Previously, I’ve bitched about getting Azureus running on Ubuntu Feisty. A commenter pointed out the new version of Azureus, 3.0.3.4, which I wasn’t able to install through automatic updates but had no trouble installing from the Linux x64 tarball. I’m pleased to report there was no fiddling with SWT files or deletion of archives to get it going.

Introduction

In the past I’ve noted how my pirate friend gets software/movies/music using various file sharing techniques. Since then my friend has been asked by co-workers, siblings, and random passers-by how he/she comes to possess high-quality screeners, TV rips, and music before anyone else. To wit, I’ve put together this guide of my friend’s techniques for those interested in such things and willing to risk civil and (unlikely) criminal penalties in return for a Borat DVD rip and season 2 of Scrubs.

Though guides to using BitTorrent abound, this is the only one that I know of that isn’t flooded with sleazy ads from AdBrite or Google.

I want to run the popular Azureus BitTorrent client on bonzo, which has a ton of bandwidth to burn. Bonzo is a virtual machine on a rackmount server in a data center, so I need to run Azureus in headless mode, using its HTML UI to control it from afar.

I’m starting with a freshly upgraded FreeBSD 6.1-RELEASE box.

First, I’ll need to install Java 1.5. As it happens, Sun and the FreeBSD team have finally come up with an official Java release for FreeBSD.

Today I received an email from my ISP, SpeakEasy, forwarding a ‘cease and decist’ letter from BayTSP.com on behalf of The Teaching Company, complaining of violations of Teaching Company copyrights originating from my IP address. Of course, I was shocked and appalled, and can only assume that…erm..I have a friend who..erm..used it to exchange copyrighted materials…via BitTorrent…

This is the first such notice I’ve received, which rather surprises me. Given that copyright holders hire companies like BayTSP to trawl that P2P networks for incriminating file names, I would expect to be busted a long time ago.

I have a..erm..friend, who had been leeching warez for more than a decade, and music for at least half that long. The techniques and technologies employed in this pursuit have changed alot over that time. I don’t often run across a concise yet comprehensive account of what exactly is involved in breaking the law in this particular way, so I thought I’d jot them down.

First, there are a wide range of sources for warez and mp3s; a google search for ‘warez’ or ‘brittany spears mp3’ is not among them. Frauds and search spammers have more or less taken over these keywords, and even if they hadn’t, RIAA and SPA spiders would find and shut down any legitimate sources.