IpfilterX – IP Address Blocklist For uTorrent, eMule and PeerGuardian

If you are a file sharer who is worried about security, you probably already use an IPFilter in the hope of blocking prying eyes from seeing your sharing habits. While not 100% effective, IP blocklists can prevent anti p2p companies, government IP ranges, law firms, military organizations and even p2p spammers from getting into your peer list. Perhaps the most popular IP block list that’s around is the one provided by Bluetack internet security solutions. However, there have been complaints of this list getting bloated and inefficient as of late. If you want to try out a new filter check out IpfilterX – it’s claimed to be efficient and carry a lot less bloat. It’s currently supports uTorrent, eMule and PeerGuardian.
Description for IPfilterX (found on their homepage) specifically speak of less bloat and ‘not needing to block 1 billion ranges to stay protected’ (which I'm sure is a crack at bluetack’s lists):

IpfilterX blocks Anti-P2P companies and the organizations that support them, Corporations, Military Ranges, Government Agencies, Law Firms, P2P spammers and many more. There's no need to block more than 1 billion of IPs to be protected, overloading further to a certain value will result in banning innocent IP ranges which means legitimate P2P sources, this paranoid setting will hog your machine. You won't run into risks using IpfilterX and won't run into more risks than using an overbloated ipfilter.

What they are trying to say is that blocking more ranges does not always mean better security. As of 15 January 2010 there were over 6600 different IP ranges in IpfilterX blocklist.
Download
As mentioned above, there are multiple versions of IpfilterX available for different types of p2p software. Currently you can use it with uTorrent, eMule mods and even use it as a block list for PeerGuardian.
[Click Here] to visit IPfilterX official download page to download the latest available version
The file you need to download varies depending on which software you intend to use the block list with. uIpfilterX is for uTorrent, PeerGuardX is for PeerGuardian and ipFilterX(B) is for eMule mods.
Note: An IP filter is not an all in one magical solution that will shield you completely. While it can be effective in some cases, do not get into a false sense of security thinking it’s the ultimate solution to all your problems :)

BitTorrent Skins – Templates & Resources For Torrent Tracker Development

Here on FILEnetworks, we talk about torrent trackers and file sharing forums pretty much every single day. Almost all of the sites and forums we have featured up until now cater towards end users of BitTorrent & DDL, in other words the regular pirates who download stuff from the net. However, the forum we are featuring today, BitTorrent Skins (aka BTSkins), is somewhat different. It’s a gathering place and a central location of information sharing for BitTorrent tracker developers – you can discuss and download templates, hacks & mods for all major tracker codebases including Gazelle, TBDEV, TorrentStrike, TorrentTrader & more. That’s not all, BTSkins is currently developing their own tracker source named TfK (TBDEV featuring Kidvision). If you are a tracker developer or if you are interested in the underlying works of a BitTorrent site, you might want to check this forum out.

BTSkins is not really a new forum. According ApocalypseMan, one of the site’s moderators, this site was formerly known as Kidvision.me. This is essentially a resurrection of Kidvision which shut down due to server issues. The site currently has 125 members (at the time of writing) and more are expected to join as word spreads in the BitTorrent community.
As mentioned in the first paragraph, BTSkins indexes templates, mods and hacks for all major tracker codebases out there. This allows developers to share there work and re-use components developed by others without having to reinvent the wheel. A screenshot of the ‘Development’ section in the main forum is shown below – this is where you can share/download/request add-ons for trackers scripts.


There are already quite a few mods & templates indexed in BTSkins, most of which seem to be TBDEV related. In addition to these, BTSkins has separate forum threads for Graphics and Artwork sharing as well as a Guidelines & Tutorials section for BitTorrent trackers. The source code for BTSkin’s own tracker script, TfK, can also be downloaded from this site.
BTSkins is currently open for registrations and is accepting new members. Again, keep in mind that this is a development related forum – you won’t find any tracker invite giveaways here.
Site Name: BitTorrent Skins (http://btskins.net)
Registration URL: http://btskins.net/index.php?app=core&module=global&section=register
Special thanks to ApocalypseMan for sending us this news.