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What's the skinny on Comcast and torrents?
Posted by: sarah54 ()
Date: February 17, 2008 05:01AM

I'm an old-fasioned square and I've never used any Bit-torrent type programs. I'm not looking to download a bunch of free movies or music. I just want to see what's out there. (Do people post free music or stuff for instance?) These days (for years now) all the binaries newsgroups are all spam, so maybe torrents replaced them I guess?

Would I have any problems if I got some software and explored? Would Comcast give me any trouble? From what I understand, if I get a file then my computer would also send it to others if I'm not mistaken. I'm not into bootlegging, but if I go looking at stuff I can't know what it is until I've got it, and maybe I'll get stuff in gray areas. Is it a bad idea to use torrent programs, or is it fine, or what? I'm out of touch, so I don't whether torrents are something everyone uses or if they're the province of outlaws or something.

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Re: What's the skinny on Comcast and torrents?
Posted by: pgens ()
Date: February 17, 2008 10:54AM

Comcast is in Fairfax County now?

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Re: What's the skinny on Comcast and torrents?
Posted by: Anonymous Coward ()
Date: February 17, 2008 11:41AM

I've never had any trouble with Comcast blocking torrents. I can pretty much saturate my bandwidth on really popular torrents (like Lost episodes when they release). I've had Comcast for 5 or 6 years and haven't had any problems. I'm not a real heavy user, though, so I wouldn't have ever hit their bandwidth caps.

>>Comcast is in Fairfax County now?

Reston uses Comcast.

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Re: What's the skinny on Comcast and torrents?
Posted by: Lurker. ()
Date: February 17, 2008 12:52PM

A while back several posters here said they had received letters from some Music association saying that they had downloaded music illegally. I believe they were on Comcast. They never posted back if anything happened after the letters. Most poster here told them throw the letters away, delete the files.

I talked with some drunk girl one night in a bar and she claimed that she downloads porn and music etc, all the time using Comcast and has never had a problem. I believe her but consider the source.

I can see where the movie and music industry might have legal rights groups tracking IPs, but I doubt the porn industry cares.

You should be aware that hackers love file sharing networks. Especially when it comes to "CODEC's." A Codec is a system of decoding video streams, but unfortunately codecs can also include programs that stay around in the background and snap pictures or log your keystrokes. Not good. Becareful of downloading strange CODECs.

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Re: What's the skinny on Comcast and torrents?
Posted by: Wrinkle ()
Date: February 17, 2008 01:39PM

sarah54 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Would I have any problems if I got some software
> and explored? Would Comcast give me any trouble?

Very unlikely unless you starting hitting the bandwidth real hard (Gb's per day).

> From what I understand, if I get a file then my
> computer would also send it to others if I'm not
> mistaken.

Torrents have "seeders" and "leechers" (usually denoted S and L on websites such as btjunkie, isohunt, pirate bay, etc). When you start downloading (leeching) a torrent, most bittorrent applications will, by default, make you a seeder. That is, your downloaded parts of the file will be available for all other leechers. However, once the download is complete, you can stop the torrent if you choose to and no one will leech from you any more.

> I'm not into bootlegging, but if I go
> looking at stuff I can't know what it is until
> I've got it

Oh, come on now... If you start downloading a torrent named "Meet_the_spartans_movie.torrent", you know pretty much what you're getting. And if you start downloading mystery torrents from online... well, you're asking for viruses, etc. No one in their right mind downloads random files just for the fun of it.

> Is it a bad idea to use torrent programs,
> or is it fine, or what? I'm out of touch, so I
> don't whether torrents are something everyone uses
> or if they're the province of outlaws or
> something.

Predominant usage appears to be for bootlegging, etc, but that shouldn't stop you from using it. Just be careful what you torrent. If you start downloading the latest music or movie releases, you run a higher risk of getting into trouble. Stay away from downloading movies altogether, in fact. If you stick to older music and tv shows then you're pretty much in the clear. Even bootleg software is generally "safe" to download -- just do a really thorough virus check before installing anything.

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Re: What's the skinny on Comcast and torrents?
Posted by: Margie ()
Date: February 17, 2008 05:05PM

Lurker. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
"I talked with some drunk girl one night in a bar and she claimed that she downloads porn and music etc, all the time using Comcast and has never had
a problem."

Lurker,
Sounds like you have some interesting conversations at the bar. Any particular reason she was telling you about Porn???? Just wondering.......

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Re: What's the skinny on Comcast and torrents?
Posted by: sarah54 ()
Date: February 17, 2008 05:49PM

I was sort of thinking of pornography, nude pictures and stuff. Maybe TV clips if it's something notable that isn't anywhere else, like Youtube but higher quality, if that is available. I'm really not looking for bootleg movies and music.

I know not to ever download software this way, just files.

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Re: What's the skinny on Comcast and torrents?
Posted by: Anonymous Coward ()
Date: February 17, 2008 06:47PM

Sorry, there's no porn on the Internet. I checked.

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Re: What's the skinny on Comcast and torrents?
Posted by: KeepOnTruckin ()
Date: February 17, 2008 07:32PM

try pen island.com

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