FileShareFreak THE source for BitTorrent & P2P Tips, Tricks and Info.

Well, there’s P2L and then there’s this. The creators of Bitt.tv have shut down the site due to lack of donations in favor of a different model that charges $24 USD for a yearly subscription to their new ratio-free TV tracker at http://vizz.tv. So instead of running a top-notch torrent tracker (which they obviously failed at) where members will gladly donate, why not charge a one-time flat fee just so members can gain entrance? - without even offering a single iota of detail about what’s behind the $24 curtain. Talk about taking the ‘free’ out of BitTorrent - here’s the message staff sent out today to existing members of Bitt.tv:

Read the rest of this entry »

"Where did my invite come from?" You signed up for a private tracker using a valid email address, and got invited to a different one - out of the blue. Sounds cool? Think again. While the prospect of getting into a new tracker "no strings attached" may seem convenient, the scenario is actually quite scary: where did they get your email address from? Should you dismiss it as some some phishing scam designed to steal your name/password to use on your elite sites, or is your email address on a "for sale" list? Probably the latter.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you thought it was only unsafe to download from public trackers - think again. It’s hardly a shock that anti-piracy groups make it a habit to go after users of public torrents, or even the colossal Demonoid tracker. But piracy watchdog group BayTSP, which in large part represents the MPAA and its subsidiaries, has begun to encroach into the private tracker sector. What was once thought, "it can’t happen on a private site" may soon become the norm, as more and more torrenters make the switch to private trackers. This is the story of TorrentLeech, BayTSP, home PC downloading, and a stern warning from my ISP in regards to sharing the latest "Star Trek XI" film.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re an invite trader, you may find yourself on the business end of the banhammer on popular torrent forums and private trackers alike. Well known for being an invite trading forum - which doesn’t bode well with private trackers - Swedish-based torrentinvites.se staff and members now have a lot more to worry about with the recent alliance between certain torrent discussion boards and popular trackers - in a bold crackdown bid to oust traders from the scene.

Read the rest of this entry »

Private tracker sysops & admins may have a brand-new headache on their hands with Ratio Faker. Self praising, "Ratio Faker can help you keep a good ratio in private bittorrent trackers." Actually, Ratio Faker is a new third-party utility that can (and probably will) assist you in getting banned from your favorite private trackers. It works through your existing BitTorrent client by reporting inaccurate upload and download stats to the tracker, thus boosting your ratio. Hey, at the very least you’ll go out with a good ratio, before finding yourself unable to login.

Read the rest of this entry »

Anti-P2P group Discordia Ltd., who made headlines in late 2007 with the controversial commandeering of Shareaza’s official domain, has now surreptitiously acquired Lphant. Discordia began with takeovers of BearShare.com & iMesh.com - and most notably Shareaza.com - evidently their slick tactics are again at work with the recent acquisition of Lphant.com.

While the Lphant peer-to-peer program was never a well-known client among giants such as BearShare, Shareaza and even iMesh - but by right it certainly has (or had) it’s own userbase. Obviously this conquest comes at little cost to Discordia for a domain of such little importance nowadays; perhaps the point is irrelevant. For years now, peer-to-peer users have been shying away from these all-in-one applications in favor of a more efficient, trustworthy distributed network known as BitTorrent.

Read the rest of this entry »

If it were April 1st, we’d put a lot more scrutiny into what we’re about to report. It would appear that TorrentInvites.org is selling private tracker invites. Just in time for Christmas, you can now purchase your very own favorite private tracker, for you or a loved one. And some of them are even on sale; such as What.cd which is going for $9.95 USD. Ironically, that’s much less painful than waiting to take their IRC invite quiz.

Read the rest of this entry »

As a rule, private trackers are more secure than public ones. However, what many members of Demonoid don’t realize is that most of the popular torrents are using public trackers - which is just about everything that has a huge swarm of seeders & leechers. Thus, you may as well just be downloading from ThePirateBay or Mininova; essentially it’s the same thing. So why is it that Demonoid users are shocked when they receive nasty eletters from their ISPs admonishing them for downloading copyrighted content? That’s exactly what’s happening, and the complaints are rolling in on many of the torrents.

Read the rest of this entry »

Unless you happened to be fortunate enough to start out on BitTorrent through the great world of private trackers, you’ve probably fallen for some pretty intricate public torrent scams in your time. And let’s face it - we’ve all been duped into downloading password-protected torrents, only to have to click on external links to find that elusive password on sites that we just shouldn’t need to be visiting. Some of us may have been forced to acquire a special media player (such as DOM) to play that movie you just spent three days downloading. But all of this is child’s play compared to the new generation of torrent scams.

Read the rest of this entry »

From Shill Bidders to fake Feedback Ratings, fraudulent listings and hijacked accounts, eBay has always been a haven for scammers. So maybe that’s why we’re not surprised to see prominent BitTorrent trackers up for bid there.

Yes, folks - for only $0.99 USD you can bid on an invite to What.cd, STMusic.org and even Torrent-Damage. And shipping is included! Got a little more to part with? Why not scoop up TL for $25?

We personally like this What.cd seller’s ‘disclaimer’ to eBay, to justify his actions:

"Note to ebay: I hold an account on this website and possess this invite, this is my PERSONALLY owned invitation that I may choose to use either way I please I donated to what.cd to obtain this invitation so i hold all grounds to do what ever i wish this is in accordance with this the listing should not be removed. Thank you for your understanding."

We Call Bullshit: If What.cd finds out who you are, you and your entire invite tree will be disabled permanently.

Read the rest of this entry »