Still don’t know why I’d need a vpn. My country doesn’t go after individuals pirating (yet). That’s the only reason, as far as I understand, to have a vpn for pirating. So until they start to take come after individuals, I’m gonna save my money.
You only need a VPN in very few countries, some where it is needed to avoid getting your internet connection cutoff from your ISP are the US, Germany, Greece, and a few other countries somewhere in Europe, the rest of the world doesn’t care about people downloading movies online.
VPNs don’t prevent tracking, they just make sure the tracking is done through a secure tunnel.
The extra hop adds a significant barrier for the website in knowing the actual source IP. The fake source IP is likely used by many other users, and the user you are trying to track can easily rotate VPN IPs.
Adtech relies on the OpenRTB 2.5/2.6 spec for tracking, you would have removed 1 identifier out of a hundred (one that isn’t really used anyway given SSAI is so popular). In addition to that, cookie expiry timers are typically set to 365 days meaning you’re VPN would need to enabled at all times to not invalidate multi-hop. WebStorage API based trackers tend to be indefinite.
EDIT: If anyone is looking for more specifics about WHY IP addresses and multi-hop don’t matter, the spec includes a mention:
BEST PRACTICE: Proper device IP detection in mobile is not straightforward. Typically it involves starting
at the left of the x-forwarded-for header, skipping private carrier networks (e.g., 10.x.x.x or
192.x.x.x), and possibly scanning for known carrier IP ranges. Exchanges are urged to research and
implement this feature carefully when presenting device IP values to bidders.
The issue is that mobile is so prevalent and mobile networks rely so extensively on CG-NAT that even with XFF headers, there’s no good way to tell if you are going to get an IP address that actually matters. You could potentially put in a lot of auction time trying to figure that out and still just end up with a private address that’s unusable. So, aside from the devicetype and the geo object which is used for geo targets and fencing, the device object isn’t useful in tracking. Instead adtech uses the user object. This object should contain all your GDPR specifics, any EIDs, 1st party cookie IDs, etc. Even if those change, there usually exists backend mapping that allows for vendors to correlate different user IDs as being the same user ultimately.
I think it’s the older way around. There are really only 3 or 4 countries where using a VPN to pirate is needed. I’m just willing to bet you live in one of those countries.
the most important this to have when pirating is common sense
We disagree actually, it’s to have well written tutorials and not to rely on the idea that people can just know things from nothing.
We get the frustration in this meme but honestly, we never liked this kind of attitude in tech spaces, it’s exclusionary, gatekeepy and harms people. We understand not wanting to answer every single question but some well written tutorials etc to link to are better than having everyone starting in ignorance and getting in trouble or being harmed for it.
Especially if said tutorials keep up to date and add more answers to people’s questions over time.
After all, being helpful actually helps the pirate community in that more people seed, so helping others is actually win-win. There’s really no downsides whereas expecting others to know everything or being rude stops this from happening and thus is a loss for all of us.
Tutorials can’t cover everything. Once you encounter something completely new, you need common sense to extrapolate from your existing knowledge (which could be from a tutorial or experience, etc).
In the end, whether we’re talking about piracy, work or life in general… You need to be able to adapt to situations, not just read guides.
That’s not to say well-written tutorials shouldn’t exist, but the common sense part is still more important IMO
Sure, but the problem is that people aren’t taught those skills necessarily. So it does help when people are willing to help out in case those skills or ability to do that or for many other reasons aren’t possible.
We get that not everybody can or wants to, but a quick “I’m unable to help you” is fine, yet we see so mahy people being rude instead. Leave space for those who can or want to help instead 🙂
My Lemmy client doesn’t show profiles by default and it’s a pretty popular one. Perhaps it might be wise to introduce yourselves in a sentence or 2 in the future.
My client doesn’t show these things, and i’m honestly not interested enough in the matter to read someones bio to put their odd form of expression into context, even if it would show them.
For the sake of efficient communication i would suggest adjusting either by putting that context in your comment or by expressing yourself more clearly.
Dunno man. Common sense for us in IT is different compared to layman. For example, I thought it was common sense to treat incognito mode only as a shortcut so I wouldn’t have to clear browsing history and local cookies everytime. Then I read about users thinking incognito mode actually protected them against snooping or fingerprinting.
the most important thing to have when pirating is common sense
the second most important thing to have is a vpn
Still don’t know why I’d need a vpn. My country doesn’t go after individuals pirating (yet). That’s the only reason, as far as I understand, to have a vpn for pirating. So until they start to take come after individuals, I’m gonna save my money.
You only need a VPN in very few countries, some where it is needed to avoid getting your internet connection cutoff from your ISP are the US, Germany, Greece, and a few other countries somewhere in Europe, the rest of the world doesn’t care about people downloading movies online.
I think you’ve exactly described why some people need a VPN. My ISP does 3 strikes when they get complaints :/
Also VPN makes you rather anonymous. The sites won’t track you and sometimes the trackers on public torrent files are notorious for tracking.
That is not true, the sites do still track you. VPNs don’t prevent tracking, they just make sure the tracking is done through a secure tunnel.
The extra hop adds a significant barrier for the website in knowing the actual source IP. The fake source IP is likely used by many other users, and the user you are trying to track can easily rotate VPN IPs.
Its one less identifier for them to use.
Adtech relies on the OpenRTB 2.5/2.6 spec for tracking, you would have removed 1 identifier out of a hundred (one that isn’t really used anyway given SSAI is so popular). In addition to that, cookie expiry timers are typically set to 365 days meaning you’re VPN would need to enabled at all times to not invalidate multi-hop. WebStorage API based trackers tend to be indefinite.
ORTB spec: https://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/OpenRTB-API-Specification-Version-2-5-FINAL.pdf
EDIT: If anyone is looking for more specifics about WHY IP addresses and multi-hop don’t matter, the spec includes a mention:
The issue is that mobile is so prevalent and mobile networks rely so extensively on CG-NAT that even with XFF headers, there’s no good way to tell if you are going to get an IP address that actually matters. You could potentially put in a lot of auction time trying to figure that out and still just end up with a private address that’s unusable. So, aside from the devicetype and the geo object which is used for geo targets and fencing, the device object isn’t useful in tracking. Instead adtech uses the user object. This object should contain all your GDPR specifics, any EIDs, 1st party cookie IDs, etc. Even if those change, there usually exists backend mapping that allows for vendors to correlate different user IDs as being the same user ultimately.
So it can matter.
barely, efectively meaningless
That is a good point indeed, but also applies for regular internet use…
It’s a general rule, there are exceptions. I’d think it would be obvious why a VPN is needed for some even if you don’t need it.
I think it’s the older way around. There are really only 3 or 4 countries where using a VPN to pirate is needed. I’m just willing to bet you live in one of those countries.
You want a tray of cookies for that original line?
Oatmeal please. If you want to be anonymous on the internet, use TOR not a VPN.
Torrenting over TOR. Fantastic idea. You clearly know what you’re talking about.
Use cases are important.
Wanna torrent anonymously and don’t wanna pay for a VPN? Get into I2P
If you want to download at dial-up speeds for most of your stuff.
We disagree actually, it’s to have well written tutorials and not to rely on the idea that people can just know things from nothing.
We get the frustration in this meme but honestly, we never liked this kind of attitude in tech spaces, it’s exclusionary, gatekeepy and harms people. We understand not wanting to answer every single question but some well written tutorials etc to link to are better than having everyone starting in ignorance and getting in trouble or being harmed for it.
Especially if said tutorials keep up to date and add more answers to people’s questions over time.
After all, being helpful actually helps the pirate community in that more people seed, so helping others is actually win-win. There’s really no downsides whereas expecting others to know everything or being rude stops this from happening and thus is a loss for all of us.
Tutorials can’t cover everything. Once you encounter something completely new, you need common sense to extrapolate from your existing knowledge (which could be from a tutorial or experience, etc).
In the end, whether we’re talking about piracy, work or life in general… You need to be able to adapt to situations, not just read guides.
That’s not to say well-written tutorials shouldn’t exist, but the common sense part is still more important IMO
Sure, but the problem is that people aren’t taught those skills necessarily. So it does help when people are willing to help out in case those skills or ability to do that or for many other reasons aren’t possible.
We get that not everybody can or wants to, but a quick “I’m unable to help you” is fine, yet we see so mahy people being rude instead. Leave space for those who can or want to help instead 🙂
Who is “we” in this?
Dissociative identity disorder…
Nope. Plurality.
https://morethanone.info/
Please read our profile.
My Lemmy client doesn’t show profiles by default and it’s a pretty popular one. Perhaps it might be wise to introduce yourselves in a sentence or 2 in the future.
Well, that’s a fault of the client. Really it should be working on such basic functionality, if it doesn’t have it already.
What do you mean?
My client doesn’t show these things, and i’m honestly not interested enough in the matter to read someones bio to put their odd form of expression into context, even if it would show them.
For the sake of efficient communication i would suggest adjusting either by putting that context in your comment or by expressing yourself more clearly.
Common Sense™ 2015 still going strong
😉🤭
Dunno man. Common sense for us in IT is different compared to layman. For example, I thought it was common sense to treat incognito mode only as a shortcut so I wouldn’t have to clear browsing history and local cookies everytime. Then I read about users thinking incognito mode actually protected them against snooping or fingerprinting.
third most important is a good torrenting application
You don’t need a VPN if you have a good enough private tracker.
You really trust those private trackers not to get infiltrated by the government or groups of lawyers at some point?