Software Recommendation - Peer Guardian

**Prodigy** · 24-01-06, 07:25

Peer Guardian

___________________________________________

PeerGuardian and PeerGuardian 2 are free and open source programs developed by Phoenix Labs. They are capable of blocking incoming and outgoing connections based on IP blocklists. Their purpose is to block several organizations, 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 Cory Nelson) to resolve the shortcomings of the original. The latest version, PeerGuardian 2, is coded in C and C++ and sits low in the kernel so that it can block all IPv4 protocols and ports.

Operation

On Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X, PeerGuardian uses a driver to queue all incoming and outgoing connections. Connections are checked for their status in the blocklist using a binary search.

**Prodigy** · 24-01-06, 07:32

Blocklist formats

The blocklist 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.

P2B Version 1 - This format was used only in the earliest releases of PeerGuardian 2. It was compressed using the gzip format. Lists are no longer produced in this format.
P2B Version 2 - The most widely used format, this is supported among a number of applications, including eMule and the Linux version of PeerGuardian. It is equivalent to the first version of the P2B format, but instead uses UTF-8 to store names. Lists are produced in this format.
P2B Version 3 - The newest version of the P2B format, this is currently only supported on the latest version of the Windows version of PeerGuardian 2. This is the smallest format, and is also compressed with 7z for additional size reduction. Unfortunately the recent age of this format and the somewhat obscure nature of the compression used means that this is not the most compatible format. Lists are produced in this format.

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. (Protowall is a proprietary software for IP blocking that is quite similar to PeerGuardian.)

**Prodigy** · 24-01-06, 07:33

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 the ones 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 * Blocklist.org to allow users to comment on and submit ranges that might have been missed by the official PeerGuardian staff.

An MIT student's report, made in late 2003, claimed that an out-of-date PeerGuardian blocklist was capable of blocking 75% of fake files on the Fasttrack 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 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.

**Prodigy** · 24-01-06, 08:20

Screen-shots

Peer Guardian

Click on the images to enlarge

Azureus (with the Safepeer Plugin installed)

Click on the images to enlarge

**Prodigy** · 24-01-06, 08:39

Summary

I personally have been using Peer Guardian for quite some time now mostly for the P2P IP blocking it offers, also the list of IPs that are provided by the program (which are updated on regular bases) is a good blocklist database to use with the the Safepeer plug-in for the Azureus Java Bittorrent client, so far I have not had any major issues with the program except the additional tray icon issues in windows sometimes when EXPLORER.exe is terminated and restarted the Peer Guardian tray icon will stop responding to mouse clicks however the software will still function you can access it by executing the main file located in the installation folder of Peer Guardian. Nevertheless it is a great software which mostly the Bittorent fans will appreciate since it is a way of fighting back with the pressure the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) are putting on Bittorrent websites and the time to time upload of fake files to the torrent websites by the mentioned organizations.

**Prodigy** · 24-01-06, 08:47

Download Links

PeerGuardian Download URL

Extra Links

Official PeerGuardian website (Phoenix Labs)
Peer Guardian F.A.Q
PeerGuardian at SourceForge
www.bluetack.co.uk - blocklists

24-01-06, 07:25	#1 (permalink)
Prodigy Staff Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: U.A.E, Dubai Posts: 2,651 Credits: 14,336 Thanks: 130 Thanked 497 Times in 258 Posts	Software Recommendation - Peer Guardian Peer Guardian ___________________________________________ PeerGuardian and PeerGuardian 2 are free and open source programs developed by Phoenix Labs. They are capable of blocking incoming and outgoing connections based on IP blocklists. Their purpose is to block several organizations, 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 Cory Nelson) to resolve the shortcomings of the original. The latest version, PeerGuardian 2, is coded in C and C++ and sits low in the kernel so that it can block all IPv4 protocols and ports. Operation On Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X, PeerGuardian uses a driver to queue all incoming and outgoing connections. Connections are checked for their status in the blocklist using a binary search. __________________

24-01-06, 07:32	#2 (permalink)
Prodigy Staff Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: U.A.E, Dubai Posts: 2,651 Credits: 14,336 Thanks: 130 Thanked 497 Times in 258 Posts	Blocklist formats The blocklist 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. P2B Version 1 - This format was used only in the earliest releases of PeerGuardian 2. It was compressed using the gzip format. Lists are no longer produced in this format. P2B Version 2 - The most widely used format, this is supported among a number of applications, including eMule and the Linux version of PeerGuardian. It is equivalent to the first version of the P2B format, but instead uses UTF-8 to store names. Lists are produced in this format. P2B Version 3 - The newest version of the P2B format, this is currently only supported on the latest version of the Windows version of PeerGuardian 2. This is the smallest format, and is also compressed with 7z for additional size reduction. Unfortunately the recent age of this format and the somewhat obscure nature of the compression used means that this is not the most compatible format. Lists are produced in this format. 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. (Protowall is a proprietary software for IP blocking that is quite similar to PeerGuardian.) __________________

24-01-06, 07:33	#3 (permalink)
Prodigy Staff Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: U.A.E, Dubai Posts: 2,651 Credits: 14,336 Thanks: 130 Thanked 497 Times in 258 Posts	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 the ones 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 * Blocklist.org to allow users to comment on and submit ranges that might have been missed by the official PeerGuardian staff. An MIT student's report, made in late 2003, claimed that an out-of-date PeerGuardian blocklist was capable of blocking 75% of fake files on the Fasttrack 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 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. __________________

24-01-06, 08:20	#4 (permalink)
Prodigy Staff Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: U.A.E, Dubai Posts: 2,651 Credits: 14,336 Thanks: 130 Thanked 497 Times in 258 Posts	Screen-shots Peer Guardian Click on the images to enlarge Azureus (with the Safepeer Plugin installed) Click on the images to enlarge __________________

24-01-06, 08:39	#5 (permalink)
Prodigy Staff Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: U.A.E, Dubai Posts: 2,651 Credits: 14,336 Thanks: 130 Thanked 497 Times in 258 Posts	Summary I personally have been using Peer Guardian for quite some time now mostly for the P2P IP blocking it offers, also the list of IPs that are provided by the program (which are updated on regular bases) is a good blocklist database to use with the the Safepeer plug-in for the Azureus Java Bittorrent client, so far I have not had any major issues with the program except the additional tray icon issues in windows sometimes when EXPLORER.exe is terminated and restarted the Peer Guardian tray icon will stop responding to mouse clicks however the software will still function you can access it by executing the main file located in the installation folder of Peer Guardian. Nevertheless it is a great software which mostly the Bittorent fans will appreciate since it is a way of fighting back with the pressure the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) are putting on Bittorrent websites and the time to time upload of fake files to the torrent websites by the mentioned organizations. __________________

24-01-06, 08:47	#6 (permalink)
Prodigy Staff Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: U.A.E, Dubai Posts: 2,651 Credits: 14,336 Thanks: 130 Thanked 497 Times in 258 Posts	Download Links PeerGuardian Download URL Extra Links Official PeerGuardian website (Phoenix Labs) Peer Guardian F.A.Q PeerGuardian at SourceForge www.bluetack.co.uk - blocklists __________________

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Software Recommendation - Personal Firewall	Prodigy	General Help	3	06-09-05 15:47
IT News - Software Recommendation [4]	Prodigy	General Help	0	09-06-05 23:44
IT News - Software Recommendation [3]	Prodigy	General Help	0	03-06-05 11:03
IT News - Software Recommendation [2]	Prodigy	General Help	0	24-05-05 18:12
IT News - Software Recommendation [1]	Ehsan Z.	General Help	0	23-05-05 21:36