Hello, i wanted to know to what extent do the ISPs or police pursue torrenting. In the 90’s it was acceptable and fairly wide-spread. I am unsure how it looks now.

  • Rikudou_Sage
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    202 months ago

    Always use a VPN. With torrents you actively share the file which is illegal pretty much anywhere.

    Even if no one cares today, someone might tomorrow.

    • @black0ut@pawb.social
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      22 months ago

      VPNs are a barrier for torrenting. Some people don’t want to pay (or can’t even pay), and other people may find setting a VPN up difficult. This is not good advice.

      Force encryption for bittorrent and you’re already future proof.

      • @bobs_monkey@lemm.ee
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        52 months ago

        Encryption won’t do anything is your real IP address is exposed. A VPN covers that. Most ISPs don’t care, they just have to forward those nasty letters and may shut off your internet if pressured. Rightsholders will attach to the swarm, note all the connected IPs, and then go after the ISPs to get to the users. You have to obfuscate your personal IP somehow.

        And sure I can see paying being an issue for some, but there really isn’t much other way. As for use, they’re no harder to set up that a torrent client.

      • Rikudou_Sage
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        42 months ago

        VPNs are a barrier, true. But prison bars or having to pay millions to huge corporations are even bigger barriers. Sure, it might not happen to everyone and it probably won’t happen to most. If you want to gamble with your life, go ahead, but please, don’t tell others some form of protection isn’t needed.

        If you don’t want to or can’t pay, don’t torrent. There are other, safer ways to get content.

        • That Weird Vegan
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          12 months ago

          Fun fact: the American studios tried to do that in Australia, and about fifteen years ago, the court system said “yeah nah not happening” and that they could only sue for the cost of a movie ticket. Needless to say, that’s not cost effective. So they don’t bother anymore

      • Rikudou_Sage
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        42 months ago

        It doesn’t support port forwarding, it’s not the best VPN for torrenting, your downloading will be limited.

        I personally use ProtonVPN which does have port forwarding.