We have labeled torrenting on the wrong side.
Torrenting is a wonderful file sharing and distribution mechanism. It can send big files to many receivers simultaneously around the Internet— something not possible with the traditional client-server. If a receiver has poor bandwidth? No worries, torrents can stop and continue downloading later, something not possible with direct client-server downloads.
Unfortunately, torrents have gained crazy popularity among the pirate community and thus received a bad from the media industry.
In this post, we’ll show you how to torrent anonymously and safely. There are three ways, a private tracker, a VPN, and a Seedbox.
Is Torrenting Illegal?
Is driving a vehicle, illegal… it depends, right?
As long as you have all permits in order, driving your vehicle is not illegal. But you could also rob a bank and use the same “permitted vehicle” to escape the police — this action obviously goes against many laws. Within a legal context, something similar goes for torrents.
Torrents by themselves are not illegal. What is unlawful is what you do with them and how you do it.
Let’s picture two different scenarios when torrenting. The action of torrenting when you download a free copy of Linux’s Ubuntu OS from its official site is legal. But going to the public torrent site, like the PirateBay, and download an illegal copy of the pirated Avengers— of course, is not the same.
Obviously, one has legal implications, and the other one doesn’t.
Even to extend, you could (if it is not blocked in your country), log into the PirateBaySite, browse their torrents, and you’ll not be breaking the law— as long as you are just browsing and not downloading copyright material.
Is Torrenting Safe?
Think back to our vehicle example: A vehicle is safe as long as you use it within a legal and secure context. The same goes out for torrents. If you use torrenting to share “legal” files within your network or the Internet, you are doing something safe.
Facebook and Twitter openly announced the use of BitTorrent internally to send large updates to their server dispersed across the globe. The Univerity of Florida also uses it to send big data to its researchers across the world. Like these, there are also so many other cases.
What is unsafe is lurking around and downloading torrents from public trackers, such as the ones found via PirateBay and RARBG, etc. These places are targeted by copyright trolls, ready to send DMCA violation letters and in very rare cases send hefty fines. And if you are a torrent amateur, you might also unintentionally download Malware, Trojans, and other viruses, that open back doors on your computer to hackers.
Even though torrenting is safe (if you are within legal boundaries), there is a glitch in how BitTorrent is treated. When there are strict laws from the government or copyright agencies, your local ISP (Internet Service Provider) might be asked to shape BitTorrent traffic passing through their infrastructure, regardless of what’s inside that traffic. In other words, you might get your connection throttled and even receive a DMCA letter, whether you are downloading a legal Ubunto ISO or a pirated copy of the Justice League.
Not fair, right?
So, what can you do?
Still, you can download any torrent, anonymously and safely?
First, think about avoiding getting your BitTorrent traffic identified by the local ISP and anything en-route to a torrent server. VPNs and VPS seedboxes do a great job here. Second, think about how to avoid being identified at the torrent destination server > torrent swarms.
If you just downloaded a torrent from TPB and loaded it into the torrent client then you are most likely connecting to a public torrent swarm. Private trackers are great places for achieving higher anonymity, but they are not easy to gain access.
There are three ways to download any torrent safely and anonymously. Here, we’ll show you how.
1. Use Private Trackers.
A private tracker will guarantee that the torrent swarm you are connecting to, does not include any copyright trolls, or users unwilling to share. Aside from assuring your anonymity against copyright trolls, private trackers have fantastic torrent libraries. However, to be a member here, you have to share more than what you download, and your ISP might still detect your traffic. Public trackers, on the other hand, are PUBLIC, so they’ll accept anyone, and that includes hackers and/or copyright trolls.
2. Use a VPN.
A VPN is a good solution for keeping your traffic and identity hidden. First, the local ISP will not identify the BitTorrent traffic (because it is encrypted), and second, the torrent swarm will see the VPN’s IP, not yours. So even if you log into a public or private torrent site, the copyright troll will only see the VPN’s IP. Recommendation: Use a VPN to torrent, ONLY if the VPN service openly allows torrenting, and if they are not keeping your traffic logs. Unfortunatley, some VPNs are based on countries with strict data regulations, which help copyright protection agencies. Additionally, VPNs are most likely to hurt your speed.
3. Use a VPS Seedbox.
Use a VPS Seedbox. A VPS Seedbox covers all your needs for a safe and fast torrenting. These servers get the name from “a box that seeds,” meaning that they are on 24×7 sharing (seeding) and downloading torrents for you. This helps you improve sharing ration on private trackers and grows your media library fast. Unlike VPS, Seedboxes don’t use your resources to download torrents; instead, you connect to a remote fast server, manage and download your torrents to that server. And later download via FTP (or other safe mechanisms) to your local storage.
Final Words.
Torrenting is not illegal. What’s unlawful is what you do with them. You could use it to send legal media files to clients distributed worldwide or download legal Blizzard Entertainment updates, and you’ll be fine. But it is illegal when you use torrents to distribute and sell pirated material online, or even when you download/stream the latest blockbusters movie.
There are three ways to download torrents anonymously and safely; you can use private trackers, a VPN, and/or a Seedbox. Although you could use only one, you could also use a combination. For example, if you are a serious torrenter, a Seedbox and a private tracker will be the best alternative
