How To Work Around Comcast’s File-Sharing Crackdown

[p2p rules]

If you can’t get the Feds to do it, you’d better do it yourself. Starting July 1st, major American Internet service providers will become copyright cops for the MPAA and RIAA in what supporters call one of the most promising anti-piracy efforts in history. ISPs onboard for the multi-million dollar plan include Time Warner Cable, AT&T, Cablevision, Verizon and, of course, Comcast, which connects one-fifth of wired homes. The six-strike “graduated response” program focuses primarily on copyrighted content on BitTorrent, a popular peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing program that allows decentralized downloading by having users snag files from a number of sources or “seeds” across the web.

The real problem here is that the RIAA, MPAA and major ISPs are serving as officer, judge and jury with essentially no checks and balances until you decide to pay $35 for a purportedly independent review board to look over your case (you get the money back if you win). Beyond that, these measures treat the use of BitTorrent as an expressly unscrupulous activity, which is no surprise considering Hollywood’s historical incredulity at tales of legitimate use and the ineffectuality of “piracy” on sales - even as individual artists and celebrities embrace the program’s distribution efficiency.

While this system is far more logical than older methods that led to clogged courts over petty violation claims (mainly for uploading, not downloading), it’s still essentially a bandage over the gaping wound of the entertainment industry’s ever-failing business and distribution model. What’s more, the flaws inherent in the new system render it remarkably easy to bypass. And even if it does work technically, similar European programs have had little effect on file sharing.

So until ol’ Hollywood drops the cop shtick and starts playing businessman again, here are some tips to circumvent the upcoming torrent crackdown...

blogs.phillymag.com