So My ISP Just Called Me...
 

So I just got a call from my ISP saying I was sharing Diablo on bittorrent, and asked me nicely to stop. Is there any way that I can disguise what I'm downloading/sharing so that I can still use bittorrent without having to worry about getting called again, or in trouble?

The way it works is this. Your IP is connected to the swarm that is sharing that file. This is verifiable, and anyone can find that out by connecting to the same torrent. You can't deny what you're sharing, and you can't mask your IP in any way. If you are hiding your IP, then the people you are sharing with won't be able to connect to you.

Risk is a part of the game, if you want to get things for free via Bittorrent.

Guess you'll have to hope you can find a good DC hub or something.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this what BT Protocol Encryption is for?

No. It can't encrypt your IP address.

So if they go into the swarm, and then run a scan for IP's that belong to them... there's no way to disguise it to just the swarm?

It stands to reason that if they join the swarm, and if you disguise it to just the swarm, you'll still be detected :)

Couldn't you just use a proxy?

Truth be told, BitTorrent is great for distribution, but downright shitty for privacy. Even with encryption, you have the wide-open hole of your adversary, so to speak, connecting to the swarm and seeing your IP.

This, of course, is true for virtually all file-sharing tools with the exception of Freenet and anything done over Tor or i2p.

If you want privacy, you're going to have to sacrifice performance. Sad but true, and that may change in the future if onion routing and crypto are integrated into the core of the next generation of P2P protocols and technologies, but for the time being it's largely a this-or-that deal.

I second the suggestion for finding a private DC hub. A private torrent tracker would help too. Private and closed are good in this case, but I'd seek out DC for its current under-the-radar advantage--most of the copyright cartel gestapo are focused on BitTorrent, LimeWire, and the apparently-now-ceremonial beating of the dead horse that is Kazaa.

I'm not even sure what a DC Hub is. Could you give a quick overview, and maybe a list of recommended private torrent trackers? Thanks a lot for the knowledge (you seem to really know your shit).

That just disguises what you're doing from your network administrators. People who are connected to the torrent can still see your IP fine.

Sorry for the lateness in getting back to you on this one.

Direct Connect is a kind of fusion of FTP and IRC. You connect to a hub, which maintains a list of connections from other users. Via the hub, you select a user whose shared directories you wish to browse, and you will be directly connected to that user via a connection established by the hub. Alternatively, you can search for a specific file just like any other P2P and the hub will return a list of occurrences of the string for which you searched.

The hub also has an IRC-like chat channel and sometimes some other goodies like anagram games, at which I personally am awesome.

As for private torrent trackers, Gamingforce has a great one at http://www.gftracker.org

There was at one time a GFF DC hub, but I don't know if it still exists. The hub I frequent the most is vgmcentral.no-ip.com.