exposing vodei

FastTorr.com

vodei — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:10:31 +0000

There’s a new scam in town. It has it’s roots buried deep in the stench that is Vodei.. Here’s a copy of the post made on the other site:

Additionally, I had this email from an anonymous source this week (14/01/08):

First of all, thank you for the work you’ve done documenting Vodei…your site was an interesting read.

On a forum I frequent, I was reading a thread about bittorrent throttling. My local ISP has been throttling bittorrent packets and I have been looking for a solution. Long story short, someone recommended a site called www.fasttorr.com and blinded by my need for a few TV shows I stupidly signed up without thinking.

Basically, you upload a torrent and they’re supposed to send you a “enhanced” torrent with faster speeds. Ugh. Opened the torrent for about a minute and then closed it when I didnt notice any speed difference. What I was really interested in is a feature where they apparently generate a HTTP download link. I’ve seen a few people say it works, however, my particular torrent did not work.

Here’s the kicker. I got curious. I wondered what was the science behind all this. Their site explained nothing (another warning sign). While doing a bit of Googling, I found this thread:http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/737826.html

>From that thread, I noticed they were affiliated with S.V.R. Consulting Ltd. This lead me to the epic thread on InMatrix. So basically I found your site and noticed you had a small section about port scanning and figured maybe you could also bring this site to light on that thread?

Do you have any more information by any chance? I really wonder if I have done any damage by opening the “enhanced” torrent.

Thanks,

I checked out the forum that was mentioned and have come to the conclusion that it’s about as genuine as the RIAA saying ‘Ok, we’re giving up, have it your way’… What it’s reporting is, to the best of my knowledge, impossible. This is just another scam from those who brought you Vodei. Are we now to believe that they’re supporting the torrent scene after port scanning? Are we to believe a company that doesn’t even reply to the simplest of emails requesting information?

Thank you for the email – I’ll see what else comes up.

Now, if you have something to add here, please do..

SVR Consulting and Bit Torrent trackers.

vodei — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 16:57:51 +0000

I’ve heard tell that SVR have started monitoring torrent traffic. I’ve read nothing official one way or the other, but a few associates who’re big in the torrent scene have made mention to the fact that Peer Guardian has been known to be catching SVR related IPs and blocking them. Is this Vodei’s attempt to fight back against a community that, in actual fact, hate it? This can be added to our investigation and I’ll keep you informed as I hear more.

VodeiMark: Vodei does track usage

vodei — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 15:14:36 +0000

According to VodeiMark:

Only heavy users receive registration notifications. There is nothing wrong with charging money for quality software, developers need to eat too.

Of course, the Vodei FAQ explicitly reads:

Does Vodei MP "call home" or track usage?

No. Vodei MP does not connect to the Internet and it does not record any usage and it does not send any information to anyone. We care about your privacy. [emphasis added]

VodeiMark responded:

Vodei Multimedia Processor records, locally on your computer, how much it has been used. No information it sent to us by the software.

I'm not going to rely on the tesimony of others to dispute Mark's claims. I plan on testing Vodei on a clean Windows install to see how long it takes before I'm prompted to register. I'm also working a few others to monitor Vodei's internet connections and usage. If you have any suggestions for methodology, please let me know.

Source: Vodei FAQ, Inmatrix Forums

VodeiMark: Vodei is a “container”

vodei — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 17:53:34 +0000

Since I haven't received any replies to my FOIA requests or contacts with the company, I'm going to copy some of "VodeiMark"'s comments from the Inmatrix Forums. In some cases, I've made slight edits to the comments to make up for taking these out of context. My edits are clearly marked with [brackets].

Since I have been mentioned here, I’m going to post to alleviate the confusion and misconceptions in this thread.

As has already been mentioned and verified, Vodei MP is not scamware. It does not contain spyware; it does not contain adware; it does not connect to the Internet; it does not damage your computer; it does not eat your children.

Using remote control software is a completely standard and perfectly acceptable and safe way to assist users with software problems. The software we use, Remote-Anything by TWD Industries, is very secure, gives the computer owner complete control and is very easy to uninstall. There is nothing suspicious about us wanting to help you.

Vodei is not a codec; we never claimed that it is. Vodei is a Multimedia Processor, like the name implies. It is more of a container than a wrapper. The FAQ states what it does, but in case you missed it: “Vodei makes possible … the faster transmission of multimedia files over file distribution networks.” An advanced innovative algorithm is used to optimize the file content, which results in faster download speeds, as many of you have probably noticed.

Unfortunately I am unable to elaborate further on how it does what it does due to patents being processed.

If you wish to contact me directly, you may email mark@vodei

Let's look at Mark's claims.

First, that Vodei has been verified as not scamware. To be fair, the Vodei site has been rated as "without significant problems" by the automated McAfee Site Advisor. However, only the older version (1.09) of Vodei MP was tested. While I don't think this counts as "verification" that Vodei MP is not scamware, it's at least one step.

Second, Vodei does not connect to the internet. This will be investigated in full later.

Third, "Using remote control software is a completely standard". I don't buy this at all. I have never had a software company ask to have remote access to my computer to fix a problem.

Fourth, Vodei is not a codec. I'll give them this one, but we'll check into this later.

Fifth, Vodei uses an "advanced innovative algorithm" to "optimize the file content".

Sixth, Vodei improves download speeds. This will be investigated in full later. That said, I'm not really sure how a "multimedia processor" or encoder can possibly do this.

Seventh, Vodei relies on patent-pending technology. I thought that this would be easy to confirm, since patents are a matter of public record. However, I have yet to find any record of a pending patent in the US or Canada. I will try installing Vodei on an old machine and will check for patent numbers. If anyone else has these, please leave me a note.

exposing vodei

vodei — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 22:15:23 +0000

This blog will track information about Vodei Multimedia Processor and related individuals and companies in an attempt to see what the purpose of this odd little program is.

For a long and entertaining back-and-forth with a Vodei rep, check the Inmatrix Forums (link).

I will be posting a basic intro about this in the next few days, and provide links to all the publicly available information on Vodei I can find.