DHT Crawlers like BitSearch and BTDIGG (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by randriusr@lemmy.world to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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Hey everyone!

I recently came across two DHT torrent search engines called Bitsearch and BTDigg. The thing is, I couldn't find any mention of their safety in the megathread. So, I'd like to hear from those who have experience with Bitsearch and BTDigg.

Are these websites considered safe for finding torrents? Do they filter the torrents in any way to ensure a safer experience? Or is it generally safe to use them without worrying too much about malware or other security risks?

I understand that no torrent website can guarantee 100% safety, but I'm particularly interested in the general safety of torrents that can be found on these two websites (or just DHT torrent search engines in general). Perhaps some of you have had positive experiences with these sites and can shed some light on this? If not, should I stick with DDL sites or the usual torrenting sites like 1337x and RuTracker? As someone who's relatively new to piracy, I'm eager to learn as much as I can.

Thanks, everyone! Your insights are greatly appreciated.

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[-] brickfrog@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

What do you mean by "safety"? A DHT Crawler primarily just looks for torrent hashes in the DHT network & then adds them to its search database. The torrent data itself is not being downloaded & tested for viruses/malware/anything like that.

That aside most/all of the common media formats wouldn't have virus/malware issues (mp4, mkv, etc.). Just don't be one of those people that downloads a random .exe file, then executes that program expecting it to be a movie.

[-] randriusr@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yes, I understand that. What I was asking was whether these DHT search engines can assess the trustworthiness of the sites or sources the torrents come from and filter them out accordingly (by a list of websites for example). For instance, I saw that one of the torrents I was looking for was from 1337x.to, but some others don’t mention their source. Therefore, I was wondering if there is some kind of filter or mechanism in place to determine the reliability of the torrents based on their origin. Additionally, I occasionally download software or games, which are not media formats. That’s why I was curious about the safety aspect.

[-] brickfrog@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

whether these DHT search engines can assess the trustworthiness of the sites or sources the torrents come from and filter them out accordingly

No.

The torrent hashes come from the DHT network, not from any particular websites or uploaders.

For instance, I saw that one of the torrents I was looking for was from 1337x.to

That may or may not be the case, that "1337x.to" text just happens to be in the torrent name that was pulled up with the infohash. Anyone can create a torrent & write in any sort of tag they want, there's no verification that specific magnet is actually from 1337x.

Additionally, I occasionally download software or games, which are not media formats

Yeah be careful with that, these DHT crawlers are not downloading these torrents to verify if they are safe and free from malware/virus/miners/etc.

Not too sure why the other comment said Bitsearch is safe, they too do not have the ability to verify that torrent executables are actually safe. Though to be fair both BTDigg and Bitsearch websites are "safe" e.g. neither of their webpages are actively trying to run malware in your web browser or anything like that...but that's not quite what you were asking.