Risk of running a seedbox if your in the US?

I was wondering if anyone could help me out.

Im curious as to whether people can and are prosecuted for running a seedbox with popular torrents?

Im looking to start a torrent CPA method, but Im in the US and I know they just passed a new piracy bill which makes it even worse.

What if I were to get a seedbox from another country out of US jurisdiction?

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I would also like to know these stipulations. Can someone please give some advice on this issue?

:usa:

Think about it this way: How big of a pain in their ass is it to come after you?

If you both reside in and host from the US, it's a short car trip. They can pick up your box and kick in your door the same day.

If you reside in the US and you host in a US-friendly country, it's the same as above plus a day or so for paperwork.

If you reside in the US and you host in a "FEDS GO HOME" country, you have to be a big enough pain in their ass for them to go over there, haggle with the local government, fly back and make a case, then make it seem like a big enough deal that they kinda-sorta broke international agreements to collect evidence for the case.

None of which matters if you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar in the first place.

N

Most US hosts will pull your plug for running a seedbox themselves if they catch you - they don't want the heat even worse than their customers (the exception being for legal torrents of course).

Find a hosting provider in a privacy/piracy friendly country that has minimal ID verification steps, and easy online payment options (debit).

Purchase VISA/MC prepaid "gift" cards using cash only, and always grab them along with something else, but nothing that requires you to show ID.

Use the prepaid cards to get your hosting set up and paid for. Make sure to work through proxies, and take steps to cover your trail well. If you are not sure how to do this, then hunt around, there is plenty of good information on covering your tracks floating around.

At this point, you have hosting set up in a (somewhat) friendly country, and no real trail back to you (at least not an easily followed one).

The hosting company might eventually cave under pressure and yank the account and try to give you up, but assuming that you signed up with fake info, and only used prepaid gift cards, you are pretty much free to start up again.

A final bit of advice: do your homework when it comes to setting up your seedbox. At a minimum, install some sort of blocklist and block all p2p and johnny law IP ranges. This will keep your box up and running for a lot longer.

If you do draw enough attention to yourself, they could always go to the CPA network whose offers you are promoting...

Great point bhnoobz.

Obviously something with an affiliate link embedded directly in it is basically screaming for this kind of attention.

Perhaps there is room for a gray "service" - set up the seedbox, but put a Website on it, and make it easy for people to drop off their own files. The site will then compress, PW protect, create and post a torrent. The site can have a DMCA link, so that people can complain, and complained torrents will be taken down, no questions asked. For all the torrents that stay live, though, they will be seeded, and people will still need to follow the instructions to get their password.

Hmmm.

New product idea!

apekillape said:

Think about it this way: How big of a pain in their ass is it to come after you?

If you both reside in and host from the US, it's a short car trip. They can pick up your box and kick in your door the same day.

If you reside in the US and you host in a US-friendly country, it's the same as above plus a day or so for paperwork.

If you reside in the US and you host in a "FEDS GO HOME" country, you have to be a big enough pain in their ass for them to go over there, haggle with the local government, fly back and make a case, then make it seem like a big enough deal that they kinda-sorta broke international agreements to collect evidence for the case.

None of which matters if you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar in the first place.

N

Click to expand...

Nicely put!

.........................

You could do something similar to rapidshare and wrap your own offers in there..

Ya I was considering using the seedkeys method I purchased, but it seems like torrents are fairly worrisome if im in the US.

So if you have the dmca link, you are much less worried about legal action?

Basically, if you look at the big boys (Y0uTub3 and the like) they all let other people upload things. These people might upload something illegal. They don't want to verify everything manually, so they make it easy for people to complain (hence the DMCA link).

So far, it seems that this is holding up, and as long as they take down offending content quickly, they are not deemed to be breaking the law.

***BIG TIME DISCLAIMER: Even though this strategy seems to be working for them, bear in mind that all the big boys have been sued, repeatedly. They have deep pockets, and good lawyers (metaphorical steel underwear). A small time operator will not have those things, and even one lawsuit, no matter how BS it is will be enough to can the whole operation.

If you're seeding the torrent you're violating federal law. DMCA won't protect you there. DMCA notices are more for web hosts and carriers that are not liable for the content they host that is posted by other parties. DMCA is a method for the copyright owner to notify the carrier that they are hosting something that is copyrighted. By seeding a torrent and living in the USA you're really playing with fire.. With that new anti piracy law and the family entertainment copyright act you're looking at serious time in prison and substantial fines. If they can prove that you were doing it and earning money by doing it, the fines and sentence goes up from there. Just ask yourself if it's worth the possible legal trouble.. If you can work another method that earns just as much without as much legal risk , run with it.

bhnoobz: Totally agree that it is playing with fire, but, if you are not seeding your own files, but another person's files, I think that you could make the same sort of common carrier argument that Y0uTub3 makes, right? Look at it this way:

I think I can take on the big video sharing guys, but I'm broke, so I launch BumTube.com. In order to save money on bandwidth, I go with torrents instead of straight hosting, otherwise the site works exactly the same as any other video sharing site. People upload their files, and other people download them. Imagine my surprise when I find out that people are putting illegal content on my site! Of course I will take it down as soon as it is brought to my attention.

In the meantime, however, even Y0u Tub3 makes advertising money on illegal videos until they are complained off the site.

Ya I heard about the new copyright law. Does anyone have a good link explaining the new penalties?

I like blackhat but am not going to risk jailtime for some extra cash. I will stick to using rapidshare and warez forums.

Do you think the risk there is much lower?

Dev-Gank said:

Ya I heard about the new copyright law. Does anyone have a good link explaining the new penalties?

I like blackhat but am not going to risk jailtime for some extra cash. I will stick to using rapidshare and warez forums.

Do you think the risk there is much lower?

Click to expand...

Well, don't drop the soap!

.......................

New idea! Make someone fill out your CPA lead to submit a DMCA complaint.

Seriously, though, as much fun as it is speculating about how to do this, my serious advice would be to not mess with this AT ALL. Life as a burger flipper outside of jail is generally better than life as a millionaire in jail.

I totally Agree with you guys.

I do have one more question though. What if I am offering to give away a paid video for free in exchange for completing a CPA offer, but I never actually give them the video.

Also, what is the legality of giving away keygens and serials, and not actually giving away the software?

If your looking for a cheap reliable Host for a seedbox try ovh.co.uk

The servers are hosted in France, I get a bit of lag from Canada, but as since i switched from Windows to ubuntu its a lot faster.

I have done 3tb in the last two months and I know many who have donte up to 7tb without even a message from them.

If I didn't mention it earlier, they are the cheapest around. Nothing compares in the slightest.

Dev-Gank said:

I totally Agree with you guys.

I do have one more question though. What if I am offering to give away a paid video for free in exchange for completing a CPA offer, but I never actually give them the video.

Also, what is the legality of giving away keygens and serials, and not actually giving away the software?

Click to expand...

First would be considered misrepresentation of service rendered or product offered, otherwise, fraudulent. Again, depends on how bitter the user feels after this happening and would they start complaining.

And, giving away serials is just as legal as giving out key copies of your neighbors apartment with a big fat plasma inside. Though, probably not as traceable if you do it right...

Well I think I am going to change my method so that instead of not giving them anything, I am going to give them a youtube video that shows them how to download anything with bit torrent.

I think that at least this way, the user is at least getting a WAY to get what I promised them if not the video itself.