I like torrenting on i2p. It is private, so that my ISP cannot see me torrenting---all it sees is that my single board computer is receiving/forwarding encrypted data packages from random-looking IP addresses over the world. It cannot bug me with unasked for "love letters."
Now, torrenting is slow on i2p compared to what it is on the clearnet. However, reducing the number of hops for your i2p tunnels that your torrent client builds can help speed up the download and upload.
Most torrent clients (I2PSnark, as well as qBittorrent now) comes with the default setting of 3 hops per tunnel. I would like to know how much my privacy deteriorate if I used a single (1) hop for my torrent client's settings. What about two hops?
Any comments?
torrenting and hops
torrenting and hops
xmr: 82w6CM9MKMyNpyj8grvxfXhnm4CJUJbBAUjtTTTBd4tXFmrL4MTDW2xGFFhCrUzEr7hsoL4nc1687SsP8umwCucU8cwXi5D
Re: torrenting and hops
Hi
Your connection between server and client is 2 times 3 hops per direction.
If you set it to 1 hop, the server may still use 3 hops. You only control one half of the tunnels.
With only 1 hop, an attacker need to control only that one to collect data which may identify you. With 2 hops, it needs 2 I2P nodes worldwide.
It is not easy to put this in numbers and say: 2 hops is just XYZ percent less secure".
For our parts, 3 hops are the sweet spot between security and speed and usability.
Security & anonymity comes with a price tag, and even 3 hops is not complete 100% secure.
On a practical note: most torrents keep running in background via day/night and currently it is quite practicable with speeds in the 100-1000 kbyte/sec, depending on amounts of connections.
Even speeds of 5 MByte/sec with several torrents are reality.
If that's to slow for you, and you may not run torrents via longer time, reduce the hops and see if that suites you, with higher risk, though.
Your connection between server and client is 2 times 3 hops per direction.
If you set it to 1 hop, the server may still use 3 hops. You only control one half of the tunnels.
With only 1 hop, an attacker need to control only that one to collect data which may identify you. With 2 hops, it needs 2 I2P nodes worldwide.
It is not easy to put this in numbers and say: 2 hops is just XYZ percent less secure".
For our parts, 3 hops are the sweet spot between security and speed and usability.
Security & anonymity comes with a price tag, and even 3 hops is not complete 100% secure.
On a practical note: most torrents keep running in background via day/night and currently it is quite practicable with speeds in the 100-1000 kbyte/sec, depending on amounts of connections.
Even speeds of 5 MByte/sec with several torrents are reality.
If that's to slow for you, and you may not run torrents via longer time, reduce the hops and see if that suites you, with higher risk, though.
Re: torrenting and hops
>If you set it to 1 hop, the server may still use 3 hops. You only control one half of the tunnels.
In this case, I am torrenting from tracker2.postman.i2p , that means, it is up to how many hops the postman service is using, am I understanding this right?
>With only 1 hop, an attacker need to control only that one to collect data which may identify you.
What about the other half of the hops? As you said, even if I set the number of hops that qBittorrent client uses in its tunnels, postman might still be using 3 hops in its part. In this case, doesn't the attacker need to control 4 nodes that my torrent client is using for the hops?
In the case of postman being the "attacker", I guess it can identify my i2p node if I set my torrent client to use a single hop. Am I right?
>On a practical note: most torrents keep running in background via day/night and currently it is quite practicable with speeds in the 100-1000 kbyte/sec, depending on amounts of connections.
That's exactly right. I have my qBittorrent running headless on a rusty-dusty old SBC day and night, and it is slow but steady in its downloads. In a day, I mainly have the full HD movie file in my harddrive. This is perfectly fine for my use. I am quite happy with it.
In this case, I am torrenting from tracker2.postman.i2p , that means, it is up to how many hops the postman service is using, am I understanding this right?
>With only 1 hop, an attacker need to control only that one to collect data which may identify you.
What about the other half of the hops? As you said, even if I set the number of hops that qBittorrent client uses in its tunnels, postman might still be using 3 hops in its part. In this case, doesn't the attacker need to control 4 nodes that my torrent client is using for the hops?
In the case of postman being the "attacker", I guess it can identify my i2p node if I set my torrent client to use a single hop. Am I right?
>On a practical note: most torrents keep running in background via day/night and currently it is quite practicable with speeds in the 100-1000 kbyte/sec, depending on amounts of connections.
That's exactly right. I have my qBittorrent running headless on a rusty-dusty old SBC day and night, and it is slow but steady in its downloads. In a day, I mainly have the full HD movie file in my harddrive. This is perfectly fine for my use. I am quite happy with it.
xmr: 82w6CM9MKMyNpyj8grvxfXhnm4CJUJbBAUjtTTTBd4tXFmrL4MTDW2xGFFhCrUzEr7hsoL4nc1687SsP8umwCucU8cwXi5D
Re: torrenting and hops
Hieepman wrote: ↑21 Sep 2023 12:10 >If you set it to 1 hop, the server may still use 3 hops. You only control one half of the tunnels.
In this case, I am torrenting from tracker2.postman.i2p , that means, it is up to how many hops the postman service is using, am I understanding this right?
>With only 1 hop, an attacker need to control only that one to collect data which may identify you.
What about the other half of the hops? As you said, even if I set the number of hops that qBittorrent client uses in its tunnels, postman might still be using 3 hops in its part. In this case, doesn't the attacker need to control 4 nodes that my torrent client is using for the hops?
In the case of postman being the "attacker", I guess it can identify my i2p node if I set my torrent client to use a single hop. Am I right?
>On a practical note: most torrents keep running in background via day/night and currently it is quite practicable with speeds in the 100-1000 kbyte/sec, depending on amounts of connections.
That's exactly right. I have my qBittorrent running headless on a rusty-dusty old SBC day and night, and it is slow but steady in its downloads. In a day, I mainly have the full HD movie file in my harddrive. This is perfectly fine for my use. I am quite happy with it.
Postman I just a tracker, it does not have any torrent data on its site.
The data come from other I2P nodes hosting the data in their torrent clients.
Your part of tunnel is one half, the server part the other half. With only 1 hop on your site it is easier to get your client, but not the server, which is still on 4.
That's rather easy said, in reality it is a bit more complex, but that's how it is.
Re: torrenting and hops
>With only 1 hop on your site it is easier to get your client, but not the server, which is still on 4.
So, okay, then that means, IF me and the server of the torrent (the other i2p + qbittorrent client) have put the number of hops to 1, then there will be 2 hops between me and the other peer that I download the file?
So, okay, then that means, IF me and the server of the torrent (the other i2p + qbittorrent client) have put the number of hops to 1, then there will be 2 hops between me and the other peer that I download the file?
xmr: 82w6CM9MKMyNpyj8grvxfXhnm4CJUJbBAUjtTTTBd4tXFmrL4MTDW2xGFFhCrUzEr7hsoL4nc1687SsP8umwCucU8cwXi5D