PeerBlock ~Effective IP Filter or Harmful~

[DaggerLite]

I've seen it debated on various forums, whether PeerBlock (and other IP (as in Internet Protocol address) blocking software) is useless or not. The main reason it is argued to be useless is that people use it to protect themselves from corporations snooping around for IPs that are sharing their [partners'] intellectual property through torrents, while these interest groups will still get IP addresses from the trackers you connect to. Whether they and your ISP cares about your privacy regardless of seeing you as a distributor (seeder) or not connectible is a different matter. The fact that anyone might connect from unblocked addresses is also used as an argument, although I don't see this as a good one, since you've already made their work harder for them in that case.

I personally wager high that it's not useless in terms of guarding oneself from undesirable IPs connecting to your computer. Of course, the program is useful as an IP blocker, but I'm thinking about the pre-constructed lists (iblocklist.com) in case that was not obvious.

The question is, however, is it doing more good or harm? Using PeerBlock, you'll naturally use the anti-P2P list, which includes dozens of corporations regardless of them actually being anti-P2P or not. All in all, I'm blocking 776 million IP addresses right now. I am fairly certain that I'm not really being targeted by anyone in specific, and while it is just another layer of security, it keeps blocking addresses constantly. It's obvious that most of them are just regular people that happen to be behind a blocked IP range. In addition to this, there's the issue of blocking legit companies, adding some work in figuring out what ranges to allow for your computer to work normally. Luckily, some IP lists have been made for certain popular service providers (Valve's Steam for instance).

tl;dr:

• Is PeerBlock worth the effort?
• Is it effective as a general IP blocker, or does it block too many legit connections and virtually no undesired connections?

[K7IA]

Unfortunately I can't comment on PeerBlock software, I presume they rely on a custom mini-port driver implementation but I checked out the FAQ for some basic knowledge.

I am using mainly dat files for ip range filtering during P2P activities if supported by the BitTorrent client. I think it was a very big file (2 mb+) with a significant ip pool. I can't say for certain because my dedicated pc for P2P committed suicide 2 months ago.

My main reason for blocking ip ranges was because some peers inject corrupted/incorrect data during P2P activity and cause serious delays in file completion. I am using this feature since eMule 0.29~ , and I think it does what it is supposed to do.

[DaggerLite]

For those who block IP ranges differently: PeerBlock is just an interface to easily block and allow IP addresses as you do other stuff. It auto-updates from URLs regularly, and you can control manual blocking as well, describing what exactly a range is for. Easily viewable.

The topic goes to all forms of mass IP blocking, though I assumed most people use PeerBlock or PeerGuardian 2. At least I've got the impression of that.

[dogsinafen]

I use it.
The first time you set it up it can be a pain, since it's blocking servers for same gaming applications and similar stuff. But that's no big deal because you can permit those IPs.
If you're getting connection problems you just look at the list and see what's being blocked and permit it.

With private trackers the list is pretty much useless (depends if anti p2p get access to that site) since most if not all the peer group is safe.
I've noticed that with public trackers PeerBlock blocks a lot of unwanted connections.
As can be viewed here (list was generated while I was leeching/seeding public torrents):


So using that application does help. The only strange problem I had was that the IP of my seedbox was being blocked because of OVHSAS was also hosted on the same network. But that was a simple fix.

If you're really worried about who's connecting to you because of you're torrenting then you need to use a VPN or a SeedBox. Nothing like having another server somewhere else do all your connections for you. And, with a seedbox you get a great ratio out of it .

[K7IA]

^ In fact this is some serious activity if the log entries are not connection retries etc which I can't tell since the src/dest ip addresses are concealed.

But may be I can assume these are indeed probes for infringement detection of copyright protected material if they originate from/to different ip addresses.

i.e if Euroaccess|Anti-p2p log entries are from a lot of different ip addresses, then the block is indeed protecting you. If it is from a single ip, the effectiveness assessment would probably be inconclusive.

You could drive some conclusions whether the software is helpful or not through simple logic just like this one.

[dogsinafen]

^ In fact this is some serious activity if the log entries are not connection retries etc which I can't tell since the src/dest ip addresses are concealed.

But may be I can assume these are indeed probes for infringement detection of copyright protected material if they originate from/to different ip addresses.

i.e if Euroaccess|Anti-p2p log entries are from a lot of different ip addresses, then the block is indeed protecting you. If it is from a single ip, the effectiveness assessment would probably be inconclusive.

You could drive some conclusions whether the software is helpful or not through simple logic just like this one.

Most of these anti p2p companies will not have a block of IPs since that cost money. Most of them have a few servers running that collect information on the peer pool. Thus only one IP is needed. Having a block of IPs and multiple servers on different IPs can get expensive. All they are doing is running a torrent and collecting the data they receive from the tracker updates and peers. You only need one server and one client to do that.

[bloody000]

The obvious problem is that you are trusting the IP list and its maintainers. for all we know it could just be a BS list compile by anti-p2p orgs to give people a false sense of security.

[K7IA]

All they are doing is running a torrent and collecting the data they receive from the tracker updates and peers. You only need one server and one client to do that.

Yes that is correct if they only want to collect peer information like who is leeching/seeding the torrent. Technically you need only one client/tracker to acquire this information.

But P2P activities are often global data transactions, like someone seeding from Malaysia and someone leeching from Spain, so collecting information and enforcing law to these users might not be conventional. Instead they attempt to delay the propagation of material by injecting corrupted data during transmission. Fortunately this triggers individual banning of peers if the BitTorrent client (or any other P2P software) supports it, that is why a anti-P2P would probably need a pool of ip addresses. That's where imo IP range blocking come in handy. Let's not forget that a single machine can be configured to bind to multiple ip addresses.

[DaggerLite]

So using that application does help. The only strange problem I had was that the IP of my seedbox was being blocked because of OVHSAS was also hosted on the same network. But that was a simple fix.

This is a perfect example of what I mean about IP blocking doing harm. Since your seedbox, which we assume is a legit connection (note: this discussion is not about illegal sharing, so don't delve on that subject here), is hosted within the OVH SAS network, every single PeerBlock user with the standard Anti-P2P list is blocking your seedbox. I guess we can agree that it is in the interest of those people to connect to you, and that you're not trying to hack or spy on their activity. These blocklists may cover both safe and undesired IPs, but for the most part the safe ones get blocked.

Luckily for you, relatively few people seem to use IP blocking.

But P2P activities are often global data transactions, like someone seeding from Malaysia and someone leeching from Spain, so collecting information and enforcing law to these users might not be conventional.

It is of course very possible for countries to work together on certain things like criminal activities. If notified, not much effort is needed for someone in Spain to check a torrent X.

[K7IA]

So using that application does help. The only strange problem I had was that the IP of my seedbox was being blocked because of OVHSAS was also hosted on the same network. But that was a simple fix.

This is a perfect example of what I mean about IP blocking doing harm. Since your seedbox, which we assume is a legit connection (note: this discussion is not about illegal sharing, so don't delve on that subject here), is hosted within the OVH SAS network, every single PeerBlock user with the standard Anti-P2P list is blocking your seedbox.

This is indeed a very good example of how it can be harmful. You would naturally manually alter your PeerBlock/etc ip list to permit connections to your seedbox, but other peers using PeerBlock will continue to block your seedbox.

[dogsinafen]

So using that application does help. The only strange problem I had was that the IP of my seedbox was being blocked because of OVHSAS was also hosted on the same network. But that was a simple fix.

This is a perfect example of what I mean about IP blocking doing harm. Since your seedbox, which we assume is a legit connection (note: this discussion is not about illegal sharing, so don't delve on that subject here), is hosted within the OVH SAS network, every single PeerBlock user with the standard Anti-P2P list is blocking your seedbox.

This is indeed a very good example of how it can be harmful. You would naturally manually alter your PeerBlock/etc ip list to permit connections to your seedbox, but other peers using PeerBlock will continue to block your seedbox.

Ah.
Eh, not a lot of users are using PeerBlock or other similar software because I'm always getting great speeds to bakabt. In the end I'm not loosing but those who are blocking that address are losing. A note should be sent to users who use this software that some seedboxes will be blocked unless you permit the IP.
The only time I find PeerBlock really useful is when dealing with public trackers. I tend to only download public torrents on my home connection and private sites use the seedbox. I'm not worried about not being upable to upload to the trackers I use because a lot of users use seedboxes that are normally located in OVH data centers thus no potential peers with great speeds are lost. With bakabt it's a different citation since most users download from home, thus users who have PeerBlock will be blocking my connection. But that's no big deal, I still manage to upload a lot anyways.

[DaggerLite]

A note should be sent to users who use this software that some seedboxes will be blocked unless you permit the IP.

The point was that almost everything that you constantly block is a safe connection, even if it says "Anti-P2P" in their description. Extremely few connections are bad, and I would even say that it's usually none over the course of a day.

I doubt all the IPs are up-to-date either. I've got stuff like "Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania." What the hell? Though, it can't be easy updating nearly a billion IPs, and it's not like I paid anything for the lists I use.

[dogsinafen]

A note should be sent to users who use this software that some seedboxes will be blocked unless you permit the IP.

The point was that almost everything that you constantly block is a safe connection, even if it says "Anti-P2P" in their description. Extremely few connections are bad, and I would even say that it's usually none over the course of a day.

I doubt all the IPs are up-to-date either. I've got stuff like "Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania." What the hell? Though, it can't be easy updating nearly a billion IPs, and it's not like I paid anything for the lists I use.

Updating the list can be a issue since most of it is generated by users. But then again, some protection is better then nothing...

[Tiffanys]

I see a lot of anti-p2p in the blocked connections from time to time, so I'd say it really works great.

[zougou1]

I use PeerBlock -- it's nice to think you're protecting yourself, but no matter what you do, your ISP can ultimately know what you're doing (unless I'm mistaken), so I believe it's a false sense of security.

[kyanwan]

You're missing a key thing here.  

You have free access to the list of blocked servers, right?

So do they.

It's no big deal to change your IP.   Any competent firm would use the list / software themselves to find out if they've been detected.  Then move.  

Duck & cover.  Duck & cover.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_and_cover

[ One of the reasons I don't use it. ]   

[dogsinafen]

I use PeerBlock -- it's nice to think you're protecting yourself, but no matter what you do, your ISP can ultimately know what you're doing (unless I'm mistaken), so I believe it's a false sense of security.

Point of peerblock has nothing to do with your ISP.
If you want your ISP to not know what you're up too then you need a VPN.

[zougou1]

I use PeerBlock -- it's nice to think you're protecting yourself, but no matter what you do, your ISP can ultimately know what you're doing (unless I'm mistaken), so I believe it's a false sense of security.

Point of peerblock has nothing to do with your ISP.
If you want your ISP to not know what you're up too then you need a VPN.

I thought the point of PeerBlock is to keep certain people from connecting to your computer and then using that to sue you.  Instead, certain people can sue your ISP to get your name from your IP and then sue you.  Or am I missing something? 

[K7IA]

I use PeerBlock -- it's nice to think you're protecting yourself, but no matter what you do, your ISP can ultimately know what you're doing (unless I'm mistaken), so I believe it's a false sense of security.

Point of peerblock has nothing to do with your ISP.
If you want your ISP to not know what you're up too then you need a VPN.

I thought the point of PeerBlock is to keep certain people from connecting to your computer and then using that to sue you.  Instead, certain people can sue your ISP to get your name from your IP and then sue you.  Or am I missing something? 

It is often the copyright protection agents/organizations that try to determine who is actually breaking the copyright laws by collecting IP addresses of peers and then requesting personal details (name, address) from the ISPs using this IP address.

One objective of IP range blocking is to prevent these agents from establishing a connection with your client and acquire enough information to contact your ISP.

If your ISP can be held responsible for preventing copyright infringement according to regulations/laws then obviously you are doomed unless you are always using encrypted communications with ALL peers or a VPN to a seedbox somewhere else.

Well, IMO the copyright protection agents don't even need to connect your client, they only need to query the tracker about who is seeding/leeching that torrent. The tracker keeps the record of all peers' IP addresses and this is accessible by all peers in that swarm :-)

[Sosseres]

I don't see the point of these features when using torrents based on a tracker. If you download things in decentralised networks it is useful since there are just small nodes with the info for a short while.

For a tracker based torrent it is just a bad thing. It takes up resources, helps minimally and blocks legit IPs. Over all it makes your torrenting experience worse without effecting the safety in a big way. If the trackers ran them it would have some effect, but they could get the info in any case.