drunkensailor

drunkensailor , 6 months ago (edited 6 months ago)

IMO Piracy is completely justified regardless…

But that said, wouldn’t it be the content owner rather than Sony (who is a third party platform) who is to blame for justifying it in this particular case? (based on the iamge here which seems to imply that the content owner is the one pulling the content rather than sony itself).

Dn’t get me wrong, not saying the situation is good. or that Sony is a good company. Only that they don’t appear to be the ones instigating this move unless I am missing some other info. FWIW, I lost all hope in the idea of a pro-consumer way of doign streaming content ages ago and have been flying the black flag for years so I guess this just doesnt seem like aynthing new to me. I willntt even consiedr paying for netflix, prime, disnet, hbo, hulu, or whateve else. Maybe if they stop being greedy fuckwits and come up with a something fair for consumers I’ll consider but until then, fuck the loto f them.

edit: fixed a tpyo

drunkensailor , 6 months ago

TBF, he said “an” leader not “the” leader

drunkensailor , 6 months ago

Raubmordkopie

Robbery murder copy? (at least thats’ what google is telling me ‘mord’ means?)

drunkensailor , 6 months ago

If you only make a copy, then you’re good 😜

drunkensailor OP , 6 months ago (edited 6 months ago)

Thanks, man this was really helpful and I appreciate it

Usenet is great

In your own experiences, how does it stack up vs public torrent tracking sites in terms of available pirate content? I realize that depending on the content type and which indexer(s), it will probably vary a bit, but any rough idea is probably better than my total cluelessness on usenet content availability that I have now lol. Just looking for somebody’s rough guess of general availability on usenet vs on sites like torrentgalaxy, eztv, tpb, 1337x, solidtorrents, etc if it tends to be better, worse, or about the same.

I’d recommend signing up for the NZBGeek

To test this out, would I also need to find a usenet provider that has a free trial or I can preview with the indexer only? I’m assuming I could just plug it into sonarr / qbittorrent feeds and search from those but if you use other (better?) tools for viewing/searching the index results, might I know what those are?

drunkensailor OP , 6 months ago

thanks for that link, that is super helpful. only thing it is really missing for me is their stance on vpn but is very good for noting the ratio stuff

drunkensailor OP , 6 months ago

Hmmm… this response seems to imply that I have no idea what a PT even is. It’s true that I haven’t used them before, but talking about it like I don’t understand that it’s just a website or that things are automated seems like a talking down. I hope I am just misreading the tone.

I think from this part

It’s not Google with billions at its disposal to craft sophisticated surveillance level tech.

Your point might be something like “PT’s are small time so no need to worry”. If so, then I strongly disagree. I may not be personally familiar with private trackers, but I am fairly well educated on web infrastructure, security, tech, and programming.

If personal data - including IP address - is present - even just for registration - then it could be abused in scenarios such as disgruntled admins, data breaches, or server raids/seizures to name a few. There has even been at least one case where someone torrented a completely legal thing - a linux distro (and i mean actually a legit linux distro not like some people call downloading something illegal as a “linux distro” as joke that they aren’t doing anything illegal) and got a dcma notice.

Point being that if you are ok with that risk, that’s fine for you. But not everyone’s security model or what they consider as an acceptable risk is the same. And IMO your response would have been much better if it was calling out the technical risks, clearly delineating what is a technical fact vs what is opinion, and then stating that in your opinion the risks weren’t significant to you personally. (it sounds like we have different opinions but still if you thought I was a complete newbie, why leave things open to misunderstanding?).

Anyway since I specifically brought up my questions about PT’s in the context of wanting to use a VPN, if the whole point of the reply was essentially to dismiss the need for VPNs with PT registration when I say it matters to me, then that’s a bit weird…

drunkensailor OP , 6 months ago

Yup. Or hacked. Or a member of the team with access does something stupid. etc.

drunkensailor OP , 6 months ago

thanks a bunch. yeah, usenet is sounding a lot more up my alley than PT’s. Might still look into some of the easier PT’s if they’re VPN-friendly but I think I’m going to put most of my time into looking into usenet.

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

authoritarian country

How authoritarian we talking? China?

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

Kinda remember there being similar discussions about people should not use TOR for P2P and for similar reasons.

Anyway, I thought I read something awhile back that P2P and torrenting were eyeing I2P for future anonymousness. Is thhat still a work in progress or am I remembering wrong?

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

it can but people who don’t read manuals will never escape

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

Maybe he’s a Motörhead fan? (Lemmy Kilmister)

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

not OP but nice guide. thanks man

Ive only done a handful in linux. mostly i use repacked gog stuff cuz its easy and i don’t have to deal with cracks. so easy that sometimes i end up legit buying to support the devs if the game is good.

lot of the time i also use firejail. haven’t run into many issues with it so far (i think there was one game where i disallowed net access but it wouldnt run until i granted it) and most stuff works same as without.

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

I’ve heard a few people mention bubblewrap but never really looked into it. might have to read up and give it a try. do you think it’s pretty easy to pick up coming from firejail?

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

me too but im on linux so i can do firejail lutris (or firejail steam or whatever for legit stuff) and run that shit in a security container.

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

can confirm

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

and know the basics of gdb

oi, how ye learn that? i use linux but don’t know gdb worth a damn. maybe cuz i drink too much to study lol

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

thanks mate. much appreciated

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

Very good comment. That said, for this part

Figure out how to encode and compress video so that it still looks good, you can still find some old scene rule nfo’s to have a better idea on what settings to use to encode. I use a gui called qvs to do encodes, theres also another one called staxrip, you can also learn how to just use command line arguments and just use x264 or x265 from the command line.

I’m wondering if anyone might have any ffmpeg one-liners that are pretty decent for converting larger mkv’s from makemkv or similar down to a more reasonable size for archiving. Basically looking to get something similar to the old ION10 / ION265 encodes from RARBG if that helps (720p or 1080p w 8- to 10-bit depth using x264 or x265).

Even better if someone’s got a link to a github or similar page with a few different tried and tested presets to study.

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

thanks. i know i how to use mediainfo tool. no clue how to convert from a x264/x265 command to an ffmpeg one tho

drunkensailor OP , 10 months ago

sorry, i’m a total noob at this stuff. so from here agoradesk.com/how-to-buy-or-sell-cryptocurrency-a…

does that mean i can only trade other crypto for it? like i have a credit card and cash but no crypto, no wallet, etc currently…

so still kind of confused. i know it says they take paypal, zello, etc but assume that all of those would leave a papertrail.

Pay by cash

so that only leaves cash and it sounds like you are supposed to put actual paper cash monies in an envelope and physically mail it out? doesn’t that mean if you mailed like $50 or $100 or whatever, that it could get lost in the mail and you’re just fucked and have to eat it?

Also, doesn’t post office requiere a return address? i thought they refuse to mail without that cz of bombs/hatemail/etc? Am I wrong about that?

drunkensailor OP , 10 months ago

ok, XMR then. sorry, very new to crypto stuff. how do you get it anon? do you use site the other guy recommended? mine it? something else?

i heard somewhere that mining is hard unless you spend lot of money on hw but wasn’t sure if i could do something like that for smaller amounts like $100 every 6 months or something.

drunkensailor OP , 10 months ago

thanks for the reply

If you must use Bitcoin specifically

i don’t care about bitcoin specifically, just don’t know crypto stuff - just updated title. whatever usenet services will accept is fine by me, whether that’s bitcoin, monero, xmr or whatever other ones you guys suggest.

You aren’t going to be able to mine more than a few cents of Bitcoin a month without specialized hardware.

ugh, that sucks. had been hoping to run a old gaming rig and maybe get 50 or 100 USD of some kind of anon crypto after 3-6 months. Guess that idea is out.

one option is to “wash” whatever you buy by using an exchange that allows anonymous account creation, then converting it to XMR and back before using it.

So even if I bought the KYC-style bitcoin from a bank or atm or whatever, if I convert to XMR then that hides me? Any clue how it hides it?

There at least used to be localbitcoin to help facilitate that, if that’s even still a thing.

Thanks, when I searched I see 2 of them: localbitcoin.com and localbitcoin.net ? Does it matter?

drunkensailor OP , 10 months ago

For text messages you can buy a temporary burner phone with cash, or if you’re lucky you can find a SMS service that works with the BTM - just be aware most BTMs don’t work with virtual SMS phone numbers.

yeah, learned already that most verification systems (not just BTMs) don’t work with virtual SMS. I have no clue how to tell if a service works or not so unless someone can specifically recommend one they know works, then will probably pass on that option. for the cash money burner phone, good idea. never tried it cz it cost extra money and figured they would locked that options down already

Or going non crypto you could technically just purchase a pre-paid credit card with cash, you’d just need to make sure the card would work with whatever services you are subscribing to.

that is an awesome idea. didn’t think of that at all. might be something to try and at least if it doesn’t work (like they require registration or some shit - i remember i got a prepaid card once that did require that kind of crap), i should be able to still spend the money on groceries or something.

PS - Not sure if your post is breaking rules here, this Lemmy instance is anti-cryptocurrency and does have a rule forbidding crypto shill topics. But it might be okay if you’re just asking a general question.

The way I read it was no spam / advertising / promoting for cryptocurrency, blockchain or NFTs… so I think I’m ok especially since is more asking about how to stay anon while purchasing services related to piracy than about any specific crypto but if any mods/admin reading this disagree, please let me know. def wasn’t trying to break any rules and happy to delete or revise if needed.

drunkensailor OP , 10 months ago

Thanks man, really appreciate you helping my dumb ass here.

Alternatively you could use a known account like paypal or zelle or cashapp to fund an initial wallet but then you have to make sure to send it to another XMR wallet so it’s anonymous.

That actually sounds pretty awesome in terms of not having big risk and being easy enough that someone like me can pull it off. But does just moving it to another wallet make it anon?

If you did something like:

<span style="color:#323232;">(non-anon wallet) => transfer A => (anon wallet)
</span>

then would transfer A be trackable from the first wallet so you would need to do something like:

<span style="color:#323232;">(non-anon wallet) => transfer A => (anon wallet 1) => transfer B => (anon wallet 2)
</span>

or is this just paranoid overkill thinking?

Also… maybe a dumb question and I know this is completely different but i’m used to having tools like ipleak.net to check for dns leaks and stuff like that. Is there a way to check if your current wallet is anonymous or can be traced back to you?

drunkensailor OP , 10 months ago

ok thanks man. at least given me some more to go on. i don’t mind reading… i just get confused on a lot of this stuff

drunkensailor OP , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

im not really into crypto … Monero / XMR is a privacy coin

thanks… same here. so much so that until you phrased it exactly that way, I hadn’t even put together that “Monero” == “XMR” and thought people were talking about 2 separate coins 😅

frugal usenet and Blocknews actually have a cash payment option on the website at checkout, if you are worried maybe ask them the track record for receiving it.

good to know, thanks

If you are doing VPN to, Mullvad takes cash but you do not need vpn for usenet.

already have a paid, no-log VPN that I torrent with. Mullvad looks awesome but probably won’t check it out til mine expires. my current one says my payment and connection info is separate. no way to verify that but at this point, i’ve been with them over a year and if they were lying, i would be well and truly fucked anyway lol

drunkensailor OP , 10 months ago

thanks guys, i think i am finally starting to get how it works a little

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

I hate copyright. even if they didn’t get rido f it compeletey then would be awesome if theysd at least massively scale back the amount of time they can have a copyright liek to maybe 5-10 years max and make them non-transferable (no fucking buying companies jsut to get their copyrights)

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

yeah but those usaully are bypassable if you have vpns or custom dns or whatnot. even for neewbies that just use vpn client sw.

if they force it at browser level, in theoty, that would even override vpn / custom dns unless you have a modifyied browser that removes the block or otherwise doesnot comply. which most novices wont know how ot do.

another good reason to use ff / foss browsers if you aren’y already. kinbda hope they do it, just to drive up marketshare of foss bowsers lol

drunkensailor OP , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

edit: was thinking i couldn’t mention show nsmes but after re-reading rule 3, i think it meant more for linking to specific things or requesting links. especially after seeing posts like this I think merely mentioning show names might not be as big a deal as I originally thought.

Mods, if i am mistaken, please delete this comment or message me and tell me how i fucked up

shows I was referring to in main post were Forgeed in Fire and Tuff as Nails. TAN is the one I currently having issues with.

drunkensailor OP , 10 months ago

In this case, one of the shows was aired recently and my public torrent rss feeds didn’t find it (I did not have a rss for EZTV at the time and they appear to be the only ones who covered it, but like I said, they completely skipped one of the episodes…). I think for sonaar, I would need to have usenet indexer already for it to pull from it (used to use it just for torrents) so seems like it wouldn’t make a big difference here cz its a cart before the horse kind of problem.

e.g. sonaar would need me to add more sources first… but i don’t know which sources other than public torrents are good for this kind of thing.

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

i think endeavour lets yuo do FDE from the gui installer also but yeah fedora is fucking great

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

yeah, i love mint but have felt like its installer is severley lacking for a long time when it come to maore advance d stuff liek FDE, BTRFS, alternate bootloaders like suystemd-boot etc

Also don’t use ecryptfs, it sucks.

no clue there. i use luks on feodora and seem liek it works pretyy good.

drunkensailor , 10 months ago (edited 10 months ago)

Every VPN is going to obfuscate your IP.

That’s more or less right but there’s more to it.

First, even if you have a good VPN, you can have dns leaks which is where your VPN is masking your ip but they can still id you cz your pc is configured to look up domain names outside of your vpn and your real ip is exposed. The good news is that you can configure things to avoid this and then use sites like ipleak.net / ipleak.org / dnsleaktest.com to verify you don’t have any dns leaks. probably also a good idea - BEFORE you start downloading shit - to use ipmagnet or something similar to do a test torrent to make sure your ip isn’t being leaked by your torrent client.

Second, not all VPNs are equal. Especially the free ones suck. cz what happens is they see some ip from a honeypot torrent, then they subpoena the VPN who owns that ip and demand your real ip. The free ones will roll over instantly and rat you out cz there’s no money or anything else in it for them so why would they help. Not all of the paid ones are automatically good either tho. There’s a lot of lying bastards who say they are “no log VPNs” but aren’t really cz they still turn things over when subpoenaed. So you have to do research to find out which ones are telling the truth. Usually you can find things online about certain VPNs having been takin to court and really not having any logs to give authories (like Private Internet Access aka PIA who got subpoenaed by FBI but had nothing to give them so their users remained safe) or having trusted third party audit firms who have been allowed to visit and look over/confirm their settings really have no logs. These sites are good reading before you pick a true no-log VPN:

proprivacy.com/vpn/comparison/best-no-logs-vpns

torrentfreak.com/best-vpn-anonymous-no-logging/

I hear Mullvad is one of the best but I think they are a little pricer than some of the others. I used both Nord and PIA before and never had issues with either.

Stuff other guy said about port forwarding is also true if you are using port forwarding (generally this is something you need to set up on the router so you would probably know if you are using it)

Additionally, I don’t think a copyright holder would need to set up a honeypot.

Like you say, they probably don’t need to. But historically, there have definitely been fake torrents out there that are essentially used as honeypots. Varies widely as to how they do it. like some might have a video sample or something, some might just be a bogus file that looks about the right size, and so on.

drunkensailor , 10 months ago

couldn’t agree more. I watch pretty much everything on a 50" 720p TV from 10ish years ago. as long as its not some god awful 240p pixelated garbage, I’m fine. When I go over to some buddies places where they have newer nicer tvs and the qaulity is better, I still am 99% focused on story and idaf about the pockmarks on someones face etc.

I don’t hate extra quality but end of the day, i want to prioritize disk space without having complete garbage on quality. love it when encoders can do stuff in x265 instead of x264 to cut off a few extra MB.

i have a theory that when quality started going crazy (2K by my mark) is about the same time where story quality in tv shows started taking a big dive. Byt I’m sure lot of ppl not agree lol.