daniele,

They don’t seem to care, but they collect data. So they don’t seem to care NOW. Always use a non-logging VPN.

TragicNotCute,
@TragicNotCute@lemmy.world avatar

I can only give my experience. I live in the US and thought my ISP didn’t care, but when I got nasty letters about me torrenting Rick and Morty, I started using a VPN.

ilickfrogs,
@ilickfrogs@lemmy.world avatar

That ultimately depends on what jurisdiction you're in and what laws apply. It varies wildly country to country.

Purrington,

I live in 3rd world country where the government doesn't care much about torrent/piracy too. So far there's no problem.

I guess it depends more on the country you live. If nobody is using VPN, you will probably be fine.

Foam3477,

yay living in a 3rd world country has its benefits!

sinkingship,

A VPN is not necessary for torrent usage.

But if you live in a country that enforces copy right etc online, it's highly recommended, as a VPN will make it almost impossible to track you down.

A VPN is like a costume. You don't need to wear one to do something illegal, but wearing one will make it much harder for authorities to identify you.

ram,
@ram@lemmy.ca avatar

A VPN is like a costume that makes you look just like some other guy and you need his permission to wear the costume, and he also may know everything that you do in the costume, and may say he's not keeping track of what you're doing in the costume but still be lying and later compelled to tell others what you were doing in that costume.

It's a minor protection, but depending on where your VPN provider is located, it may not even be "minor protection".

DataDreadnought,

If your ISP doesn't care then you are good.

LobsterDog,

worst that can happen is your ISP sends you a letter to stop, then get a VPN.

hardypart,

Do you live in a country where the authorities are taking action against torrenting? Yes, you should absolutely be using a VPN, because otherwise you're presenting your identity on a silver platter.

Do you live in a country where the authorities don't give a fuck? Then no, a VPN won't be necessary.

fell,
@fell@ma.fellr.net avatar

@Alextheacceptable In Germany, there are lawyers specialised on torrents. They collect German IPs from the peers list and mass-sue them over distributing copyrighted material. They always ask for a settlement payment of more than 5000€. It can usually be escaped by taking it to court, but I recommend not going through that.

So, depends on your location. Over here, download one movie without a VPN and you have a shit ton of legal crap coming your way.

fell,
@fell@ma.fellr.net avatar

Makes me think... if you exclusively use IPv6 you might be fine because they can't geolocate you that easily 🤔

SolOrion,

Would that really matter, though? Afaik, they could still just.. ask your ISP who that IP was assigned to, which is what they're going to do with IPv4 anyways.

fell,
@fell@ma.fellr.net avatar

@SolOrion They don't deal with ISPs outside the country, because they can't sue them at a German court.

So they need to know it's a German ISP beforehand so they can request personal information accordingly. But maybe they could still figure it out from IPv6 address ranges... I'm not entirely sure.

Port8080,

You get an IPv6 prefix from your ISP. This way you have thousands of public addresses for yourself, but they still can identify you by the prefix.

Maybe even better as with IPv4. Because nowadays most people have DualStack Lite which means you have unique public IPv6 addresses but only a shared IPv4 address.

the1HOknocks,

Yes you can do that easiely with a ripe whois query. And they definitely do.

fell,
@fell@ma.fellr.net avatar
AnagrammadiCodeina,

Not necessary for torrenting per se, but can be necessary to avoid fees depending on the country where your IP is located.

great_meh,
@great_meh@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Not necessary but really really really really recommended.

brejela,

It depends very much on the copyright laws on where you live. You said you don't live in the US, which already makes you better off than a lot of people here -However, Europe also has very strict © laws. So it is always recommended.

BarrierWithAshes,
BarrierWithAshes avatar

It (possibly) adds a layer of security. Of course you're just passing your traffic through them. Should they get summoned to court or ordered they could turn over your information and show you were trafficking through them. I'd say to read into how your nation persecutes copyright. How strict are they, how often have people been legally attacked cause of it, etc. If you're in Japan for example, I'd say 100% use a VPN. Copyright is extremely serious there.

BananaTrifleViolin,

Very true. Not all VPNs are created equal and it's important to research, but ultimately you are putting your trust in them with your data. They provide anonymity but you need to trust them that they don't compromise your security. And of coruse you should still do everything else you can to maximise your security on the internet.

iAmTheTot,
iAmTheTot avatar

It doesn't add a layer of security, it adds a layer of anonymity.

BarrierWithAshes,
BarrierWithAshes avatar

Right. I keep having to remind myself and others all a VPN does is pass traffic elsewhere. Still at the whims of whatever security measures your VPN does or doesn't do.

ashlie,
ashlie avatar

I personally wouldn't take the chance. Mullvad is €5 a month, and is worth it to me. My ISP completely shut off my service before ever giving me a notification. I had to completely restart service after going full Karen and blaming it on "my kids." I would do a few searches and find posts or info relevant to your area or ISP.

alphafalcon,

Mullvad stopped providing port forwards, so they're not ideal for torrenting anymore. They were great before.

ashlie,
ashlie avatar

Interesting. The lack of logs is still desirable, but I'll look into that further. Thanks!

Pulp,

But barely anyone else provides it too. Proton has it kind of but the amount of servers are restricted so yeah great higher ping/slower speeds depending on where you are from

xenos,
xenos avatar

+1 for Mullvad! They were raided with a search warrant by Swedish Police who ended up leaving empty handed because the customer data they wanted simply does not exist

KingPyrox,
KingPyrox avatar

How's the speed on Mullvad? I have gigabit currently and don't really want to compromise the speed of my connection

Pulp,

Incredibly good. You will probably lose like 100mbps compared to without, at 1gbps.

KingPyrox,
KingPyrox avatar

If using qBittorrent there is an anonymous option. Not sure if works well but I haven't received an ISP email in a long time since I set it

SpaceCadet2000,
SpaceCadet2000 avatar

Not sure if works well

You can check if something appears on https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/

KingPyrox,
KingPyrox avatar

hahaha I guess it doesn't work well then XD

Edit: Although, it doesn't have everything so maybe it works a little bit

For information on it: Anonymous Mode

Aggy,

Oh wow, I have mullvad VPN and apparently it works perfectly. The list is just completely empty with the vpn off.

KingPyrox,
KingPyrox avatar

How do you find mullvad? like in terms of speed/price/tracking

Pulp,

All of those are great. They just removed port forwarding but barely anyone else has it anyways

warboyziri,
warboyziri avatar

@SpaceCadet2000 holy shit i didnt know this existed! also if i see something here that i didn't torrent does that mean someone in my apartment be torrenting?

BananaTrifleViolin,

Yes, if you have a static IP address. If you have a dynamic IP address you can just be seeing the other people who previously had that IP address. It will depend on your ISP.

lamp,
BananaTrifleViolin,

Anonymous mode is NOT enough. It is just meant to enhance protections by anonymising your traffic as much a possible. But your data still leaks and is enough for people to persue you. For example, if you live in a flat share and you and your flatmate torrent, by turning on Anonymous mode your client's unique "finger print" is not shared, so it would be difficult to determine which of you did the downloading if you both use it. But you're still leaking information on what you're downloading so it can still be traced to your flat.

You need to use either a Proxy service or a full VPN service. And if you're sharing with other people then encourage them to do the same, or secure your internet connection at the source (you can set up VPNs to work on your router so ALL internet traffic is secured)

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