PeerGuardian |
PeerGuardian and PeerGuardian 2 are free software and open source IP address blocking software programs capable of blocking incoming and outgoing addresses. The application uses a Blacklist#Computing of IP addresses to filter the computers of several organisations, including the RIAA and MPAA while using filesharing networks such as FastTrack and BitTorrent. The system is also capable of blocking advertising, Spyware, government and educational ranges, depending upon user preferences.
= History =
The original PeerGuardian (1.0, led by programmer method ) was programmed in Visual Basic and quickly became popular among more knowledgeable P2P users despite being known for high RAM and CPU usage when on P2P networks, and the fact that it only blocked the common TCP protocol. The original version was made open source, and development began on a new version (2.0, led by programmer phrosty ) to resolve the shortcomings of the original. The latest version, PeerGuardian 2, is coded in C Programming Language and C plus plus and sits low in the kernel so that it can block all IPv4 protocols and ports.
= Operation =
On Windows and Linux, PeerGuardian uses a driver to queue all incoming and outgoing connections. Connections are checked for their status in the blocklist using a binary search.
= Blocklist formats =
The Blacklist#Computing is stored in a number of different formats:
== Binary Formats ==
The binary formats (known as P2B) were created at the release of the first BETA of PeerGuardian 2 to create the smallest possible size of blocklist.
== P2P Plaintext Format ==
The original format for PeerGuardian version 1.x was a simple format that utilised plain text. Unfortunately this meant that lists became very large and cost a lot of bandwidth to distribute, heralding the construction of the smaller binary formats.
The format is as follows:
Range Name:FirstIP-LastIP
For example:
Localhost:127.0.0.1-127.0.0.1
This format is used in EMule, in the SafePeer Azureus plugin and in Protowall.
= Criticism =
== Technology ==
PeerGuardian is often misunderstood as an application. Many presume that the purpose of the software is to hide the user s IP address from various groups, such as the RIAA and MPAA. This is nearly impossible and is thus a misconception of the intention of the program.
The design of PeerGuardian is to prevent the collection of evidence that can be used as proof that a particular IP address is connected to a particular network. In order to successfully sue in the United States, one must receive data from that person, very detailed logs must be obtained as to their activity on the network, and there must be proven evidence that particular files are available from that person.
This means that the information provided by a tracker or eDonkey peer is insufficient, and the organisations hired by RIAA, etc must directly connect to each individual they wish to investigate. This process is automated and is carried out through high speed connections bought by various subcontractors, such as BayTSP, MediaSentry.
In the case of fake eDonkey servers, such as Sonnyboy and Razorback (hosted by MediaSentry), PeerGuardian will prevent you from connecting to the server in the first place, preventing all danger in this respect.
It is important to note in addition that P2P protection is not the sole purpose of PeerGuardian, a large number of Spyware and advertising IP addresses are also monitored, and the purpose of the blocklist.org website is to allow general purpose IP address research.
== Lists ==
Another common criticism of the PeerGuardian application is the lists that it utilises. PeerGuardian will block all IP addresses in the blocklist, but the accuracy of the Blocklist is critical to the operation of the entire system.
The intention of Phoenix Labs is to administer the blocklist in public - opening * [http://blocklist.org/ Blocklist.org] to allow users to comment on and submit ranges that might have been missed by the official PeerGuardian staff.
An network. This is an indicator of the success of the application, since many anti-p2p organisations also distribute fake files.
Occasionally IP addresses of friendly organisations and groups may be added to the blocklist. This is sometimes a case of over-zealous or incorrect moderation at blocklist.org, but can also be for other reasons. For example, a lot of ranges owned by Valve Software are blocked, meaning that some users must allow these IP addresses in order to connect to game servers. The reasons behind Valve s addition to the blocklist follows a number of occasions where the company posted fake BitTorrent downloads.
Also of note: Valve has now [http://support.steampowered.com/cgi-bin/steampowered.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.phpp_faqid=374&p_sid=5TvejtQh added to their technical support FAQ] indicating to users they will need to exit PeerGuardian and then exit and restart Steam in order to connect to the VAC servers. A number of PG users have, in fact, quit using the software altogether due to its aggressive policies regarding hostile IPs.
Because of such instances with companies such as Valve the Windows application allows any IP address to be allowed, either permanently or temporarily via a simple right click in the Log or History Windows.
Recent improvements to list auditing have created a marked improvement in list quality, and the developers encourage the public to examine and comment on the lists. Blocklist.org makes it possible for any user to mark a range as invalid for analysis by moderators.
== CPU Usage ==
Early windows versions suffered from CPU usage problems. This was caused by the way the first version operated (reading the connection table several times a second). The issue was corrected in the 2.0 version with the introduction of a proper driver-based system.
= See also =
= External links =
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