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
2 comments:
The only way p2p distribution, and bittorrent especially, survives is through 1:1 ratio sharing. Private torrent sites merely create a more caring community through the encouragement of maintaining the ultimate ratio.
If we stop sharing, the network dies , simple as that. While I don't have the best connection, (in fact far from good), I always make an effort to AT LEAST upload as much as I've downloaded from ANY tracker.
Just my two cents. There will always be leechers, but it will be them that will result in the death of p2p distribution.
Private torrent sites merely create a more caring community through the encouragement of maintaining the ultimate ratio.
Private sites are OK but a lot of torrents there are way overseeded. After a mere 24 hours you see like 100 seeders 3 leechers on a lot of torrents. Many people (especially on low upload speed) are afraid to download because they are afraid to get banned for not meeting ratio requirements.
This way they can get the stuff they want, and it makes no difference to the seeders: their stats will be reported to the tracker no matter to who they send data.
Furthermore torrents generally stay alive much longer on public trackers, even though there are no ratio requirements. So no, leechers will not be the death of p2p distribution ;)
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