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Encrypted Torrents Growing Fast In the UK

Posted by kdawson on from the deeply-inspect-all-you-want dept.

angryphase writes "The British Phonographic Institute (the UK's RIAA) has noticed a significant increase in the amount of encrypted torrents — from 4% of torrent traffic a year ago to 40% today. Whether it follows a trend for hiding suspicious activities or an increased awareness of personal privacy is up for (weak) debate. Either way, this change of attitude is catching the eye of ISPs, music industry officials, and enforcement agencies. Matt Phillips, spokesman for the UK record industry trade association explains, 'Our internet investigations team, internet service providers and the police are well aware of encryption technology: it's been around for a long time and is commonplace in other areas of internet crime. It should come as no surprise that if people think they can hide illegal activity they will attempt to.'"

13 of 432 comments (clear)

  1. Or maybe.... by jnaujok · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe it's because all the more recent clients are supporting encryption by default?

    --
    Life, the Universe, and Everything... in my image.
    1. Re:Or maybe.... by Technician · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Maybe it's because all the more recent clients are supporting encryption by default?

      Your snail mail is able to deliver packages in plain brown wrappers. Online the delivery is in clear plastic baggies and carried by many people besides the government post office. In addition, third parties are able to examine your packets. Now that expensive attacks are happening because of the contents of some of these displayed packets to others, the search for security envelopes has began. The mail from an to my bank is not in clear packages. My online packets should have the same expectation of privacy.

      Vendors of the envelopes has noticed the users crying the packages are transparent and the carrier is not providing privacy. Vendors are responding with providing security envelopes in place of the transparent packaging.

      The real world security breaches have shown the need.

      --
      The truth shall set you free!
  2. Could someone clarify... by Arathon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    why anyone thinks the encryption will be effective? Since the RIAA (for example) catches torrenters by downloading the file from them in order to prove that they were 'making copyrighted content available', it doesn't really seem to matter whether or not it's encrypted. You're sending the RIAA a file that won't be encrypted on their end....

    1. Re:Could someone clarify... by click2005 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It seems to be more about stopping Comcast/BT style bandwidth throttling than trying to stay anonymous.

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    2. Re:Could someone clarify... by shark72 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "I think it could be argued that you're sending some data... Its just that their client happens to apply some algo to it that happens to put it together in the style of a MP3/OGG or something else."

      This would be about as useless as a child pornographer arguing that all they did is send JPEGs; it was the client who just happened to put it through a JPEG decompresser.

      The laugh test applies to this one. If you're using a tool to break copyright law -- any tool -- the particulars of the storage mechanism don't mean much.

      --
      Sitting in my day care, the art is decopainted.
  3. Is it just me? by mcrbids · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... or is this yet another hit on the use of privacy-protecting encryption?

    I use encryption all day long in a very legal, legitimate form. (ssl/ssh/mcrypt) It's a core part of my operating principles - I don't even allow unencrypted connections to my production systems - EVERYTHING IS SSL ENCRYPTED.

    So it really annoys me when the case is made that (encryption == criminal). Yes it can be used for illegal purposes. So can cars, guns, and tennis rackets. It's not the tool that identifies the crime, it's the crime that identifies the crime.

    --
    I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
  4. Captain obvious moved to the UK? by zappepcs · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Matt Phillips, spokesman for the UK record industry trade association explains, 'Our internet investigations team, internet service providers and the police are well aware of encryption technology: it's been around for a long time and is commonplace in other areas of internet crime. It should come as no surprise that if people think they can hide illegal activity they will attempt to.'" (emphasis mine)

    Why why why why is it automatically assumed that encryption by non-government entities is in actual fact an attempt to cover up illegal activity?

    I believe that in general, western societies have set up laws that generally respect the rights of an individual to whisper a secret in the ear of a friend and not be forced to reveal the message to anyone else. If I choose to encrypt email and torrent files, there is no reason that I should be thought guilty of some crime... fscking idiots.

    It would entertain me greatly for them to find out that these illegal encrypted downloads were in fact, a Linux distribution.
    --
    Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
    1. Re:Captain obvious moved to the UK? by moderatorrater · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Saying that encrypting traffic is only used to cover up illegal activity is like saying that sealing the envelope before giving it to your postal carrier is only being used to hide illegal activity. In fact, there are laws in the US saying that you can't open a letter that's not yours, so why is it so suspicious suddenly when we demand and enforce the same thing online?

  5. evolution by TrippTDF · · Score: 5, Insightful

    you know how antibiotics have a huge downside, in that the infection can evolve and become resistant? There's a similar downside to the RIAA's tactics with regard to torrents- now that everything is heading towards being encrypted, it's going to create a (somewhat) safe haven for child pornography to skip through undetected. If the traffic can't be monitored at all, then people you really are trafficking something terrible are going to be able to do it more easily.

  6. The Internet by driftingwalrus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This reminds me of an old quote,

    "The internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."

    Recording Industry associations: You are now being routed around. Congratulations.

    --
    Paul Anderson
    "I drank WHAT?!" -- Socrates
  7. Re:Maybe... by jizziknight · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Since when is BitTorrent only used for copyright violation and stealing music? I could be using BitTorrent completely legally, and still have an ISP trying to delay/block/throttle/etc those packets. If I encrypt them, it's harder to do.

    --
    Everything I say is a lie. Except that... and that... and that, and that, and that, and that... and that.
  8. Re:Maybe... by TheMeuge · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Most guns inside the US are used for crime. That doesn't mean they don't have legitimate uses.

    Really?

    There's over 100 million units of firearms in private hands in the USA. If the majority of them were used for crime, there'd be a lot of crime...
  9. Encryption increases SPEED, does NOT lower risk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > The real world security breaches have shown the need.

    I don't know if it's "security breaches" per se. After all, encrypting the torrent does NOTHING to prevent anyone who knows that that torrent contains copyrighted material from finding your IP from the tracker and going after you legally.

    The ONLY thing it does is bypass some ISP-level throttling aimed at BitTorrent traffic. In other words, the ONLY reason people use it is because it makes the torrents go faster, rather than being stuck at low speeds.

    That said, more people are probably doing it because it's on by default. And the reason it's on by default in more clients is because it's faster.

    So yeah, the spokesman here is an idiot. Encrypted torrents will NOT help you evade responsibility for sharing copyrighted materials. Not even a little bit. This guy is a dumbass.