im hearing that the government can moniter how many shared files you have in your library.....so what exactly is a safe number of shared files to lower my risk of beeing busted?? and what are the chances?
replies appreciated

less than 1000

if your that worried just dont share

Federer_3511

I don't know which government you are talking about but there are numerous government agencies poking around inside your PC when you start to download using P2P software. The agencies range from Chinese, French, British, Canadian, US etc. and any number of local, city and other authorities, I won't even go into the number of computer companies.

You may asked how I know all this, I read my PeerGuardian 2 logs. PeerGuardian is a small utility that examines all IPs connecting to your PC on the IP level and logs all the IPs it encounters, which is broken into two lists Allowed and Blocked. And I can guarantee you, the very first PG2 log you see will shock you.

Finally, you may also wonder why your firewall does not stop these intruders, because to get LW or any P2P app to work you have to allow access to and from port 6346. Knowing this allows the agencies to tailor their autobots to appear as requested downloads.

So, if you're really worried about "the govenment" snooping around inside your PC then get, install and use this essential free utility:

http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/





UK Bob

hi, just wanted to say thanx for the link to peerguardian...thinking of someone snooping in my comp freaks me out so this app is a great help!
people in power dont yet care too much about piracy thru p2p apps in india, so i know my govt ain't gonna snoop, but better safe than worry i guess...thanx again!

alright...thats sounds awesome...so this program u provided the link for makes it so external users cant look around my files and stuff??

Cool post for the Peer Guardian thing, I'll have to look into it. Anyways, the best option if you're worried about government agencies catching you would be to not share at all. Even sharing one file that is under copyright will get you in jail if your government has anti-piracy laws. Some countries are more lenient than others. For example, the US prohibits sharing and downloading of copyrighted files. Currently, Canada, where I live, allows people to download copyrighted files for PRIVATE use only. Sharing them, whether it be through use of P2P applications or plain ol' CD/DVD burning is illegal. Follow the rules, and remember that age old saying...

"If you've done nothing wrong, you've nothing to fear."

Thank you UK Bob, for reminding me about Peer Guardian (which is now installed, instead of in my to-do list. You are absolutely right!

Obviously Matt0401 is one person I won't be sharing with. A big zero in his shared. Why should I share 150+ GB with someone who shares zero. People need to start somewhere but his attitude is no matter what to share zero! That's called "Leeching"! There's other names also. No matter what guise or excuse or smoke-screen you want to use. (By gads I'm sharing a single file ... the authorities might bust me despite it'll cost them multiple thousands of dollars to even arrange to get to my front door. In my country warrants need to be signed by a j' & need sufficient evidence.) Obviously Matt0401 is not p2p but p2 me "only"!!! And what's more without any sign of guilt! I do NOT believe that is anything that should be promoted anywhere. Selfishness no matter what excuse you put to it. "I, me & myself!" So much for sharing, & share & share alike community thinking. Oh there's no thumbs down smiley. lol

There's also a mac version of Peerguardian but it has a slightly different name (PeerProtector I think.) Unfortunately the interface version is ONLY available for Tiger users. Earlier users can only use it from the command line & then, since PG's move to & fro sites ... you might not find the link to instructions or even the prog. My discussion with the present OSX dev was basically ... unless you're using Tiger ... Panther users are on their own! Whilst Mac OSX users don't need to concern about virii, they do about this issue about being checked up upon.

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I'm sorry about my leeching problem. :P I'm just a wee bit paranoid is all! I try to give back to the community in whatever ways I can though, such as helping out people on the Gnutella forums with their technical problems and stuff like that.

One thing I forgot to mention is that you only get in trouble for uploading "copyrighted" files, such as Britney Spears's latest hit song, or a copy of Microsoft's Windows XP. You can share your own files and release them under the GNU license. Examples includes podcasts, or anything else that YOU own the rights to. Also, using it for direct file sharing is another option. Like for example, you want to send a home video to grandma (assuming she uses LW :P), and don't feel like burning her a disc. These are all legal and intentional uses of the Gnutella Network!

P.S. ---> I never used to be such a "leech". Before, I'd share thousands of songs and hundreds of movies from my home network, but lately I realize just how much trouble that can get me in!

P.S. #2 ---> Despite being a leech, I am NOT a selfish person! I recently donated half my net-worth to a charity for poor families in my city who can't afford to celebrate Christmas! Lol, I'm 15, and don't have a job. I don't have much money... So it was a huge gift really! >.<