Importance of VPN?
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I am currently not torrenting using a VPN, since I don’t want to pay for it. How risky is this to do?
I’m in the US for context.
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Some risk depends on your bandwidth provider. ISPs like ours will only send a letter if they receive a complaint. For context, my partner and I have only received two such letters in over 20 years of torrenting - one was my fault, and one was because of a friend staying with us for a while, and both instances involved participating with a public tracker.
Some risk depends on your torrenting habits. Do you only use private trackers like here, or do you also use public trackers such as PirateBay?
Nothing is ever guaranteed to be risk-free, but making use of VPN is one of several ways to reduce your risk.
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Agreed with bc22 on the above. I began using a VPN about two years ago, after my South Florida TV/Internet provider sent me a DMCA notice about a current, premium-channel show.
The trend is toward Internet / wi-fi providers cooperating with content providers. And for now, the emphasis on "true" enforcement (litigation) seems to be shifted primarily toward public site trackers, although ones like TPB are quite adept at changing addresses, countries of origin, etc.
When your Internet company begins compliance, and if you use public trackers, it will only be a matter of time before you torrent a new TV series or studio movie that is being closely monitored by its creators or distributors, and a DMCA complaint is made.
Your provider sees you have been active and is likely to give you a warning, and I've heard that some will allow from 3 to 6 strikes before they terminate your service -- but you certainly don't want that. And will the torrent violations of terminated accounts be shared with the most aggressive content providers? Perhaps not now, not yet, but...?
So, you can either wait until your first DMCA notice, or more wisely, purchase a VPN soon. The faster VPNs, with more anonymizing locations/countries, are usually more costly. That's life. Make sure to read several independent reviews before you choose one.
I've never had a regulatory issue here at our beloved GTRU, but on those public sites, I'm much happier with the peace of mind a VPN provides.
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@cub2263 h0tsp0t shield is a free vpn that can be d0wnloaded fr0m the wind0ws st0re, if y0u are a wind0ws user. its free and unlimited and is currentley the vpn I use. I hope this helps.
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@my5butt I would be very careful with a free VPN. Not all VPN providers are the same, and if it's a free VPN, the chances of actually being protected in all instances in case of copyright trolls is not guaranteed.
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@cub2263
I agree with @bc22 on this one:
Your risk depends on what you're torrenting... porn alone, solely on private trackers? Less so than downloading current, high-value content from public trackers.So, there was a while there, a few years ago, when studios like Corbin Fisher were pretty aggressive in seeking out people illegally uploading or downloading their content. Other porn studios followed suit, but in the end it turned out to be a lose-lose proposition for them. (Kind of like how some retailers - like Walmart and Amazon - are now telling some people who want to return an item to just "keep it" vs. trying to ship it back!)
That said, the major studios in Hollywood - esp. the streaming companies like HBO Max, Netflix, and to a lesser extent, CBS - are continuing to battle the illegal sharing of their content.
So, if you're looking to download "Star Trek Voyager", you're far less likely to be "targeted" than if you're trying to get the latest "Snowpiercer".
On the other hand, if you value your privacy, a VPN can help you keep the fact that you like "spanking videos" or "tiny cocks" out of the hands of your ISP! Choosing a VPN that does NOT LOG - at all - is important though. And even then, change the VPN server you're using REGULARLY.
Just my suggestions... you're ALWAYS taking a RISK (that new video you just downloaded MIGHT be a trojan, after all!)... how much risk you're willing to assume is an extremely personal decision.
For What Its Worth: I pay for my VPN in "large chunks" (3-years at a time) using a pre-paid VISA card. Not saying they CAN'T track my ID down, only that I don't make it EASY!
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@bc22 I only torrent on this site, no other sites. So I guess I'm probably alright for now since being on here I only use private trackers?
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@cub2263
I would avoid looking for someone else to make the decision for you whether the risk is high or low... that's something you need to decide/evaluate on your own.Certainly, your risk is lower torrenting off of just one site, with just a private tracker.
Your risk would be even lower if you also used a VPN.
BUT, the only risk free thing to do is to pay the porn companies and artists for their content.
What level of risk is OK for you is a decision that only you should make. Be informed, but evaluate your own risk tolerance. Its really not a decision that should be left up to others.
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Do some VPNs allow port forwarding?
Right now I have ExpressVPN... and I find that I must turn it off, if I want a visible external port as recommended by GTRU.
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I use NordVPN - which officially not only supports P2P (peer to peer) connections, it has special servers setup for it!
I have found that, while using NordVPN, so long as my "advertised" port is open (the port in your torrent client), I have no trouble seeding.
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@cub2263 If you want to test your ISP torrent an episode of family guy and see if you get a letter.
I did and received a letter from Service Electric in Pennsylvania and Spectrum.
Mullvad is my choice of VPN at 6 Euros a month, For the best performance of any VPN if Available use WireGuard, I saw a big performance jump when Mullvad first offered WireGuard.
Tip: don't connect to any VPN servers in a 5 eyes country, those are the 5 English speaking countries.
Mullvad's motto is " We don't want to get to know you" When you sign up you generate an account number then pay by card, PayPal or Bitcoin. If you choose Bitcoin its 100% anonymous.You might opt for a seedbox. I use Seedhost, their cheapest service is 6 Euros a month and I get 1TB of space. The service is always on and fast. To get the file to my computer I use Filezilla (free).
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What you want to see in a VPN provider is:
- lots of different servers to choose from
- dedicated servers (vs. VPS servers)
- a no-logging pledge
how to stay anonymous:
- Pay with a "cash card" or in BitCoin (or other untraceable funds)
- Change servers frequently - once a week is usually enough
- Ensure that your DNS searches are private - not just your p2p! (Personally, I keep the entire system behind the VPN!)
To what some people are claiming about ports and open/forwarding: if you use an advanced server that actually overtly supports p2p (like NordVPN), you don't need to worry about this... they can see the port you advertise in your client, and they will forward it over your VPN link (and yes, that means you DO NOT need to open the port on your local router!)
