Unlocking torrent files?

[1ManArmY]

any suggestions on where I can get educated on this? My searches thus far have been feeble.

 

[olds]

Moved from Off Topic.
Torrents can be used for legal/legitimate purposes. Any discussion of illegal activities will result in my boot on your butts.

 

[Nothinman]

Torrent files aren't locked, all they really contain is the information required to connect to the tracker and download the listed files.

 

[WildHorse]

Some are locked.

I'm aware of a situation where a movie torrent was oh-so-slowly downloaded, ending up with 15 .rar files, which could not be extracted without a password.

In order to get the password, one was required to go to a web forum and sign up as a new member.

Before the torrent was downloaded, there was no mention of the fact it was passworded, or that the only source of the password was on a web forum which could not be browsed unless first signing up as a member.

I suspect the guy who downloaded that torrent was pretty mad. That'll teach him!

 

[DerekWilson]

this isn't really a "locked" torrent file -- its a torrent for a password protected archive.

iirc, locking a torrent is totally different than this ... something to do with not uploading while downloading that specific file or something like that. i'll have to look that up again.

 

[Nothinman]

Some are locked.

The torrent file wasn't locked, the file you download via the torrent was locked.

 

[1ManArmY]

so why would the individual who uploaded the original file want it password protected?

 

[Nothinman]

so why would the individual who uploaded the original file want it password protected?

To make you go to their website to get the password in order to generate some ad revenue.

 

[1ManArmY]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

so why would the individual who uploaded the original file want it password protected?

To make you go to their website to get the password in order to generate some ad revenue.

just as I suspected, but are these sites pre-disposed with spyware, viruses and worms?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: 1ManArmY

Originally posted by: Nothinman

so why would the individual who uploaded the original file want it password protected?

To make you go to their website to get the password in order to generate some ad revenue.

just as I suspected, but are these sites pre-disposed with spyware, viruses and worms?

That is a logical suspicion. If you want to visit them, then create a separate non-Adminstrator user account that you use exclusively for that purpose, and for nothing else, because this is a powerful security enhancement that limits what an exploit will be able to accomplish if there is one. More security tips on this page.

 

[Nothinman]

just as I suspected, but are these sites pre-disposed with spyware, viruses and worms?

Well if you're downloading password protected archives via bittorrent chances are the software you're downloading isn't exactly on the up and up either...

 

[1ManArmY]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

just as I suspected, but are these sites pre-disposed with spyware, viruses and worms?

Well if you're downloading password protected archives via bittorrent chances are the software you're downloading isn't exactly on the up and up either...

well the reason I asked was because the particular site requested you to make contact via a phone number which looked like an International 011 # then it would give you the password. I didn't investigate any further to see if it had to be a physical land line or internet call, I just didn't pursue it any further.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: 1ManArmY

Originally posted by: Nothinman

just as I suspected, but are these sites pre-disposed with spyware, viruses and worms?

Well if you're downloading password protected archives via bittorrent chances are the software you're downloading isn't exactly on the up and up either...

well the reason I asked was because the particular site requested you to make contact via a phone number which looked like an International 011 # then it would give you the password. I didn't investigate any further to see if it had to be a physical land line or internet call, I just didn't pursue it any further.

That sounds like a wake-up call to avoid messing with ...these sorts of files.

 

[1ManArmY]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: 1ManArmY

Originally posted by: Nothinman

just as I suspected, but are these sites pre-disposed with spyware, viruses and worms?

Well if you're downloading password protected archives via bittorrent chances are the software you're downloading isn't exactly on the up and up either...

well the reason I asked was because the particular site requested you to make contact via a phone number which looked like an International 011 # then it would give you the password. I didn't investigate any further to see if it had to be a physical land line or internet call, I just didn't pursue it any further.

That sounds like a wake-up call to avoid messing with ...these sorts of files.

Agreed, I was just curious as to what the individual who uploaded the file intended to gain?
All sorts of red flags went off and I did not persue it any further as stated earlier.

 

[TheStu]

This is kind of funny, my friend and I were complaining about the prevalence of password protected .rar files on torrents. And given that a large percentage of all the torrents out there distribute what can be construed as illegal material, why password protect some of them. I get the whole generate revenue thing... but honestly, that just seems more than a little back-handed.

"Ooh, I have a great idea, how about I illegally upload this material but password protect it, just to f*ck with em!"