Download Services - Legal/Nonlegal usage

Verbium · 8 Feb 2011 at 15:11

Hi guys,

Hope this doesn't break any rules as this is a genuine question. I'm currently doing research for my dissertation about the "Effects of download services on internal and external networks". After my initial project plan, my dissertation leader has asked for some more modern services to test to put in my final report.

I currently have a torrent tracker and usenet server being setup for testing and I'm looking to include youtube/iplayer/generic streaming services to counter balance the use of potentially illegal usage of typical download programs. I'm using my own test files so no laws are being broken by doing this anyway.

So, any suggestions of alternative download services?

Now includes anon survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Y9RWZWD

zebedeee · 8 Feb 2011 at 15:19

am i reading right? you want ppl to disclose how they themselves can get iligal downloads?

if i did read correctly then i think you won't get any useful intellegence from the majority of the computing industry unless they themselves are suffering losses due to illigal downloads.

aslong as there are illigal taxes been stripped from ppl there will always be illigal ways.

i was brought up to share and share alike, however, this does not happen since ppl are always trying to exploit ppl in the unfortunate possitions they are been forced to stay in, look at the goverments..... they tend to create reasons in order to justify why they rob ppl blind instead of been humane and working together with the ppl (they only pull the wool over the ppl's eyes that are in the lower possitions, and all for their own agenda's not the ppl's)

xJcBx · 8 Feb 2011 at 15:20

zebedeee said:
am i reading right? you want ppl to disclose how they themselves can get iligal downloads?

if i did read correctly then i think you won't get any useful intellegence from the majority of the computing industry unless they themselves are suffering losses due to illigal downloads.

Tbh I would expect at least an anon survey monkey from an OXFORD student :confused:

Verbium · 8 Feb 2011 at 15:26

I'm not asking for people to disclose if they do or do not download. It's simply a knowledge question. I'm more hoping to prove more than legal services cause more traffic disruption than 'illegal' services (that's purely based on the typical use people have for it).

Theophany · 8 Feb 2011 at 15:29

Beyond Torrents and Usenet groups, I doubt there are any widely used methods for obtaining information outside of services like RapidShare and MegaUpload. In some ways, those two use the same delivery method as Usenet groups (split large files into multiple compressed archives, then rebuild upon completion of the download) but over an HTTP medium instead.

Verbium · 8 Feb 2011 at 15:30

xJcBx said:
Tbh I would expect at least an anon survey monkey from an OXFORD student

Good point on the survey though, I'll make one now if people feel they're incriminating themselves by suggesting something they've heard about or seen.

Theophany said:
Beyond Torrents and Usenet groups, I doubt there are any widely used methods for obtaining information outside of services like RapidShare and MegaUpload. In some ways, those two use the same delivery method as Usenet groups (split large files into multiple compressed archives, then rebuild upon completion of the download) but over an HTTP medium instead.

Those are the two main services I'm testing at the moment, this is why it's becoming difficult to find an alternative that has a large following that I can classify as realistic traffic for testing.

Sp00n · 8 Feb 2011 at 15:30

ftp/irc/http (megaupload etc...)

zebedeee · 8 Feb 2011 at 15:58

you have to ask yourself to the real reasons this has been asked of you, is it to make bandwidth capabilities been capable to support all these methods of downloading or is it to halt the freedom of this particular technology.

I'd be concerned to what other rights ppl are about to have stripped. terrorism is caused by goverments just to justify other rights ppl have been stripped of,
so is illigal downloads their justification to why tech freedom will be stripped??????

Verbium · 8 Feb 2011 at 16:06

zebedeee said:
you have to ask yourself to the real reasons this has been asked of you, is it to make bandwidth capabilities been capable to support all these methods of downloading or is it to halt the freedom of this particular technology.

I'd be concerned to what other rights ppl are about to have stripped. terrorism is caused by goverments just to justify other rights ppl have been stripped of,
so is illigal downloads their justification to why tech freedom will be stripped??????

Considering this is my own topic and not a predetermined one then this would follow a computing/networking route rather than the ethical practices of the world. What you would be looking at would be more of a law degree dissertation.

I initially started this project in september so the news of two-tier internets etc that have been doing the rounds recently will be input into the report as background research. I simply want to see where the blame (if any) should be put if ISPs can't keep up with throughput on their networks.

My personal view is that they should have seen it coming, but that isn't the point of my dissertation topic.

zebedeee · 8 Feb 2011 at 16:15

i can understand you have legitimate reasons to your report but you have to ask yourself will your findings be used for or against stripping ppl's rights away.

I watched a relatively good movie just the other week based upon a true story called "Fair Game".
That film focused upon how a bunch of ppl's findings were obscured to serve another mans agenda, can you say your findings won't serve another mans agenda to strip ppl's freedom away?

Verbium · 8 Feb 2011 at 16:23

All findings are anonymous and a confidentiality agreement has been signed so that the university can not make this public or use it for it's own means. It will only be shared for assessment with external examiners that will also not be able to legally use it for their own means.

I know for a fact that my dissertation project isn't ground breaking, and that if you were worried about your rights being stripped away due to this kind of research then maybe you should ask ISPs not to analyse their own traffic data. Just saying, this is all easily available to larger companies with an infrastructure to monitor traffic.

KIA · 8 Feb 2011 at 16:34

zebedeee said:
i can understand you have legitimate reasons to your report but you have to ask yourself will your findings be used for or against stripping ppl's rights away.

Paranoid much? :eek:

Verbium · 8 Feb 2011 at 16:40

fluff said:
Paranoid much?

zebedeee · 8 Feb 2011 at 18:38

lol, i'd think i was paranoid too if i hadn't opened my eyes and had a look at the world from utop the fence.

but insight of the isp's doing there research etc the more sources for such things is just another proverbial straw to help break the camals back

Vonhelmet · 8 Feb 2011 at 18:54

zebedeee said:
lol, i'd think i was paranoid too if i hadn't opened my eyes and had a look at the world from utop the fence.

but insight of the isp's doing there research etc the more sources for such things is just another proverbial straw to help break the camals back

I'll take your drivel seriously when you learn to write properly.

JBod · 8 Feb 2011 at 19:12

Oxford Student doing his dissertation and you having the usenet service and torrent tracker setup for you?

Westyfield2 · 8 Feb 2011 at 19:26

Torrents
Usenet
HTTP websites linking to rapidshare/megaupload

Not that I've ever tried any of the above mind, only heard of them

.

Verbium · 8 Feb 2011 at 19:37

JBod said:
Oxford Student doing his dissertation and you having the usenet service and torrent tracker setup for you?

I'm setting that up all by myself, and when you say Oxford it's only Brookes

I've already got knowledge to setup my own tracker and usenet server. These two were the biggest concerns with the university as they didn't want me connecting to external servers/trackers even if I could prove it was legal material, it's just a huge network hog.

Currently aiming for 300 VM machines setup in a lab and virtually creating a internetwork with a mixture of physical equipment connecting to virtual routers and machines. It's a pretty big project (more than I can chew, it's getting too big) but I'm really looking for an accurate result for a good mark.

Verbium · 8 Feb 2011 at 20:55

Just want to say thanks to everyone who has filled in the survey for me, I just need a couple more replies on it to create a nice even number.

If a mod sees this if you could move this to the networking section that would be great!

JBod · 8 Feb 2011 at 21:52

Mr Sniper said:
I'm setting that up all by myself, and when you say Oxford it's only Brookes

I've already got knowledge to setup my own tracker and usenet server. These two were the biggest concerns with the university as they didn't want me connecting to external servers/trackers even if I could prove it was legal material, it's just a huge network hog.

Currently aiming for 300 VM machines setup in a lab and virtually creating a internetwork with a mixture of physical equipment connecting to virtual routers and machines. It's a pretty big project (more than I can chew, it's getting too big) but I'm really looking for an accurate result for a good mark.

What Usenet daemons are you using? I use to run one of the UKs largest back in the day before the likes of Giganews came along. When we turned our service off we were hitting I think about 5TB per day.