"Fake file" issue now serious
 

Hi all. I've been a paid user of LimeWire Pro for a number of years now, and I believe this current "fake file" attack is the most serious threat LimeWire has faced. And no, it's not just infecting search results associated with modern or common music.

I'm speculating that the music industry is fighting back in an attempt to quash the sharing of copyrighted material, and in particular music. This is perfectly understandable on their part. They are simply protecting their interests.

A typical response within this forum is a posted link to a page containing suggestions on altering one's search criteria, etc. In my experience these suggestions are largely ineffective. Moreover, I assume LimeWire is continuing to accept money from LimeWire Pro users.

LimeWire could restore confidence in their product by providing an assurance that the development team is working to combat this problem. Of course they must tread carefully, so as not to break copyright law. But surely developing a mechanism to automatically identify and eliminate from search results all peers bulk injecting bogus files into the Gnutella network is a perfectly legal exercise. Countering technical vandalism. Am I right?

LimeWire... are you preparing to battle, or have you lost the war? :idea:

Instaed of moaning about the guide not being effective, which I know it is, since I don't have problems finding what I want, try to come up with suggestions on things to add or change. There is a link on the first line of the guide telling you just that.

So please try to come up with more effective methods and PM them to me, Anything I get, I seriously consider adding or changing. :idea:

Thanks for the invite. Actually I hinted at a possible solution above. I'm a Java developer, but my knowledge of P2P and the Gnutella network is scant. Would it be fair to say that any real solution must be in code? Anything else is a work-around (advising people to avoid 11+ connections, avoid T3, enter title or artist but never both, add a "_" character to your search string, etcetera). Work-arounds are never elegant.

Okay, first attempt off the cuff...

A dynamic and collaborative effort in compiling a shared IP blacklist, a file(s), sharing of such (optional) information occuring during initial connection handshaking and/or following any file transfer. Such a blacklist may be generated/appended to either by built in smart crawlers, and/or manual user input (all within LimeWire).

Maybe this wouldn't work. If not, tell me why. I can adapt my thinking.

Christopher.

Talking about that, i think LimeWire really needs a List blacklisted Ip's, but for the moment, i have a list i would like to post a list of more fake/bad results filenames (or fragments for filtering)
-Prank
-Wicked remix
-Rare Recording
-Track
-Eighties classic
-Totally Hip track
-Top of charts
For now, this is my suggestion, add this to the LimeWire filtering lists, and u won't get any fake files.
Good luck filtering results

The vast majority of the fake files I encounter fit the basic "artist - title" format, and contain little else in the header. So such filtering is ineffective (that word again), and a mere work-around anyway. Filtering based on keywords, just like SPAM filtering, is an exercise akin to chasing one's tail.

Thanks anyway.

Seriously, i know that, but is a basic stuff, so in time you grab x-pierience and you learn to filter what you download, anyway, i posted that because those kinda results always are with so much sources, and are in the first places of the results, so they are annoying....

That's what i have to say
Ciao!

Dark Guy
The word filter is a very handy add on tool,But be careful not to shoot yourself in the foot. If dance music fans follow your list, they will Cut their
genuine search resolts by half.
Before adding a word in the filter,Think!,will this word be in anything that I
may search for later ? each word must be given very careful concideration
you've added the word, {of } how many files have that in it. Think my friend
before telling people to follow your leed.
Peace.

I'm not trying to be rude here, but you have totally misunderstood how the keyword filter works. Every single word will be filtered by itself, even if it's a part of a word.

@ blondeMatrix

I'll get back to you later. You got some more interesting ideas. About the blocklist though I can tell you that AaronWalkhouse is allready taking care of that, but maybe he wants help.

Also many of the workarounds that you mentioned are not in my guide and will not be added. I download from T1 and T3 all the time. Im a T1 myself. Also I would rather add _ to the Keyword filter than use it in a search. Also downloading only files that have 10 or less hosts, since when should that help. That's advise for newbies and only works sometimes.

Seriously take a good look at the guide and ignore the other advise. I BTW don't use the (in my mind) flawed junkfilter either.

In the meantime you could maybe have a look at the Limewire Beta forums. It would help you get a better idea of what is a work in progress and what is overlooked.

Oh almost forgot. Until that blocklist is a part of Limewire/Frostwire there's always PeerGuardian. Not as good a solution but helps a bit.

http://phoenixlabs.org

BTW Limewire and Frostwire were working closely last time I checked, which isn't recently but I think they still are. Haven't heard otherwise

(edit: Mistook this for a thread in the Frostwire section for some strange reason) :confused:

U know, i nonly posted those cuz they were the top spammy results on my searches, i don't know what is 'bout ya, so, if u don't like me to suggest things...

U can go to hell....:mad:

I like suggestions, and have nothing against you posting them. Suggestions can be declined or proved wrong though. There is no way that I put any of those words in the keyword thread except totally, after I checked it out that is. The "How to find music" thread is for general searching, and not for one specific taste.

I said that I was not trying to be rude. Well I have tough skin, so I can take being told to go to Hell once. Not really sure though, if people who can't take some constructive criticism should be suggesting things, just in case they are wrong :wink:

Also don't know if replying in same manner again will get you very far.

Shame when irrelevant posts from someone easily offended sends a thread entirely off track.

Thanks Sleepless. I might take the "fake file" issue up with the Features forum.

Chris.

I believe one is already being trialled in the LW beta 4.13 http://www.limewire.org/forum/showth...light=black%2A I'm not sure how it works & gets added to.
It is a serious issue & follow Sleepless's suggestion to note this in the LW request section. The only other tips I can think of are listed here Fake files in search results

Chris & Sleepless
Please forgive me for jumping in,I had no intention to cause upset to anyone
I looked, Sleepless did'nt seem to be around and I saw the need to make sure
New people to LimeWire dont follow ill thought out addvice.
My motive was to protect newbies against a possable spamer befor too much
damage could be done.
Spamers also patrole these forums trying to put a spanner in the works.
Chris! I beleve I speak for most members of this forum,Your input would be
most wellcome, more than that, Desired.
Peace.

There was nothing at all wrong with correcting that mistake he made, so no need to apologize. Adding those keywords to the list would not only block the spam, but also half the good files on the network.

Thanks for the positive response. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but I promise to query whether the developers would like any help. Initially I would need to know what information is exchanged during handshaking, and how Gnutella network branches/nodes are formed. And answers to questions like: do the offenders typically operate from static IP addresses. This before I could propose any robust solutions to a very frustrating problem.

Chris.

Did a bit of research for you, but I haven't had time to check out any of this

http://www.bluetack.co.uk/converter/

http://www.bluetack.co.uk/forums/index.php

You will find everything you need to get started, but I would recommend getting in touch with AaronWalkhouse. He seems to be the most knowledgeable in this area.

I seriously doubt that we'll ever be able to reach a state where 100% of search results are genuine or where 100% of the desired files actually show up. With experience, after a couple of weeks of intensive use I assume that 99% of users learn to recognize fake files (there are other ways not mentioned about, such as file sizes, unable to search host etc). I have used LimeWire for 3 years and have downloaded maybe a handful of fake files in my life, that would be 0,001% of all downloaded files. I would rather have the production team focus on ways to find GENUINE files rather than filtering out the unwanted ones.

An interesting take on the fake file is what several music companies have started doing recently, they flood the network with low quality files or files where 1 in every 5 seconds of the song is blank. It makes it harder to find genuine files but still I've only taken the bait 3 times in 3 years.

Just my 5 cents.