theMediaman.com

*Warning - Tech-ladden blog* If you are not a techie, play with this for a while.

So I installed BitTorrent last night.

The last time I did so was while ago, and I was quickly disillusioned as the progressive downloads would not save over different sessions. If I closed BitTorrent, it would lose all the files that I was downloading.

Incidently, I was downloading an anime series which doesn’t yet have a distributor in Canada. Technically not illegal.

Before leaving home today I left the new, version 4.0 BitTorrent downloading a few, high-popularity files (nothing x-rated, I’m not ready to get the MPAA on my case for that sort of thing). Of four files, only one was downloading at 2 KBps. Sad. Tonight I’ll see if online longevity really affects download performance, like it does for eMule.

Even if I stop using it to get hard-to-find anime, I’ll probably keep it on my system. There are a number of legitimate uses for it, as high-traffic sites will often link to a .torrent file rather than the 40 MB video file in order to save bandwidth… eMule supports a similar function with ed2k:// links. However, I’m probably going to remove eMule altogether.

Some files download beautifully through eMule, but most are incomplete downloads… taunting me with 95% completion for weeks on end. But that’s not what’s making me consider dumping eMule.

With my Rogers@home (or Rogers Hi-speed, or Rogers goes Yahoo!, or whatever they call it) I get an email address. I only check it once every few months since it’s only full of notices from Rogers like “upgrade your modem” and “buy a cell phone!”. The one that caught my eye today was the one with subject: Rogers EUA Management Team Notice

Note: I’ve removed the email address and a few critical pieces of information. I’ve also changed my name to Max Power because it sounds cool.

Dear Mr Max Power

Rogers Cable (Rogers) has received a notice stating that activities associated with your IP address are infringing copyright in material(s) owned or exclusively licensed by others.

The relevant portions of the notice are appended to this e-mail.

Under the Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet End User Agreement (EUA) and Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), you are prohibited from using the Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet service to engage in illegal activities, including activities that infringe copyright. Copies of our EUA and AUP are available at:

http://www.rogershelp.com/yahoo/downloads/agreements/index.html

Where there has been a violation of our EUA and/or AUP, including the unauthorized distribution of copyright-protected material, Rogers has the right to take appropriate action against you.

If you have any questions about the attached copyright notice, please contact the sender of the notice using the contact information provided in the notice. Please do not reply to this e-mail.

We trust you will comply with our policies and all applicable laws in using the Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet service.

Sincerely,

EUA Management Team
Rogers Yahoo Hi-Speed Internet

http://na.edit.client.yahoo.com/rogers/show_static?.form=terms
00188906

“Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.”, Inc. and its affiliated companies are the exclusive owners of copyrights in motion pictures and television, including the property listed below.

It has come to our attention that Rogers Cable Inc. Flfrd is the service provider for the IP address listed below, from which unauthorized copying and distribution (downloading, uploading, file serving, file “swapping” or other similar activities) of “Columbia Pictures Industies, Inc.”’s (property)(s) listed below is taking place. We believe that the Internet access of the user engaging in this infringement is provided by Rogers Cable Inc. Flfrd or a downstream service provider who purchases this connectivity from Rogers Cable Inc. Flfrd.

This unauthorized copying and distribution constitutes copyright infringement under Section 106 of the U.S. Copyright Act . Depending upon the type of service Rogers Cable Inc. Flfrd is providing to this IP address, it may have legal and/or equitable liability if it does not expeditiously remove or disable access to the (property)(s) listed below, or if it fails to implement a policy that provides for termination of subscribers who are repeat infringers (see, 17 U.S.C. §512).

Title: XXXX XX XXXXXX
Infringement Source: eDonkey
Initial Infringement Timestamp: dd mmm yyyy ##:##:## GMT
Recent Infringment Timestamp: dd mmm yyyy ##:##:## GMT
Infringer Username:
Infringing Filename: XXXXX…XXX.avi
Infringing Filesize: #########
Infringers IP Address: ##.##.###.###
Infringers DNS Name:
xxxxxxx…xxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx.cable.roger
Infringing URL:
ed2k://|file|xxxxxxxxxx…xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
Notice ID: #######

So what next?

I won’t say what the file is, but I will say that it’s an import film that will soon be hitting theatres… seems to me to be a prime target for P2P, and hence why they were targeting filesharers with that film… or at least a portion of it

Ironically, I removed the partial file of the movie-in-question last night during an anihalistic harddrive cleaning.

Kudos to Rogers for not just cutting me off. Double kudos for forwarding the message from Columbia. I now know that the file was spotted shortly after I changed the default setting in eMule preventing my inventory from being searched. So, lesson number 1, don’t allow open searches of your shared files!

One-third of internet traffic is supposed to be attributable to BitTorrent and other P2P apps. Frankly, the honeymoon is over. Perhaps this email has been like the first post-marital spat, but I’ve found eMule, BitTorrent, KaZaA, Morphius, and (for about a day and a half) Napster ver. 1 to be more frustration than they’re worth. The only advantage I can see to them is the opportunity to see a Uwe Boll film without having to give up any money for that trash.

I’ve got a lot of Pentium 200s at home. I think I’m going to start setting up FTP servers for each of my friends, and go back to the good ol’ days of sharing files with friends.

Now I just need some 80 GB hard drives…