Steal This File Sharing Book: What They Wont Tell You About File Sharing
< Day Day Up >
Chapter 1: Finding the Files
Figure 1-1: An FTP program lets you browse another computer’s drives and folders for the files you want.
Figure 1-2: Sharing files through IRC requires a file server bot, which advertises which files it offers such as the Crusader Kings video game or the Chasing Liberty or Never Die Alone movies.
Figure 1-3: When you search for a file, your client program displays a list of files along with the usernames of the computers where the files can be found.
Chapter 2: The Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Networks
Figure 2-1: Searching for a file can be as simple as typing in a song or artist name.
Figure 2-2: Many file sharing programs let you specify the type of file you want to search for, such as a program or an audio file.
Figure 2-3: You can narrow your search criteria to specific details, such as the names of recording artists and albums.
Figure 2-4: When searching on Napster, every file request first had to go through a central server, which could be shut down.
Figure 2-5: When searching on Gnutella, every file request goes through every computer connected to the Gnutella network. This makes it impossible for the authorities to shut down the entire network just by removing a single computer.
Figure 2-6: The LimeWire client is just one of many clients that can connect to the Gnutella network.
Figure 2-7: Kazaa is one of the most popular, and most sued, file sharing programs in the world.
Figure 2-8: FastTrack uses Supernodes, which divide a large network into several smaller ones to speed up file searching.
Figure 2-9: A quick search on the eDonkey network reveals plenty of CD images of popular Microsoft programs, including Office 2004, SQL Server, and Streets & Trips.
Figure 2-10: Before you can share files over the DirectConnect network, you must find a server that will grant you access to the network.
Figure 2-11: Piolet is advertiser-supported, but the ads only appear in a banner within the program; they’re not embedded in hard-to-remove adware.
Figure 2-12: If a screen pops up and asks if you want to install additional software besides a client program for a network, chances are good that you’ll be installing adware/spyware.
Figure 2-13: Programs like Shareaza can connect to multiple file sharing networks, such as Gnutella and eDonkey2000.
Figure 2-14: A program like Filetopia offers different ways to encrypt your information from prying eyes.
Chapter 3: Navigating Newsgroups
Figure 3-1: Some newsgroup servers specialize in newsgroups that offer X-rated pictures and videos.
Figure 3-2: The Slyck website offers tips, tutorials, and hints for grabbing files from both newsgroups and file sharing networks.
Figure 3-3: GrabIt can help you find and download files from a newsgroup.
Figure 3-4: Most newsgroup readers let you specify the newsgroup server name in a dialog box that you can access with the Account Settings or Account Options command in the Tools menu.
Figure 3-5: By searching for specific words in a newsgroup name, you can get a shortened list of newsgroups that you might want to subscribe to.
Figure 3-6: To crosspost a file, type the names of two or more newsgroups, each separated from the next by a comma.
Figure 3-7: Outlook Express lists all the different parts of a binary file, then leaves it up to you to locate each part.
Figure 3-8: A specialized newsreader, like Agent, locates all the parts of a large file automatically.
Figure 3-9: After selecting every part of a file in Outlook Express, line them up in numerical order, then click OK to download them.
Figure 3-10: You can identify a yEnc-encoded file by the words “ybegin” and “ypart” in the first two lines of the message.
Chapter 4: Instant Messaging and Online Chat Rooms
Figure 4-1: An IRC chat room shows you the nicknames of all the people in the room, along with the messages they’ve already typed.
Figure 4-2: Most IRC clients have a list of servers for different IRC networks.
Figure 4-3: An IRC search engine can help you find a specific IRC network and channel where people are trading music, movies, or games.
Figure 4-4: When you search for MP3 files and XDCC file servers, you can find the IRC network and channel name where you can download files.
Figure 4-5: Many instant messaging services allow you to configure the program to turn on file sharing.
Figure 4-6: Instant messaging services provide plenty of music-related chat rooms where you can meet with others, chat about your favorite music, and swap MP3 files.
Figure 4-7: A program such as Gaim can connect to several different instant messaging services.
Chapter 5: Finding Files on Web and FTP Sites
Figure 5-1: The graphical nature of a web page lets you point and click on the files you want to copy, such as the movie The Matrix Revolutions or Microsoft Office XP.
Figure 5-2: An FTP site displays files organized in directories and subdirectories.
Figure 5-3: By narrowing your search just for MP3 files within a search engine, you can quickly find illegally traded music files on the Internet.
Figure 5-4: File finding programs can locate MP3 files on both web and FTP sites.
Figure 5-5: When you right-click a link that represents a file, a pop-up menu appears, allowing you to save that file on your own computer.
Figure 5-6: An FTP client program displays the folders and files stored on your computer and on the FTP site.
Chapter 6: Protecting Your Identify
Figure 6-1: The Shields UP website can show you the type of information that your computer sends out over the Internet, such as your IP address.
Figure 6-2: PeerGuardian maintains a database of suspicious IP addresses that it blocks over a file sharing network, such as those belonging to the RIAA, Warner Music, and the French Department of Defense.
Figure 6-3: Filetopia gives you a choice of different encryption algorithms to mask your identity when you are connected to the Filetopia peer-to-peer network.
Figure 6-4: EarthStation 5 offers a stealth mode to mask your IP address from any intruders.
Figure 6-5: Using a proxy server with Kazaa to mask your IP address.
Figure 6-6: If you refuse to share files over a file sharing network, the authorities can’t see if your computer contains any copyrighted files.
Chapter 7: Protecting Your Computer
Figure 7-1: McAfee Personal Firewall lets you specify which ports to keep open and which ports to keep closed unless they are explicitly opened by a trusted program.
Figure 7-2: An anti-spyware program, such as Spybot, can identify all the spyware programs currently stored on a hard disk and give you the option of removing them.
Figure 7-3: Mozilla allows you to block pop-up ads from appearing. Unfortunately, pop-up ads can still appear on your Windows computer if they use Internet Explorer (before you install Service Pack 2), even if you make Mozilla your default browser.
Figure 7-4: With a virtual computer program, such as Virtual PC, you can run multiple operating systems simultaneously to isolate data from each operating system.
Chapter 8: The File Formats
Figure 8-1: The Folder Options dialog box lets you set Windows to display file extensions that are normally hidden from view.
Figure 8-2: A Macintosh can identify both the extension of a file and the kind of file it may be, such as an MP3 audio file or a QuickTime movie file.
Figure 8-3: Linux can display both the extension of a file and the kind of file it may be, such as an MP3 audio file.
Figure 8-4: Remove the check mark from the Copy Protect Music check box to keep Windows Media Player from adding copy protection to your ripped CDs.
Chapter 9: Sharing Music
Figure 9-1: The libraries in most large cities allow you to check out popular music CDs.
Figure 9-2: You can find every song from Ashlee Simpson’s Autobiography album on most file sharing networks, but you may not find all the songs from albums by older recording artists.
Figure 9-3: Searching with an inexact name will turn up lots of irrelevant files on a file sharing network.
Figure 9-4: Searching for a recording artist in a newsgroup can often uncover an entire album.
Figure 9-5: Some newsgroup servers carry hundreds of MP3 newsgroups sorted by music category.
Figure 9-6: Many music websites only offer the latest songs or older songs from the most popular recording artists.
Figure 9-7: This website offers just a handful of Beatles songs stored in MP3 format.
Figure 9-8: LimeWire rates the quality of a file from zero to four stars so you can determine the quality of a file before downloading it.
Figure 9-9: Many audio players let you edit the ID3 tag of a music file.
Chapter 10: Finding Movies (or TV Shows)
Figure 10-1: This ASCII art lists the source code for cracking a DVD’s encryption.
Figure 10-2: Within hours of its official release, video pirates captured and distributed Shrek 2 over the Internet.
Figure 10-3: DVDx, like most DVD rippers, can copy a DVD to the hard drive or to another DVD.
Figure 10-4: Many movies appear on file sharing networks, divided into several smaller files.
Figure 10-5: Programs like Sigster can pinpoint the location of your chosen file, no matter which file sharing network it may be found on.
Figure 10-6: Download the initial RAR file and every consecutively numbered RAR file immediately following.
Figure 10-7: Once you’ve downloaded all the parts of an RAR compressed file, WinRAR can combine them to extract the original file.
Figure 10-8: This Sex and the City episode is posted in RAR format, with both PAR and PAR2 files included for reconstructing a few missing, corrupt, or incomplete RAR files.
Figure 10-9: Double-click the PAR2 file in QuickPar, and the program tells you how many blocks you need to recover the missing files.
Figure 10-10: Once you’ve downloaded the required number of blocks in PAR2 files, QuickPar recreates the video.
Chapter 11: Sharing Books
Figure 11-1: Most books are scanned in by hand, page by page.
Figure 11-2: E-books from O'Reilly appear frequently on newsgroups and file sharing networks.
Figure 11-3: Over 300 postings in the alt.binaries.e-book newsgroup contain nearly all of Stephen King's books, with most books being posted in several different formats for the reader's convenience.
Figure 11-4: Many people download books from the Internet and then resell them on CDs through auction sites like eBay.
Figure 11-5: The works of popular authors, such as Stephen King, can be found on practically any file sharing network.
Figure 11-6: A search on Kazaa turned up nearly 2,000 books that cover a wide variety of topics.
Figure 11-7: File sharing programs can limit a search to a specific file type, such as video or text.
Chapter 12: Pirating Software (WAREZ)
Figure 12-1: Many warez websites list an incredible variety of commercial software available for downloading.
Figure 12-2: Through newsgroups, you can find plenty of warez and serial numbers needed to run pirated programs.
Figure 12-3: Many warez websites let you click a program name to view a list of valid serial numbers.
Figure 12-4: A serial number database program, such as Serials2000, lists valid (though stolen) serial numbers for use in different versions of pirated programs.
Figure 12-5: This serial number generator creates serial numbers to use in pirated copies of Microsoft Windows XP.
Figure 12-6: A warez search engine can help you track down a pirated version of a popular program hidden somewhere on the Internet.
Figure 12-7: An IRC channel search engine can help you find a warez channel where you can chat with warez traders and software pirates to find copies of the latest programs.
Figure 12-8: Practically every file sharing network is loaded with warez files, cracking programs, and serial number generators.
Chapter 13: Sharing Video Games
Figure 13-1: Many file sharing networks offer complete video games for downloading.
Figure 13-2: Video games are one of the most popular types of pirated programs you can find offered on warez websites.
Figure 13-3: With the BasicBoy emulator, you can play Nintendo Game Boy games under Microsoft Windows.
Figure 13-4: Many people have created programs to emulate once-popular home video-game consoles, such as Sega Genesis, Turbo Grafx-16, and Nintendo 64.
Figure 13-5: The MAME emulator lets you play classic arcade video games on a personal computer.
Figure 13-6: Virtual PC lets you play MS-DOS games on a Windows or Macintosh computer.
Figure 13-7: Many websites sell CDs full of illegally copied video-game ROM images.
Chapter 14: Sharing Pornography
Figure 14-1: Google turns up plenty of free pornographic images if you turn on its No Filtering option.
Figure 14-2: To profit from piracy, porn publisher Jules Jordan watermarked the Flesh Hunter 4 DVD with his website’s name in the lower right corner.
Figure 14-3: You can find both pornographic video and photographs on file sharing networks like Kazaa.
Figure 14-4: You can find more than 100 different newsgroups catering to different types of porn.
Figure 14-5: The headers of this porn video clip indicate that it includes ten JPEG screenshots of the video, which will let you know at a glance whether you should download the entire clip.
Figure 14-6: Windows Media Player displays an error message when you try to play a video that uses an unfamiliar codec.
Chapter 15: Miscellaneous Thievery
Figure 15-1: This Russian site offers free downloads of copyrighted needlework patterns.
Figure 15-2: Guitar players scan in tablature from popular songs and swap them on Usenet’s alt.binaries. guitar.tab forum.
Figure 15-3: The Pirated Sites website showcases side-by-side comparisons of websites suspected of copying from each other.
Figure 15-4: The eBay auction site sued BidBay for trademark infringement when the site mimicked eBay’s own name and design.
Chapter 16: The Legal Alternatives
Figure 16-1: In the future, legal music downloading services may be funded by promoting another product.
Figure 16-2: Many legal movie downloading services offer both popular and obscure movies that you may never find at your local video store.
Chapter 17: How the Corporations Fight Back
Figure 17-1: The RIAA website provides news and information about file sharing from the music industry’s point of view.
Figure 17-2: The Boycott-RIAA website contains news about file sharing that tries to undermine or contradict the RIAA’s claims.
Figure 17-3: The Don’t Buy CDs website offers arguments to punish the music industry by boycotting the purchase of CDs.
Figure 17-4: Hymn can strip away the DRM that comes wrapped around every song downloaded from iTunes.
Figure 17-5: To uncover file sharing programs, a program like Packeteer looks at which programs are accessing a network and their bandwidth consumption.
Figure 17-6: Madonna’s website after it was hacked to protest her distribution of a cuckoo egg on file sharing networks.