How does a private torrent tracker associate the downloader with my account?

AdvertisingOk@lemmy.dbzer0.com to Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ@lemmy.dbzer0.com – 59 points –

Hi, I was wondering how they do this and if there is a way to "cheat" the amount of data you are downloading or seeding.

27

You are viewing a single comment

The passkey is also why you shouldn’t share torrent files.

Wait, you mean the *.torrent file, right?

Yes! Private sites’ .torrent and magnet links know who you are so they can track your ratio.

Alright, for a moment I thought you meant the actual files I download

That wouldn't make sense tho

Additionally magnet links. The torrent files and magnet links (which are equivalent) need to have your user key in them not only to track your ratio but just to make sure you're a member of the tracker.

In other contexts this kind of user tracking is called a session key and using someone else's torrent file is called a replay attack or a session hijack.