HF @ccount useless?

[bluebrat]

I have been busy with my school and haven't visited GH for a while. Tonight, I have some free time to "relax" at GH, and sad to find out about HF. Recently, the company gets sued by a gay porn giant, and now all the HF links are dead X_X I just bought the account in January and now it's un-usable. Do you guys think HF will be back in near future? Also what do you think the future of those file sharing services i.e.FSrv, FSnc, bla bla bla (of course regarding gay videos)?

 

[Butt Boi]

Why can't you use it? I don't know about them being sued, but there are still videos out there on HF that are still active... and I'm not sure what you mean about if it will "be back", because it's still there...

 

[XMan101]

There are still plenty of links that work, some of the big posters had their accounts deleted.

We'll have to see how far this goes, but some may be put off from using it now, therefore it may disintegrate quite rapidly ...........

 

[DDviSioN]

Too many links on HF are dead! :-(

 

[diklik]

Too many links on HF are dead! :-(

I've observed that about half of the links work, the others are bannered with the warning that the clip has been removed due to copyright claims. Like it or not, the guy who owns the rights to a video or stilll image has the right to determine who gets to use it for free or for a charge. That is the basic right of owning property. I know that no one likes to hear that, but that's the way life is. All of us here are using video clips that belong to someone. If they don't care (or don't know) that their stuff is posted to a storage site and being downloaded for free, than that's their lookout. But once they become aware, it's their right to demand removal of their intellectual property from the site, whichever one it is.

Sooner or later, one or more of the other download sites will get hit with a lawsuit or demand of action and we'll go thru the same stuff again.

 

[Matt_99]

It's not just the gay content that has disappeared! Any one account that has multiple complaints of piracy gets all of their uploads deleted. Even software, straight porn, non adult, etc.

It's sad, I was a huge HF fan, but I'm going to let mine lapse in a couple of months for the same reason. One blog I visited often over the past 3 years has had over 500 movies deleted on HF in the past 36 hours; with no back up links.

It sucks, but I don't think all of the sites will follow suite; only the ones registered/working in America.

 

[diklik]

Of course to know that material is copyrighted, someone hast to open it up and look at it.

Here's a random fact: did you know that files encrypted by WinRAR or WInZIP with a password are encoded so that the contents cannot be reassembled without knowing the password?

Isn't technology fascinating?

Fascinating but incorrect presumption. You can obtain RAR and ZIP cracker programs free if you search for them. I have used several in the past that open up any of those encryptions without a hassle, and without the password. If anyone can get these free, imagine what a security expert can do if they are dedicated to opening and checking files on a website. Besides, any copyright holder can encode a unique checksum (sort of digital signature) in the opening lines of code that can easily be seen during parsing of an encrypted file. The presence of such a code (already used by some of the music video producers) is prima facie evidence of illegal copying. You need to research your stuff more thoroughly before posting.

 

[topdog]

[Note: I deleted my original message because most of it belonged in another thread. However, diklik already responded to part of it, so see his quote above for the relevant part of my original post. Sorry for the confusion.]

Fascinating but incorrect presumption. You can obtain RAR and ZIP cracker programs free if you search for them. I have used several in the past that open up any of those encryptions without a hassle, and without the password. If anyone can get these free, imagine what a security expert can do if they are dedicated to opening and checking files on a website...

Yes - you are right, there are many cracker programs out there. It is important to be aware of that. This is true not just for RAR/ZIP files - but every system that someone would want to break in to.

But my statement is still true: it is not possible to unencrypt the file without the password. (Without the password "key" the file is gibberish.)

Crackers work by trying to guess the password, either using a dictionary (looking for recognizable words) or "brute force" - simply trying every password combination. A dictionary attack, if successful, is reasonably fast. A brute force attack takes days, or even weeks (or longer) depending on the length of the password. They can't get into the file until they can find the password.

Which leads to a security truism: You are only as safe as the complexity of the password. If you use words found in the dictionary in your password, anyone with some time on their hands and enough motivation can crack it. On the other hand, if you use complex passwords you are forcing the attacker to fall back on a brute force attack. Few accounts hold anything valuable enough to warrant weeks of password processing.

Moral of the story: ALWAYS use complex passwords on anything you want to protect. Make sure that they are:

• At least 15 characters in length
• Mix upper and lower case
• Use numbers and symbols
• Never use dictionary words

This doesn't have to be hard to remember. I like to use songs that are stuck in my head. Use the first letter of each word in a memorable chorus, and then add in some familiar numbers from an old address, phone number, or friend's birthday.

 

[diklik]

Yes - you are right, there are many cracker programs out there. It is important to be aware of that. This is true not just for RAR/ZIP files - but every system that someone would want to break in to.

But my statement is still true: it is not possible to unencrypt the file without the password. (Without the password "key" the file is gibberish.)

Crackers work by trying to guess the password

True for simple crack softwarz but not for all. The ZIP cracker that I played with attacked the encryption codec itself, and was successful about 80% of the time on both text and imagery files. Once the codec is cracked (itself an encrypted subfile), the file contents may be decrypted without a password. This does not necessarily work with every iteration of ZIP, and probably not with RAR at all. My point was that most guys using zip/rar would not have much defense if someone was really interested in seeing what they posted.

 

[gb2000ie]

True for simple crack softwarz but not for all. The ZIP cracker that I played with attacked the encryption codec itself, and was successful about 80% of the time on both text and imagery files. Once the codec is cracked (itself an encrypted subfile), the file contents may be decrypted without a password. This does not necessarily work with every iteration of ZIP, and probably not with RAR at all. My point was that most guys using zip/rar would not have much defense if someone was really interested in seeing what they posted.

Old ZIP password protection was weak and easy to bypass, but that's certainly not true of RAR. RAR uses high-quality encryption, the only way to get the file out is to know or guess the password. If you choose a good password, it'll take longer than the age of the universe to get out. I also think the latest ZIP spec, 7 I think, has proper encryption.

The days of easily cracked archives are over.

B.

 

[diklik]

Old ZIP password protection was weak and easy to bypass, but that's certainly not true of RAR. RAR uses high-quality encryption, the only way to get the file out is to know or guess the password. If you choose a good password, it'll take longer than the age of the universe to get out. I also think the latest ZIP spec, 7 I think, has proper encryption.

The days of easily cracked archives are over.

B.

Very possibly, although I haven't tried anything with the newer codecs as yet. Previous to the new ZIP spec, I could bust just about anything wide open without hacking the password, just by screwing around with the first 50 lines of code that control the actual encryption of file contents. RAR couldn't be done that way, but dictionary/brute force hacking of passwords, as topdog mentioned was pretty easy to do. I'll have to hunt around some of the warez sites to see if a new zip destroyer is available.

 

[Stoic]

I don't think Hotfile will go away that easily. Alot of uploaders have abandoned it but they will be in the scene for a few months/years just like Rapidshare. So if you are planning to renew your subscription to HF, think again.

Also expect alot of Filesonic/Fileserve links - that's the next best option for uploaders. If you are iffy in choosing which premium to buy, then just you take a look at websites offering premiums to different filehosts. I've mentioned some here:

http://www.gayheaven.org/t170969-memberships-for-file-hosting-sites.html

 

[Ninja108]

It's true. Virtually every hotfile clip that I know of has been deleted. Any clip that is put on there won't last long.

 

[momomomo]

i hate hotfile...

 

[tomba]

I don't think Hotfile will go away that easily. Alot of uploaders have abandoned it but they will be in the scene for a few months/years just like Rapidshare. So if you are planning to renew your subscription to HF, think again.

Also expect alot of Filesonic/Fileserve links - that's the next best option for uploaders. If you are iffy in choosing which premium to buy, then just you take a look at websites offering premiums to different filehosts. I've mentioned some here:

http://www.gayheaven.org/t170969-memberships-for-file-hosting-sites.html

This is tragic.

For me, Hotfile was the most reliable of all file sharing sites. I could put 3-5GB of links into a download manager knowing that all the files would dl overnight with few (or no) problems.

But I think you are right in that once the exodus of uploaders begins, it may become unstoppable. The number of those who use HF has nosedived alarmingly since the start of the year. Look how quickly Rapidshare fell from favour. Though, in their case, the decline was self-inflicted.

 

[jimid]

I was just thinking about this. I have a hotfile account and was very pleased with it. I use IDM for my download manager. Do you guys think I should switch to filesonic? I am not a mega uploader but I do download alot/

 

[rs18550]

Wow glad I stumbled on this topic I to was also wondering why all the HF links were dead now I know. Sadly my membership to it last until June. I do have Fileserve and in light of this news I'll end up keeping it. I see a lot of files using oron. I tired it and see they have a limit per day which i would always overshoot. so I canceled it. I really liked hot file reliable and fast but now onward and upward.

 

[diklik]

It's true. Virtually every hotfile clip that I know of has been deleted. Any clip that is put on there won't last long.

I beg to differ. I have gone back several months in various collections (gay clips, BDSM clips, etc.) and a good many of them are still working fine, downloading just as they should. Can't speak for current ones, a few of them have been deleted, most in the last week or so worked just fine for me.

 

[SteveDM]

All of my HF and RS links are still good after more than two years, some with passwords some without. Couple hundred on each. But I don't upload many whole movies or clips from the more aggressive sites. I've come to hate RS, but like HF.

My experience is that Filesonic, Fileserve, Oron are slow, even at Premium.
FileMonster is really fast d/l as Premium, but I've never uploaded to it.

What are opinions on Mediafire and Megaupload? I find them great for free downloads. Somewhere in the Forum it says Mediafire is the most recommended, but I don't see much here uploaded to it.

 

[Stoic]

That's because the max upload for mediafire is only 200mb for free users, and uploading to megaupload takes ages (modem speed for me).