An attempt at curbing public archivers / leakers from allowing unauthorized access to digital work on Patreon (or any subscription based service) via means of data scraping / leaking URLs and publishing them without permission.

This solution utilizes the cloud drive platform MEGA, Discord for more control over access and booting scrapers, and PAL, to keep shared URLs fresh to only those with active subscriptions & expiring old URLs that might have been compromised.

Until Patreon releases a public API where one could programmatically edit Patreon posts, Discord is a required middleman for now.

Methodology:

The idea of this project primarily revolves around the centuries old methodology of a one way in, one way out, guarded path that is protecting something of value.

Think of how a bank functions and apply those same concepts here:

• Discord serves as the bank building with guards keeping an eye on activity, granting the ability to allow vault access to authorized customers, and removing anyone who jeopardizes vault security.
• MEGA serves as the vault itself.
• PAL serves as an automated system of rotating vault keys under the discretion of the bank manager.
  (ie. invalidating potentially leaked keys and keeping authorized key holders up-to-date with the latest key)

Click here for more in-depth detail.

Using this methodology, leaking URLs is rendered largely pointless, as any leaked URLs would be quickly invalidated per the set key rotation period.

By rotating keys in a frequent enough manner:

1. Discord admins have the ability to track down leaker accounts, and ban them for TOS violations.

2. Any human leakers would stop trying to leak as they would be required to sit at their computer 24/7.

3. Any individual bot leakers would repeatedly risk exposing themselves violating TOS, eventually leading to a banned account. Thus, discouraging any individual from repeated attempts as the cost alone to leak for free would really start to add up, on top of all prior efforts being wasted as URLs are regularly invalidated.

   Make the risk/reward skewed enough in your favor and get trusted community members to help keep an eye out for offenders.

4. Any public archivers would have to increase their archiving visit frequency by many factors, which would require more server resources than any public achiever owner would want to invest in.

   An arbitrary example in order for a public archiver to keep up-to-date, in the time period of a week:

   # of Accounts to Scrape	PAL Key Rotation Frequency	Total Scrapes / week	Total Time to Complete (10 scrapes / second)	Verdict
   100,000	(unprotected)	100,000 / week	10,000 seconds	~2.8 hours < 168 hours Feasible
   100,000	Every day	700,000 / week	70,000 seconds	~19.4 hours < 168 hours Feasible
   100,000	Every hour	16,800,000 / week	1,680,000 seconds	~467 hours ≰ 168 hours Too costly

   So, unless you are apart of the world's most famous Patreon creators where the incessant scraping is somehow financially worth it, public archiver leaks will always be outdated when PAL is deployed.

Concept Flowcharts:

Access to your Patreon content by default

Access to your Patreon content under PAL's protection

What PAL does when executed

Targeted System Setup:

Hardware: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

OS: Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64bit) - Debian 12

Tip

If you're new to stuff like this, and/or don't have this specific setup, I made a couple guides to help you out:

• Shopping Guide: here
• RPiOS Setup Guide: here

External Requirements:

1. A registered account with MEGA that will serve as the vault to your digital work.

2. A Discord server with dedicated channels that will serve as the gateway to your vault.

3. A Discord Webhook Bot per dedicated channel inside of your Discord server, already created and assigned to the appropriate corresponding channel.

Tip

Free MEGA accounts start at 20GB, with up to 16TB paid storage.
Pricing: here | Privacy Policy: here

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An example of how a Discord server would set up the dedicated channels:

• 'Tier 1' channel, that will contain a link (handled by PAL) to the 'Tier 1' folder on your MEGA drive.
• 'Tier 2' channel, that will contain a link (handled by PAL) to the 'Tier 2' folder on your MEGA drive.
• 'Tier _' ... etc.

---

Discord Webhook Documentation: here

Usage:

Installing Required Dependencies

sudo apt update &&              # Update system repos \
sudo apt -y full-upgrade &&     # Install any outstanding updates \
sudo apt -y install jq &&       # Install jq Command-line JSON processor \
sudo apt -y install megacmd     # Install MEGA's Command-line tool

Important

If you get an "E: Unable to locate package megacmd", you are missing MEGA's repository.

If you are using the Targeted System Setup, run the following command:

wget https://mega.nz/linux/repo/Raspbian_11/armhf/megacmd-Raspbian_11_armhf.deb &&    # Fetch latest MEGAcmd package \
sudo apt -y install "$PWD/megacmd-Raspbian_11_armhf.deb" &&    # Install MEGAcmd package \
rm "$PWD/megacmd-Raspbian_11_armhf.deb"    # Delete MEGAcmd package

Otherwise, go to https://mega.io/cmd#download and download/install the package that targets your system.

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Installing PAL

wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Katyatu/PatreonAntiLeak/main/scripts/PAL-installer.sh &&     # Fetch installer script from here \
chmod +x PAL-installer.sh &&     # Make installer script executable \
./PAL-installer.sh &&            # Run installer script \
rm PAL-installer.sh              # Delete installer script

---

Log into MEGAcmd (PAL-manager prerequisite)

You have two ways to do this, pick one, both achieve the same result:

1. Login inside of mega-cmd (more secure):

   mega-cmd
   
   login <email> <password>
   
   exit
   

2. Login outside of mega-cmd:

   mega-login <email> <password>
   

---

Running

PAL-manager

Tip

There is a PAL Quickstart Guide available if you need help with using PAL for the first time.

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Optional: Enable plug-n-play (recommended)

By OS default, after a fresh reboot, the user must log in first before user services (like PAL-autostart.service) can be fired off. However, running the following command tells the system to waive the log in requirement, thus allowing user services to run their course as soon as they can after the system boots.

loginctl enable-linger <yourusername>

Once this setting is set, and you have fully set up your local PAL instances, it becomes as simple as: RPi plugged into power = Your vault is PAL Protected; RPi unplugged from power = Your vault is not PAL Protected. Only time you would need to log into your RPi would be to manage instances or troubleshoot.

---

Troubleshooting: Force uninstall

If you happen to find yourself in a situation where you are unable to access the PAL-manager, and the installation script won't run due to an existing PAL installation, run the following command:

wget -q https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Katyatu/PatreonAntiLeak/main/scripts/PAL-uninstaller.sh &&      # Fetch uninstaller script from here \
chmod +x PAL-uninstaller.sh &&     # Make uninstaller script executable \
./PAL-uninstaller.sh &&            # Run uninstaller script \
rm PAL-uninstaller.sh              # Delete uninstaller script

Caution

This is essentially a hard reset of PAL, you will lose all configurations and will be starting over from a fresh installation.

Disclaimer:

Important

• PAL isn't designed to prevent piracy, ie. people who download from your vault and re-upload to another distribution network. Conceptually speaking, it's impossible to prevent a 0-cost-infinitely-duplicatable digital good from being unlawfully distributed without having 100% complete control over people. The best you can do is making it as much of a pain in the ass as possible for illicit activity to take place, leaving only the "I'd rather die than pay you." people to spend the extra time out of their sad lives trying to circumvent your security. You'll just have to keep an eye out and file a DMCA Takedown if you catch wind of any file sharing site hosting your work without permission, and then purge the leaker from your Discord.

• Since PAL is written purely in GNU's Bourne Again SHell, modifying your local PAL installation is possible. However, any degree of modification voids your privilege of being able to open issues and/or complain. This repository will only be focused on the official version of PAL.

• If you made a mod, have thoroughly tested it, and think it would serve as a respectable addition to the official PAL, you may post a feature request containing your code for me to review. Just don't get your hopes up.

• There may be fringe cases where unexpected errors happen, I try my best to account for every possible scenario and handle them accordingly. If I happen to miss one, let me know and I'll get it fixed asap.

• I am not affiliated with any of the services mentioned within this project whatsoever.

• This project was born from the behest of some friends of mine who use Patreon and have complained about leakers / public archivers hurting their business. Also, I couldn't sleep for **** one night and had to do something.

Contact:

For now, if you need help with setting up or using PAL, feel free to DM my Discord and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Github - Discord