only natural that representatives of the people of the United States are involved. Not so in the modern day world.
When it comes to copyright policy, there appears to be only one set of people the government is willing to listen to, and that’s the copyright lobbyists groups. Groups that don’t represent the creators as much as those that manage the creators; the middlemen. And so it is with the attendees of today’s meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden, whose political career – like many US politicians – has been partly funded by pro-copyright groups, came out to say that he is offended by the “flat unadulterated theft” some call piracy. A bold statement, but not really that surprising when you take a look at the one-sided list of attendees.
There are no consumer groups, no technology companies, and few representatives of the artistic creators themselves. There are plenty of are representatives of middlemen companies though. Companies that make their money from managing, distributing and promoting, tasks that are increasingly being made obsolete with technological progress.
We’re talking about the likes of Sony’s Michael Lynton, who on behalf of an industry that’s having one of it’s best ever years, plead poverty less than two months ago. And Edgar Bronfman, head of WMG – you remember, the company that claimed copyrights that aren’t theirs.
What will have been on the agenda? Well, probably no items on how factually inaccurate the recent CBS piece was, or how anti-piracy studies would be improved with the release of supporting data. Instead, it will be the likes of future anti-piracy laws such as ACTA, and questioning the ability to introduce similar legislation to France and the UK.
Not that we will find out though, as apparently the press has been kicked out. Perhaps, like ACTA, this is a national security issue too. After all, who says terrorists don’t download Die Hard films for training purposes?
Copyright is an issue that affects everyone. Every word, image and expression of thought is copyrightable. It is a system of law that places restrictions on the fundamentals of civilization – communication and expression. So when it comes to policy talks involving that subject, it would seem only natural that representatives of the people of the United States are involved. Not so in the modern day world.
When it comes to copyright policy, there appears to be only one set of people the government is willing to listen to, and that’s the copyright lobbyists groups. Groups that don’t represent the creators as much as those that manage the creators; the middlemen. And so it is with the attendees of today’s meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden, whose political career – like many US politicians – has been partly funded by pro-copyright groups, came out to say that he is offended by the “flat unadulterated theft” some call piracy. A bold statement, but not really that surprising when you take a look at the one-sided list of attendees.
There are no consumer groups, no technology companies, and few representatives of the artistic creators themselves. There are plenty of are representatives of middlemen companies though. Companies that make their money from managing, distributing and promoting, tasks that are increasingly being made obsolete with technological progress.
We’re talking about the likes of Sony’s Michael Lynton, who on behalf of an industry that’s having one of it’s best ever years, plead poverty less than two months ago. And Edgar Bronfman, head of WMG – you remember, the company that claimed copyrights that aren’t theirs.
What will have been on the agenda? Well, probably no items on how factually inaccurate the recent CBS piece was, or how anti-piracy studies would be improved with the release of supporting data. Instead, it will be the likes of future anti-piracy laws such as ACTA, and questioning the ability to introduce similar legislation to France and the UK.
Not that we will find out though, as apparently the press has been kicked out. Perhaps, like ACTA, this is a national security issue too. After all, who says terrorists don’t download Die Hard films for training purposes?
uTorrent Adds Video Streaming Support
The client of choice for most western BitTorrent users, uTorrent, has added the option to stream video files while downloading. BitTorrent Inc. hopes to provide the ‘point-click-watch’ experience people have grown used to from their usage of streaming sites such as YouTube with this new functionality,.
Long before streaming video sites such as YouTube existed, BitTorrent was first released by Bram Cohen back in 2001. At the time, those who wanted to watch high quality video on their computers sometimes had to wait for hours or days until a download finished.
Now, at the end of the decade where BitTorrent has become a synonym for file-sharing, hundreds of millions of people have high speed broadband connections at their homes. Downloading a popular movie or TV-series often takes less than an hour nowadays, but for the demanding web users of today this delay can still prove quite annoying.
Many people simply want to start watching instantly due to being spoiled by the many streaming video sites that have surged in popularity since YouTube’s launch in 2005. To satisfy this demand the popular BitTorrent client uTorrent has now added streaming support to the uTorrent 2.0 release candidate, which allows users to play video files while they are downloading.
“Our hope is to transform getting media using uTorrent from a ‘load-wait-watch-tomorrow’ to more of a ‘point-click-watch’ experience,” Simon Morris, BitTorrent’s VP of Product Management said in a comment.
Although several other BitTorrent clients have already implemented similar streaming capabilities, uTorrent will finally make BitTorrent streaming possible for the majority of BitTorrent users.
In our tests the new feature worked flawlessly on well-seeded torrents. Users simply have to click on the play button next to the download, and after a few seconds or minutes it will turn green, ready to be streamed.
By default the latest uTorrent release is configured to use the DivX web player to stream video. This works well for most files but for us it caused problems with some video formats. Changing it to VLC or any other media player is relatively easy though, by nominating a different streaming player in uTorrent’s preferences.
Aside from streaming regular downloads, uTorrent’s parent company BitTorrent Inc. is also working on BitTorrent-powered live streams. BitTorrent inventor Bram Cohen himself aims to develop a piece of code that is superior to all the other P2P-based streaming solutions on the market today.
“I think there’s a very large market for live [streaming] in general, and to date no-one has proven that a p2p solution can meet the real-world requirements for being an acceptable live solution. I intend on changing that,” Bram told TorrentFreak earlier this year.
For now, uTorrent users will have to settle for on-demand streaming. Those who do not intend to use the feature can be assured that the streaming implementation used by uTorrent is designed on the principles of tit-for tat sharing, meaning that it does not slow down regular downloads.
Long before streaming video sites such as YouTube existed, BitTorrent was first released by Bram Cohen back in 2001. At the time, those who wanted to watch high quality video on their computers sometimes had to wait for hours or days until a download finished.
Now, at the end of the decade where BitTorrent has become a synonym for file-sharing, hundreds of millions of people have high speed broadband connections at their homes. Downloading a popular movie or TV-series often takes less than an hour nowadays, but for the demanding web users of today this delay can still prove quite annoying.
Many people simply want to start watching instantly due to being spoiled by the many streaming video sites that have surged in popularity since YouTube’s launch in 2005. To satisfy this demand the popular BitTorrent client uTorrent has now added streaming support to the uTorrent 2.0 release candidate, which allows users to play video files while they are downloading.
“Our hope is to transform getting media using uTorrent from a ‘load-wait-watch-tomorrow’ to more of a ‘point-click-watch’ experience,” Simon Morris, BitTorrent’s VP of Product Management said in a comment.
Although several other BitTorrent clients have already implemented similar streaming capabilities, uTorrent will finally make BitTorrent streaming possible for the majority of BitTorrent users.
In our tests the new feature worked flawlessly on well-seeded torrents. Users simply have to click on the play button next to the download, and after a few seconds or minutes it will turn green, ready to be streamed.
By default the latest uTorrent release is configured to use the DivX web player to stream video. This works well for most files but for us it caused problems with some video formats. Changing it to VLC or any other media player is relatively easy though, by nominating a different streaming player in uTorrent’s preferences.
Aside from streaming regular downloads, uTorrent’s parent company BitTorrent Inc. is also working on BitTorrent-powered live streams. BitTorrent inventor Bram Cohen himself aims to develop a piece of code that is superior to all the other P2P-based streaming solutions on the market today.
“I think there’s a very large market for live [streaming] in general, and to date no-one has proven that a p2p solution can meet the real-world requirements for being an acceptable live solution. I intend on changing that,” Bram told TorrentFreak earlier this year.
For now, uTorrent users will have to settle for on-demand streaming. Those who do not intend to use the feature can be assured that the streaming implementation used by uTorrent is designed on the principles of tit-for tat sharing, meaning that it does not slow down regular downloads.
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