5 ms·

Wait, so I can have free movies and subvert the adtech business model at the same time? What's the catch?

dist-epoch 5d ago
These residential proxies are also used by scrapers. From scraping stores to scalp merchandise, to scrapers of data for AI training.
- mitxela 5d ago
  Sounds awesome, what's the catch?
  - walrus01 5d ago
    You also get to run credit card fraud purchases through your home internet connection, such fun times we live in.
    - mitxela 5d ago
      So what's the catch? Has anyone ever been arrested for proxying a fraudulent credit card transaction?
      - dwedge 5d ago
        Probably not. But do you really want the hassle of explaining the proxy to the police when they get a report of CSAM content uploaded from your IP?
        mitxela 5d ago
        Has that ever happened?
        dwedge 4d ago
        It's a possibility. I don't know about CSAM but I know someone who was arrested for death threats sent to a politician after running a tor exit node. Eventually not charged, but he lost all his computing equipment for a couple of months
        walrus01 4d ago
        From 2009: https://archive.torproject.org/websites/lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2009-September/019511.html https://archive.torproject.org/websites/lists.torproject.org...
        mitxela 4d ago
        Has anything changed since 2009?
        alt227 4d ago
        > Eventually not charged Theres your answer.
        dwedge 4d ago
        Considering the question was "has that every happened?" regarding the police getting a report and you having to explain the proxy to them, I guess you mean the answer is yes and your attitude is misplaced?
  - Dylan16807 5d ago
    [dead]
warkdarrior 5d ago
Exactly my thought. For, say, $50/month I can get a second ISP to my house, host the proxy (and only that) on that link, and enjoy free movies. It is cheaper than having 2-3 streaming service subscriptions.
- walrus01 5d ago
  Or for $5/mo you could have a mullvad subscription and a vpn-aware bittorrent client that knows how to pause if the vpn drops.
  - Dylan16807 5d ago
    True but that option got a lot worse when they disabled port forwarding.
  - mitxela 5d ago
    You're underestimating the ease of use of these pirate boxes. Also most of them are for pirating live TV. You can't watch live TV through Bittorrent, you just can't, it doesn't work that way. Sports fans need less than 5 seconds of latency relative to the loudest neighbor they can hear, or they'll hate your service.
- deleted 4d ago
  [deleted]
xp84 5d ago
ehh, subvert is a stretch. But yes, you too can be a minor accessory to scams run by thieves to rob advertisers, with enriching the world's largest ad company as a side-effect. Not exactly a Robin Hood situation given that tons of the advertisers being robbed are just normal small developers trying to get their apps out there.
- necovek 5d ago
  The more these small devs realize their ad spend is going to bots, the less they'll spend. Like the OP. Once the word gets around, even small non-techy businesses will pick up on it.
jonasdegendt 5d ago
Anyone can buy traffic on the proxy, not just click fraud, but cc fraud et al as well. Caveat emptor, it’s really not worth it compared to setting up a 3 USD per month Hetzner proxy box yourself, if you’re looking to pirate movies. For some more context: We run a business based on data scraping and metered residential proxies have never been cheaper. Countries that used to be 10 USD/GB just ten years ago are down to 1 USD.
- latexr 5d ago
  > Caveat emptor, it’s really not worth it compared to setting up a 3 USD per month Hetzner proxy box yourself, if you’re looking to pirate movies. How does that work? Wouldn’t Hetzner know who you are (because you pay them), meaning that if you’re caught pirating on it they could just know it was you and hand you over? And don’t think Herzner wouldn’t hand you over. My only experience with them was during a job, when an external company complained about something on a single section of a massive website (everything was legitimate, we weren’t doing anything remotely shady) and Hetzner straight up took the whole website down and demanded a change. Shoot first, ask later. I wasn’t directly involved with managing the website, but the whole thing soured me on Hetzner.
  - itintheory 5d ago
    This is the bread and butter for commercial VPN services. The VPN knows who you are (maybe, unless you pay crypto/cash), and the rights-holders know your VPN address (from joining/logging a BitTorrent swarm, for instance), but the better providers keep no logs, and I'm guessing there's too many individuals to target effectively. I've received a nasty letter from the ISP over BitTorrent (someone's phone joined my wifi, torrenting without my knowledge), but using a VPN seems sufficient. I think the Hetzener suggestion is a VPS for running the software stack. You could alternatively self host on hardware in your home.
- subscribed 5d ago
  Hetzner?! No, I would never use them if I wanted to host a pirate proxy myself. Very crude, trigger happy, operating in a country very cosy with all the police organisations.
deleted 5d ago
[deleted]

These residential proxies are also used by scrapers. From scraping stores to scalp merchandise, to scrapers of data for AI training.

mitxela 5d ago
Sounds awesome, what's the catch?
- walrus01 5d ago
  You also get to run credit card fraud purchases through your home internet connection, such fun times we live in.
  - mitxela 5d ago
    So what's the catch? Has anyone ever been arrested for proxying a fraudulent credit card transaction?
    - dwedge 5d ago
      Probably not. But do you really want the hassle of explaining the proxy to the police when they get a report of CSAM content uploaded from your IP?
      - mitxela 5d ago
        Has that ever happened?
        dwedge 4d ago
        It's a possibility. I don't know about CSAM but I know someone who was arrested for death threats sent to a politician after running a tor exit node. Eventually not charged, but he lost all his computing equipment for a couple of months
        walrus01 4d ago
        From 2009: https://archive.torproject.org/websites/lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2009-September/019511.html https://archive.torproject.org/websites/lists.torproject.org...
        mitxela 4d ago
        Has anything changed since 2009?
        alt227 4d ago
        > Eventually not charged Theres your answer.
        dwedge 4d ago
        Considering the question was "has that every happened?" regarding the police getting a report and you having to explain the proxy to them, I guess you mean the answer is yes and your attitude is misplaced?
- Dylan16807 5d ago
  [dead]

warkdarrior 5d ago

Exactly my thought. For, say, $50/month I can get a second ISP to my house, host the proxy (and only that) on that link, and enjoy free movies. It is cheaper than having 2-3 streaming service subscriptions.

walrus01 5d ago
Or for $5/mo you could have a mullvad subscription and a vpn-aware bittorrent client that knows how to pause if the vpn drops.
- Dylan16807 5d ago
  True but that option got a lot worse when they disabled port forwarding.
- mitxela 5d ago
  You're underestimating the ease of use of these pirate boxes. Also most of them are for pirating live TV. You can't watch live TV through Bittorrent, you just can't, it doesn't work that way. Sports fans need less than 5 seconds of latency relative to the loudest neighbor they can hear, or they'll hate your service.
deleted 4d ago
[deleted]

xp84 5d ago

ehh, subvert is a stretch. But yes, you too can be a minor accessory to scams run by thieves to rob advertisers, with enriching the world's largest ad company as a side-effect. Not exactly a Robin Hood situation given that tons of the advertisers being robbed are just normal small developers trying to get their apps out there.

necovek 5d ago
The more these small devs realize their ad spend is going to bots, the less they'll spend. Like the OP. Once the word gets around, even small non-techy businesses will pick up on it.

jonasdegendt 5d ago

Anyone can buy traffic on the proxy, not just click fraud, but cc fraud et al as well. Caveat emptor, it’s really not worth it compared to setting up a 3 USD per month Hetzner proxy box yourself, if you’re looking to pirate movies. For some more context: We run a business based on data scraping and metered residential proxies have never been cheaper. Countries that used to be 10 USD/GB just ten years ago are down to 1 USD.

latexr 5d ago
> Caveat emptor, it’s really not worth it compared to setting up a 3 USD per month Hetzner proxy box yourself, if you’re looking to pirate movies. How does that work? Wouldn’t Hetzner know who you are (because you pay them), meaning that if you’re caught pirating on it they could just know it was you and hand you over? And don’t think Herzner wouldn’t hand you over. My only experience with them was during a job, when an external company complained about something on a single section of a massive website (everything was legitimate, we weren’t doing anything remotely shady) and Hetzner straight up took the whole website down and demanded a change. Shoot first, ask later. I wasn’t directly involved with managing the website, but the whole thing soured me on Hetzner.
- itintheory 5d ago
  This is the bread and butter for commercial VPN services. The VPN knows who you are (maybe, unless you pay crypto/cash), and the rights-holders know your VPN address (from joining/logging a BitTorrent swarm, for instance), but the better providers keep no logs, and I'm guessing there's too many individuals to target effectively. I've received a nasty letter from the ISP over BitTorrent (someone's phone joined my wifi, torrenting without my knowledge), but using a VPN seems sufficient. I think the Hetzener suggestion is a VPS for running the software stack. You could alternatively self host on hardware in your home.
subscribed 5d ago
Hetzner?! No, I would never use them if I wanted to host a pirate proxy myself. Very crude, trigger happy, operating in a country very cosy with all the police organisations.

deleted 5d ago

[deleted]