Some Anti - RIAA / MPAA / PigCop Safety Tips for Emule Users
I got this from a forum post in the RIAA/MPAA problems thread on Emule Forums. These are very relevant for those who auto-fetch servers, publish their share lists, and any body who downloads and especially shares or releases mainstream commercial copyrighted material. I echoed my reply here, filling more detailed tips:
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If you decide to continue using Emule: (no guarantees though):
# 1) Change IP-adress if possible. Change ports regularly.
# 2) Uninstall your old mule and replace it with a fresh one and you’ll get a new UserHash. You are losing your credits of course.
# 3) Do not connect to any of the Fake/Spy-servers. See ElChele’s topic.
# 4) Download and install an IP-filter as said above and keep it updated .
# 5) Stay in the middle of the shoal of fish. Or in other words; stay below the radar.
#1 is free - I have a dynamic IP address but it changes only when i reconnect (which a disconnect occurs every 24 hours with my ISP to prevent commercial abuse). I have an ISDN-equivilant (after traffic shaping - up/down 144kbps simulaneously) cellphone modem using Verizon Wireless’s BroadBandAccess. Traffic Shaping limits Emule to NationalAccess speeds, which is good for the network because BroadBand Access has 144kbps up / 2mbit down (usualy get 600-800kbps) which would mean leeching without traffic shaping.
#2 I ain’t doing this. My UserHash has been the same since 2004.
#3 Most important. Sort your server list and frown upon anything from the united states (Only Emule Mods support country flags). Isreal and China have fake servers too and there are some in the netherlands now too (where most of the big servers are at now). Connectiong to a fake even for just a few minutes tells the RIAA everything that you are sharing with IP, userhash and all. Set your favorite servers to high. Set your trusted servers to static, then tell Emule to connect to static list servers only. Set all the small servers (<3million files) to low and the rest to normal. Turning off auto-retrieve servers when connectig to servers and from other clients is helpful, but I don't do that as I liek to download rare files. But if you download mostly mainstream stuff I would recommend turning off any server auto-fetch and only load server.mets from trusted web sites.
#4 Very Important. Helps #3 alot, especially if you turn out auto-fetch servers from other servers and clients. The easiest IP fileter to load is the Emule-PawCio / Emule-Mods.de IPFilter, which is mostly bluetack data but has other stuff too. It only uplates once or twice per month though. Going direct to bluetack will get you lists that update every day. This is the Emule-optimized list but the descriptions are highly truncated.
#5 Either turn off allow people getting a file list (default) or make default visibility ‘hidden’ (MorphXT feature). Set priority of incomplete/incoming files to ‘very low’, but it is effective only if you are permasharing other files. I have a 9:1 completefile to partfile ratio. You will have a 1:2 UL:DL ratio or worse on copyrighted DVD movies while you get your own releases and rare files out better (My permashares are about 2/3 legal, 2/5 when excluding bible-related files).
