Tested with a few popular clients (Azureus, Utorrent, BitComet), no hacked client required.
It works by removing the announce URL after you start the download. You will retrieve the peers from the tracker but don't send any stats to it. The amount of data upload/downloaded will be 0 (it will not be added to the sites' database which keeps track of your ratio).
Most trackers work with a passkey system which looks something like h t t p ://someprivatetracker.net/xxxxxxxxxxxxx/annouce.php where xxxxxxxx stands for a random passkey. Some private trackers work by IP and don't use a passkey, the announce URL will look something like h t t p://someprivatetracker.net/announce, it doesn't make a difference though for the examples below.
Note: Usually you don't have to do remove the announce URL right away, most trackers have re-announce times of 30 minutes to an hour or more, just do it before the next re-announce or else your client will send the amount uploaded/downloaded to the tracker and that kind of defeats the purpose ;)
Utorrent
Open torrent -> start download
Right-click on the torrent and select Properties
The following window will appear:
Now press Delete to delete the announce URL (or if it's not highlighted press CTRL + A and then Delete), it will look like this
Press OK
Optional: (just to check) select the torrent again, and go to the General Tab
The announce URL is gone, happy leeching!
Azureus
Open torrent -> start download
Right-click on torrent, select Advanced -> Tracker -> Edit Tracker URL(s)
The following window will appear:
Right-click on Tracker Group and select Delete
Don't forget to press Save !
Optional: (just to check) select the torrent again and press Show Details
Under the General tab for the torrent details you'll see "No Valid URLs defined" / "Connection Error" which means everything worked
Once again happy leeching!
BitComet
Open torrent -> start download
Right-click on the torrent and select Properties
A window will appear, under Task Properties select Advanced and (if necessary) select the announce URL, press Delete
Now it should look like this:
Press OK
Optional: (just to check) select the torrent again and press Trackers . You will see the trackers announce URL is not there, just the one for the trackerless DHT network (if you have activated DHT)
That's it, happy leeching!
Note: if you tested other clients (successfully) send an email to elcheapo at hushmail dot com and they will be added to the list
