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Anti-Piracy Outfit Hires VPN Expert to Help Track Down The Pirate Bay * TorrentFreak:
From the beginning, OVPN has insisted that it is a no-logs provider, meaning that it should be impossible for anyone to identify who was using its service to either surf the Internet or, in The Pirate Bay's case, use the platform as an anonymous exit point to hide its true location.
The battle is playing out in court in Sweden, with OVPN insisting that it has no useful data to hand over and Rights Alliance insisting that it has. Thus far the court seems to have leaned towards OVPN's claims, that it carries no logs and as such cannot hand over any information. However, the anti-piracy veterans at Rights Alliance, who have years of experience under their belts, are refusing to let the matter drop.
The most recent move, playing out this week, is that Rights Alliance has provided testimony from an expert witness, one that has masses of experience in the VPN field.
[...] "Although [OVPN] strive to store as little data as possible, there must be data connecting users and identities to make the VPN service work. In this case, a user has paid for a VPN account with the ability to connect a public static address to OVPN which the user has then chosen to link to the file sharing site 'the piratebay', i.e the user has configured his VPN account to point to the given domain."
As previously reported, the alleged use of OVPN by The Pirate Bay differed from that of a regular user. Instead of anonymizing a home connection, the site reportedly used the provider's Public IPv4 add-on. While that tool is covered by exactly the same no-logging policy, in this case a static IP address was connected to the service by a specific customer. The word 'static' is crucial here and also a recurring theme.
[...] Finally, it's worth repeating once again that the complications in this case, at least in respect of VPN security, is that The Pirate Bay's alleged use of OVPN required the allocation of a static IP address. When regular users of decent no-logging VPNs are allocated a dynamic IP address or one that's shared by countless other users, these issues should not raise their head.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 23 2020, @01:59AM (11 children)
"The Pirate Bay's alleged use of OVPN required the allocation of a static IP address."
In point of fact, TPB has not been exactly "static" for several years. They go down, they go up, they go down, they go up, over and over. To all appearances, they are in routine damage control mode, attempting to obfuscate their location.
About the only thing the anti-piracy people can do, is to have the court order that OVPN start maintaining useful logs. In which case, TPB jumps again, to some other provider, or maybe set up their own network.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Zinnia Zirconium on Sunday August 23 2020, @03:26AM (10 children)
I've never actually used The Pirate Bay specifically but if it really has that much trouble staying up then it must be way too popular. Why can't its many users find the very many other alternative sites? Do the users really have to flock around the one and only THE Pirate Bay therefore making it one huge target?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 23 2020, @03:39AM (7 children)
That's an interesting question.
IMO, TPB actually WANTS all that attention. They aren't bashful, they know what they are doing, and they keep on doing it. I can't count the times that the people who run it have thumbed their noses at "authority". They love doing what they do!
People, being people, decide what is popular. Whether it's women's clothing fashion, transportation, cell phones, or pirate sites, people decide whatever they decide. For years, TPB has been highly popular. What else is there to say?
Maybe people, like TPB, actually want government and the mob to know what they are doing? It's a way for little nobodies around the world to thumb their own noses at "authority".
Personally, I seldom want to pirate anything, but when I do, I fire up Qbittorrent, with all of it's search engine addons. I suppose there are about 25 addons, I just grab them all for a new installation, and from time to time, update them all. I don't much care where a magnet comes from - either it works, or it doesn't.
All of that said, I suppose TPB has a kind of "respectability". They've been around forever now, and everyone knows of them. I don't think any other site has the name recognition that TPB has.
(Score: 2) by Zinnia Zirconium on Sunday August 23 2020, @03:54AM (2 children)
OK got it. Theconformists who blissfully use Facebook and Spotify are the same people who use The Pirate Bay.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 23 2020, @03:56AM (1 child)
Maybe not real accurate, but close enough for government work.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2020, @02:47PM
Pretty much like your sig.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Sunday August 23 2020, @04:23AM (3 children)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 23 2020, @05:32AM (2 children)
Unfortunately, the Pirate Party flopped like a lead baloon here. I was on the mailing list, did my best to attract attention to the party, helped however I could, but just about no one was interested. The two party system is strictly two party here.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Sunday August 23 2020, @04:00PM
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday August 24 2020, @05:44AM
Money is what Americans hear best. It's a mental shortcut. They reflexively think that anyone who is rich must have a lot of merit. Must have done something right. The most extreme believers in that suck up that Prosperity Gospel blasphemy.
Political parties that don't have buckets of money can't even get the time of day from the average American.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 23 2020, @07:01AM
https://old.reddit.com/r/torrents/comments/5ok0yd/torrent_sites/ [reddit.com]
(Score: 2) by leon_the_cat on Sunday August 23 2020, @10:32AM
https://unblocked-pw.github.io/ [github.io]
meh its has nothing to do with popularity it could die tomorrow and torrent traffic would recover in days. The reason is that it is a symbol, one that has poked the eye of media many times and they want to hold its decapitated head up to the crowds so they may gasp in horror.