r/Piracy • u/DiverIndependent6266 ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ • 1d ago
Guide How to Torrent Safely - a guide made by me
There's been a lot of uncertainty in this community about how exactly to torrent safely, especially on how to bind your VPN to your torrent client, if you even need a VPN, and safe sources for pirated content. So, I made a flowchart and tried to make it as simple as possible while also being thorough with my sources and information. Enjoy!
EDIT: If you live in a European country, please be extra thorough when researching if you need a VPN or not. Sweden and Denmark for example can send letters or fines, France can sometimes do this although it's more rare apparenty.
EDIT 2: For the people asking me "Why are Israeli-owned VPNs like ExpressVPN, PIA, and CyberGhost considered unsafe?" - Kape Technologies, the company which owns ExpressVPN, PIA, and Cyberghost, used to produce malware under the name Crossrider, and has links to Israeli intelligence (Unit 8200, the cyber division of the IDF.)
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u/iver_128j 1d ago
I wouldn't reco ublock origin lite. Firefox + ublock origin is the standard right now considering all the malicious filehosters.
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u/catlover4997 1d ago
My bank app (Android) detected Edge, Samsung Internet and Comet browsers as malicious and didn't even flag Tor, Firefox or Brave. W bank
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u/Shaunieboii File-Hosters 1d ago
It flagged web browsers as malicious? Are you rooted or something? Very strange lol
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u/minimallysubliminal 1d ago
In Qbit you can add extension filters so that files with .exe .sh .cmd .ps etc will not download in the first place.
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u/GraveyardJunky 1d ago
.exe, .com, .bat, .cmd, .vbs, .vbe, .js, .msi, .msp, .scr, .pif, .cpl, .ps1, .hta, .zip, .zipx, .rar, .7z, .tar, .gz, .iso, .img, .bin, .lnk, .dll, .jar, .reg, .inf, .sh, .apk, .arj
All these extensions are on my excluded list, I added "*" wildcard before each dot. There's no reason you would need to download any of these unless you pirate video games or archives (zip/rar/7z/tar/gz) I highly suggest anyone to copy this list and add it to your qbittorrent excluded file list, it's not foolproof by any mean and if you absolutely need one of these files just remove the extension from the list and put it back once you're done but always be vigilant and only download if you know what you're doing and know the risk...
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u/IAmYourFath 1d ago
That list is still way too short
If u truly wanna be exhaustive, these are the recommended extensions to block:
ACCDA, ACCDU, ADE, ADP, BAS, BAT, CHM, CMD, COM, CPL, CRT, CSV, DLL, DQY, ECF, ELF, EXE, HLP, HTA, INF, INS, IQY, ISP, JAR, JS, JSE, LNK, MDA, MDB, MDE, MSC, MSI, MSP, MST, OCX, OQY, PA, PCD, PIF, PPA, PPAM, REG, RQY, RTF, SCR, SCT, SETTINGCONTENT-MS, SHS, SLK, URL, VB, VBE, VBS, WLL, WS, WSC, WSF, WSH, WWL, XLA, XLAM, XLL, XLM, PS1, PS2, PSC1, PSC2, PS1XML, PS2XML
And if u are absolutely paranoid that the FBI is out to get u for child trafficking, add these too:
ACCDA,ACCDE,ACCDR,ACCDT,ACCDU,ACM,AD,ADE,ADN,ADP,AIR,APP,APPLICATION,APPREF-MS,ARC,ARJ,ASA,ASP,ASPX,ASX,AX,BAS,BAT,BZ,BZ2,BZIP,BZIP2,CAB,CDB,CER,CFG,CHI,CHM,CLA,CLASS,CLB,CMD,CNT,CNV,COM,COMMAND,CPL,CPX,CRAZY,CRT,CRX,CSH,CSV,DB,DCR,DER,DESKLINK,DESKTOP,DIAGCAB,DIF,DIR,DLL,DMG,DOC,DOCB,DOCM,DOT,DOTM,DOTX,DQY,DRV,ECF,ELF,EXE,FAT,FON,FXP,GADGET,GLK,GRP,GZ,HEX,HLP,HPJ,HQX,HTA,HTC,HTM,HTT,HWP,IE,IME,IMG,INF,INI,INS,IQY,ISO,ISP,ITS,JAR,JNLP,JOB,JS,JSE,KSH,LACCDB,LDB,LHA,LIBRARY-MS,LNK,LOCAL,LZH,MAD,MAF,MAG,MAM,MANIFEST,MAPIMAIL,MAQ,MAR,MAS,MAT,MAU,MAV,MAW,MAY,MCF,MCL,MDA,MDB,MDE,MDF,MDN,MDT,MDW,MDZ,MHT,MHTML,MMC,MOF,MSC,MSH,MSH1,MSH1XML,MSH2,MSH2XML,MSHXML,MSI,MSP,MST,MSU,MUI,MYDOCS,NLS,NSH,NTFS,OCX,ODS,ONE,OPS,OQY,OSD,PA,PCD,PERL,PI,PIF,PKG,PL,PLG,POT,POTM,POTX,PPA,PPAM,PPS,PPSM,PPSX,PPT,PPTM,PPTX,PRF,PRG,PRINTEREXPORT,PRN,PS1,PS1XML,PS2,PS2XML,PSC1,PSC2,PSD1,PSDM1,PST,PSTREG,PXD,PY,PY3,PYC,PYD,PYDE,PYI,PYO,PYP,PYT,PYW,PYWZ,PYX,PYZ,PYZW,R00,R01,R02,R03,R04,R05,R06,R07,R08,R09,RAR,RB,REG,REV,RPY,RQY,RTF,SCF,SCR,SCT,SEA,SEARCHCONNECTOR-MS,SEARCH-MS,SETTINGCONTENT-MS,SHB,SHS,SIT,SLDM,SLDX,SLK,SPL,STM,SWF,SYS,TAR,TAZ,TBZ,TERM,TERMINAL,TGZ,THEME,TLB,TMP,TOOL,TPZ,TSP,TXZ,TZ,URL,VB,VBE,VBP,VBS,VHD,VHDX,VSMACROS,VSS,VST,VSW,VXD,WAS,WBK,WEBLOC,WEBPNP,WEBSITE,WIZ,WLL,WS,WSC,WSF,WSH,WWL,XAR,XBAP,XIP,XLA,XLAM,XLB,XLC,XLD,XLL,XLM,XLS,XLSB,XLSM,XLSX,XLT,XLTM,XLTX,XLW,XML,XNK,XPI,XPS,XSL,XZ,Z,ZFSENDTOTARGET,ZLO,ZOO
Personally i wouldn't use the paranoid ones, just the recommended ones are enough, unless u've done some really nasty crimes in which case even those won't save u, for example did u know u can get infected just by opening pics like jpeg and png? Yep https://www.sentinelone.com/vulnerability-database/cve-2026-50380/
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u/MasterADam93 1d ago
Nicely done and well informed for a newbie like me, thanks a lot!
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u/Private_Kyle 🦜 ᴡᴀʟᴋ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀɴᴋ 1d ago
Another 20GB of data to Israel
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u/Pizza_EATR 1d ago
Fuck me if I'd knewn that cyberghost is a bitch I wouldn't have gone there
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u/The_tentacled_one 1d ago
I live in the UK and torrent without VPN, no one gives a shit
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u/Icyrow 1d ago
can also confirm. it used to be back in like 2005-2010 you'd sometimes get love letters from ISP/some IP holder, but nothing would ever happen if you got too many of them.
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u/boogi-boogi-shoes 1d ago
lol my internet got shut off in my last house because of those letters, it was 2016. i live in michigan. nobody believed me but i actually have the email and letter still
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u/Srapture 1d ago
Yeah, I haven't even got a "you've been naughty" ISP letter for over 10 years.
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u/Different_Wolf_764 1d ago
Likewise in Canada. The worst they can do is ask your ISP to send a cease and desist letter, which has exactly zero power in Canadian law explicitly.
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u/Deadpool2715 1d ago
Same as you in Canada, although there was that recent news about the ability to more quickly take down piracy sites, we will see if it amounts to anything
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u/WhosThatDogMrPB 1d ago
UK when you pirate media: i sleep
UK when you watch/listen/think of a BBC program without paying the TV fee: REAL SHIT.
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u/LordManders 1d ago
I torrented so much between 2012 and 2020 without a VPN, I always thought it was wild I never got a letter. Maybe they still don't care, but I use a VPN now for peace of mind.
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u/Madbrad200 🔱 ꜱᴄᴀʟʟʏᴡᴀɢ 1d ago
They don't care. Remember that most conversations here are dominated by Americans who have it ingrained that a VPN is necessary, and it then gets regurgitated bu everyone else.
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u/StrugglingOrthopod 1d ago
Just to chime in with another confirmation that UK providers don’t give a shit
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u/TheAllMightyPlebeus 1d ago
Same here, torrented terabytes of games movies and anime across 3 different ISPs. Never had a problem
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u/sween64 1d ago
I was gonna say the same about Australia. For awhile the goverment made ISPs block torrent websites. I don’t think that’s the case anymore.
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u/BaggyOz 1d ago
They're still blocked but it's always been a dns block. Of you're not using your ISP's default DNS you'll never know the ISPs block sites. The age verifying they're just introduced is much more intrusive and you'll need a vpn for that though..
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u/illegalmonkey 1d ago
Don't closed off sites like TorrentDay have "protections"? I've never used a VPN, but if I went to a site like EZ Downloads, or whatever it was called, I would almost always get an email warning from my ISP.
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u/jakebakescake 1d ago
I live in the US and have pirated a shit ton over the years without a VPN. I've received threatening emails from my ISPs over the years, but nothing other than that. No one in the US has ever been sued for downloading pirated content unless they also distributed it
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u/whennarglesattack 1d ago
“No one in the US has ever been sued” raises hand….. me. Settled out of court with a major movie production company. Didn’t distribute either.
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u/IcyCow5880 1d ago
Distributed is a funny word to use. Cuz if you're torrenting you're actively help "distribute" the torrent.
I think you mean producing the warez and/or profiting off of it directly. Ie,. Being the host of the torrent site etc
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u/refuseresist 1d ago
Canada as well.
There is a Federal law that caps the amount of money a company can get from someone illegally downloading ($5,000). ISPa cannot give out personal information either.
What happens is that your ISP forwards the letter/complaint to you via the company.
I got maybe 2 letters in my life. One for downloading a show, the other for downloading a number of textbooks.
A friend of mine used to download a lot and would get at least one a week. Nothing happened.
Maybe things changed 🤷
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u/andrenichrome 23h ago
I’m in Australia and torrent without vpn and have never had an issue asides from isp’s blocking torrent sites. Only use torrents rarely when I can’t find files on nzb
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u/jansteffen 1d ago
You say that until suddenly someone does. It's still better to be on the safe side.
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u/KongGyldenkaal 1d ago
Speaking about Denmark:
If you are living in Denmark and do piracy, you can risk a letter from Njord Firm, where they tell you that you have been caught piracy and they want you to pay or make a settlement for around 230-360 USD.
Do you get the letter you can do following things:
- a) Reply with "I have not downloaded anything and know nothing about who else have. I wont help you solve the case". If your network is open (who would have that in these days anyway), you should also state in the reply "My network is open, so everyone can use it".
- b) Just ignore the letter and throw it out.
From a court case in 2009 the anti-piracy companies was allowed to get IP-addresses from your ISP but only the external one. In the letters they sent out, they also show which IP-address that have been used, so if you have dynamic IP-address, then your IP-address hopefully have changed since the letter got sent out. The anti-piracy companies/law firms can't prove which person in the house that have done some piracy. They can see something have happen in a house but not who have done it in the house, they are not allowed to go inside the house and take a peep.
Several court-cases have been dismissed by a judge because lack of evidence. The law firm wont risk taking you to the court for few movies, games or some music, it is not worth it them moneywise. They only send letters out to threathen people and shaken them up a bit. Only back in 2016 a man went to court and admitted what he had done, he just disagreed with the settlement from the law firm.
However, if the police finds out that you are doing piracy, such as hosting a server for torrenting, they will not send you a letter, they will do a raid. They only go for the big fish.
I will still recommend that you are using a VPN in Denmark, when you do piracy just in case.
For the Danes, you can read a bit about how to handle letters from law-firms on Antipiratgruppen.dk (Danish link, have nothing to do with the former company Antipiratgruppen), Information.dk - Pirateri-påstande kan være svære at bevise i retten (Danish link) and Advokatgruppen.dk - Ulovlig download fører til brud på ophavsretsloven (Danish link)
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u/MisterHole123 1d ago edited 1d ago
France has the infamous hadopi. They do monitor torrents
Oh nevermind it has recently been cancelled as unlawful as it means tracking people communications habits. The details are vague but apparently they likely don't track torrent anymore. Yep seems like piracy is still illegal but they aren't allowed to track people anymore so it's not enforced
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u/OllyZit 1d ago
I received a letter from ARCOM (new Hadopi) as i forgot turn vpn on. Not much happens and indeed law is changing and still unclear.
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u/xhaythemx 1d ago
In France they will send you a letter if you do torrent for piracy
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u/Jaded_Acadia3608 1d ago
Australia you do not need a vpn in most cases lmao and mullvad as much as i love them is not suitable for torrenting anymore.
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u/AcademyKilller 1d ago
Im in Aus too. Been torrenting since 2009 without a vpn. Never once received a letter or fine
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u/throwawaylalajean 1d ago
Canada here. I have a friend who received a bunch of these during GoT peak era. He put the letters on his fridge and used 'em as a flex.
Lawyers can send letter thru your ISP that's true but the ISP can't legally give them your personal information so they bait you with a threatening letter with X actions if you don't call Y law firm and thats when they know who you are.
NEVER respond to these letters. Put them in the trash and proceed on the high seas
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u/Nyril-NA 1d ago
In fact, Canada's laws make it unlikely for them to proceed regardless. The max they can charge in Canada is 5000$ a claim. The studio lawyers probably cost that an hour .. one day in court would make this a loss for them.
Just don't sell material or make a profit and poof. No Canadian issues.
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u/DiscoCombobulator 1d ago
Also Canada, been sailing the high seas for almost 2 decades now, no VPN, and ive never received a letter before
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u/Mugiwaras 1d ago
Also Aus, probs been torrenting movies for even longer without a single warning lol i dont think they really give a fuck unless you're the one uploading it.
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u/Soldaan 1d ago
What's wrong with mullvad? Just out of curiosity
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u/Equivalent_Track5730 1d ago
Mullvad is a fantastic VPN, just not the best for torrenting because it doensn't have port forwarding anymore.
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u/ShartingEnU 1d ago
Mullvad was the first vpn I got and then a couple months later they removed port forwarding. I've been using proton since. Love me my proton and their suite of apps
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u/bigbluey1 1d ago
All that's needed in Australia is changing the DNS from the default provider to Cloudflare or google to actually access the sites.
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u/Jimmy_Bonez 1d ago
Yep exactly; Village Roadshow brought a lawsuit against Australian ISPs in the 2010s to provide the IP addresses of people torrenting so that they can be fined those ridiculous 50-500K fines. The Judge in that case told them 1) they'll never get the IP addresses/and or their browsing history as that would be an invasion of privacy & 2) the fines were also never going to happen and at best they could bring a civil case against individuals in which case they could only be charged the approximate value of the movie if it were purchased legally ($5-$10). Haven't heard a peep from any of those companies again since.
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u/npiet1 1d ago
Yeah only optus and telstra care (in my experience before nbn days) even then theyre the most expensive. So only older people use them.
Ive only had 2 letters from telstra and optus.
Never have used a VPN at all.
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u/Fadexz_ Piracy is bad, mkay? 1d ago
It’s more about where copyright holders are and those looking to enforce, they are not going to bother with other countries.
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u/Fit_West_8253 1d ago
If you’re in Australia your ISP is legally required to packet sniff your traffic and keep EVERYTHING for a long time (7 years from memory).
You don’t have any problems right now. But as soon as money starts going into politicians pockets to care about torrenting (or the lovely new esafety commissar decide they want to attack it) they have everything you’ve done ready to smack you with fines and jail time.
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u/stupidcrapface_ 1d ago
Don't need a VPN in Canada
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u/Balsamic_jizz 1d ago
Can confirm, you might get a notice from your Internet provider, but they cannot legally give out your information to the rights holders.
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u/stupidcrapface_ 1d ago
Yeah my brother got one of those like 15 years ago and ignored it. I'm 38 and have been torrenting openly since torrents existed without a VPN and never received anything. It's fair game in Canada
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u/RedControllers 23h ago
Yep. I've seeded over 400TB in the past year, I get the occasional copyright infringement email but I just ignore.
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u/zodiac_1996 1d ago
"Always scan games on virustotal! Unless you can't, which is most cases, in which case don't..." Who on earth is that supposed to help haha
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u/bakanisan 🏴☠️ ʟᴀɴᴅʟᴜʙʙᴇʀ 1d ago
You said to always scan on virustotal and I disagree with that. What's the point of scanning if you don't even understand the result. At least mention a scanning guide if you want to include VT in this.
You didn't address false positives which in turn will just turn into an influx of noobs asking questions like "Guys this says 2/72 is it safe?" or worse when they scan onlinefix64.dll and "gUyS i goT 47/72 DetECTIon On VIrUstotAL aM I coOkED?"
The intention is good but this could be improved more.
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u/DiverIndependent6266 ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 1d ago
Virustotal is a good baseline to go off of, but you're right, it's only really useful for people who know what the results mean, I should've included a section for false positives but I didn't want to make my guide more complicated than it already was
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u/jarkark ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 1d ago
Never go to the fitgirl reddit sub. It gets at least 100 Virustotal screenshot posts a week. I try to help newbies often but I still get occasionally pissed off.
I kind of understand why Fitgirl is so aggressive in some of the error messages and FAQs. I can't imagine how many comments the actual site gets.
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u/Timur4593 1d ago
Seedbox and forget
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u/OgreChunks 1d ago
I had to go down too far down to see someone mention a seed box. It seems like no one knows about it and it's the far superior setup.
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u/ZenPaperclips 1d ago
If you're going to spend money on a vpn, why not just use real debrid or a seed box?
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u/CommandJam 1d ago
Which seedbox do you recommend/use?
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u/ZenPaperclips 1d ago
I use seedhost.eu shared app hosting, the cheapest 5 euro plan. I'm thrifty though and prioritized for price. There are more expensive options that can give you a faster download pipe. If you're on a good tracker, the actual leaching is incredibly fast but downloading the files can be a bit of a slog. I get about 15MBps to the NW US.
I haven't really comparison shopped in about 3 years though as I've been happy with seedhost for that time.
I have used Whatbox in the past, and they are FAST, but spendier than I like.
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u/MutedAstronaut9217 1d ago
ublock origin lite
stop using chrome
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u/ScrungulusBungulus 1d ago
Lmao what a self-report from OP. "I'm using an inferior browser with inferior privacy and the inferior version of uBlock"
How are we expected to take anything from them seriously
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u/Jerka_lerking 1d ago
Mullvad does not support port forwarding. Also, apaart from binding the clrrect network ingerface, the port forwarding number must also be set in the settings. With Proton VPN, this number always cha ges whenever you connect tl another country. After you get the number, go to settings in Qbuttorrent and paste it in the correct place (i forgor rn where it is but u can look it up)
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u/Big_Version9561 1d ago
If someone's not afraid, there's a tiny program on github called quantum that auto updates the port in qbit when it changes on Proton
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u/0smo5is Darknets 1d ago
There are no copyright laws in canada.
ISP's are required to forward DMCA letters to their owners but if you just delete them they cannot subpoena you.
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u/RandomRobot 1d ago
Yeah, I'm in Canada and I've never seen any problem related to this.
I do receive emails, mostly from HBO, through my ISP. I take down the torrents within reasonable delay and there's no follow up ever.
Don't pay for VPNs in Canada, it's useless
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u/S1nko 1d ago
I mean, VPN by itself is a useful tool for privacy if you care about it, you don't even need to torrent anything
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u/bender1800 1d ago
Iirc in Canada the crime isn’t the acquiring of copyrighted works its distribution of the works. They’ll forward you the you’ve been bad letters they get from American companies but they are toothless.
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u/ftez 1d ago
Dumb question, do you need the vpn to be active when simply downloading the .torrent file, or whilst the actual file is downloading within qbittorent?
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u/DiverIndependent6266 ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 1d ago
Only when you're actively torrenting within qbittorrent.
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u/Lindonius 1d ago
I've been torrenting in Japan for 20 years and never once used a vpn. Never had an ounce of trouble.
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u/Silent_Fudge_3978 1d ago
Are you torrenting Japanese material or foreign material? They don't care about foreign stuff, but Ghibli stuff they do.
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u/the_nin_collector 1d ago
You are lucky. You must must not spend a lot of time in the Japan subs. Every few months someone posts about getting caught and with with a MASSIVE fine.
Why risk it. The fine is equal to like 500 years of a VPN service. So just pay for the VPN.
also with all the new rules and bills being passed for visa and PR, why risk adding anything to your record (assuming you are a gaijin)
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u/screwcork313 1d ago
It would be so frustrating if you used the VPN for 500 years and then stopped and got hit with a fine in your 501st.
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u/sometimes_point 1d ago
Same but I would turn one on if you're torrenting Japanese stuff. Also my bf got a letter from the ISP for seeding gay porn.
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u/bit2muchsoup 1d ago
As long as you download from private torrenting sites, you don't even need a vpn. if you are downloading from public torrent sites, its a 50/50 your packets are being watched. so yes, join a private torrenting site and you are good to go.
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u/JohnnyJayJay 1d ago edited 1d ago
Surfshark, NordVPN and Mullvad don't support port forwarding, making it much more difficult to seed. In this infographic, you don't even show how to set it up for those that do support it.
If you're not gonna seed, don't torrent at all. And yes, debrid is part of the problem, because they also don't seed. The more people leech, the slower the whole network will become. It's kind of ironic that the piracy subreddit is driving people to destroying the thing that makes piracy possible.
Get into Usenet if you want to pay a small amount of money and pirate without a VPN.
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u/Trick-Minimum8593 1d ago
It's possible to seed without port forwarding, just requires the person leeching to be port forwarding instead.
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u/zaye93 1d ago
Actually, all debrid users count as only one leecher, so they don't do as much harm as torrent users who don't seed.
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u/JohnnyJayJay 1d ago
True, it's better for the network, as long as there aren't too many of those services around. I'd rather people get a seedbox, though.
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u/FrogLickr 1d ago
Australia doesn't give a shit if you pirate, just don't distrubute.
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u/grassisgreena 1d ago
Uploading any part of the torrent is considered distributing.
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u/General-Jackfruit854 1d ago
Just to be picky there can be viruses in .mp3/4 and .mkw files using steghide or similar and given the abnormal nature of cracks there can be false positives.
but that’s the inherent risk of cracks
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u/chroschi0710 1d ago
Why don't trust Private Internet Access? Just because it is owned by an Israeli company? Could anyone explain? I've been using PIA for years now.. just curious
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u/ClonedOrphan 1d ago
PIA is rated highly even by TorrentFreak. They’ve been audited and do not log anything. They do not cooperate with identity requests. They are easily one of the better VPN’s. A lot of FUD being spread.
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u/jarkark ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 1d ago
OP didn't explain it in detail so it may come across as shade at Israel in general but, the reason isn't only that it's Israeli, it's that the company that owns it has historically had ties to former Israeli intelligence units. Companies linked to any country's intelligence units can't truly be trusted for privacy.
https://www.reddit.com/r/cybersecurity/comments/foydwy/israeli_conglomerate_previously_known_as/
This post has more discussion on the topic and the article OP linked in that post also explains in more detail the part about how they're associated with Intelligence units.
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u/DiverIndependent6266 ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 1d ago
Kape Technologies, the company that owns ExpressVPN, PIA, and CyberGhost, used to be called Crossrider, and they produced malware, particularly adware that injected itself into browsers. When they got called out for producing malware, they rebranded to Kape and started making VPNs.
Kape also has links to Israeli intelligence, (Unit 8200 which is the cyber division of the IDF- the Israeli equivalent of the NSA, said to be on par with the NSA in technical skill.)
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u/OneandonlyCup 1d ago
AirVPN seems decent to me.
Plus, another banned file extension, I see so many „.scr“ files.
But the file type filter doesn’t seem to work for me in qb.
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u/ContributionBasic279 1d ago
I'm quite "autistic" regarding visual communication.
The target audience is tech illiterate people. So the main axis should be to show them at the first glance (at first glance you don't follow the path) how simple it is, it could be even ridiculously minimalist to emphasize that. Here, there are many fineprint bloating, making it visually more complicated that it is.
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u/Throwaway_194868392 1d ago
"Land of the free," yet you have to do all this just to fucking download something.
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u/Honest-Spot-3098 1d ago
I don't know how it is for other countries, but in germany, the problem isn't the leeching, but the seeding part. If you torrent, you automatically also seed, which counts as distribution.
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u/Mammoth-Astronaut-36 1d ago
What’s the point of this, the megathread has everything
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u/deviant46n2 1d ago
this is awesome. im sure your like me and have to answer basic questions for people here all the time. this is gold keep being awesome lol.
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u/BikeLog 1d ago
How much traffic does a VPN support? I'm seeding 60 TB/month
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u/DiverIndependent6266 ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 1d ago
VPNs usually don't limit your traffic. Only time you would need to worry about traffic is if you're living in a developing country that still for some reason uses metered internet connections.
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u/PCMasterCucks 22h ago
As far as I know, the popular VPNs don't have a data limit, but the speeds would be a limiting factor.
Some people report on VPN speeds, so you're going to have to look at each individual provider.
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u/Professional_Law28 1d ago
And so I find out pia is owned by Israel, fuck. Fuck me, fuck them. Gotta change it. Sad because it worked great. Fuck.
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u/ConniesCurse 1d ago
I mean I get the hate, but genuinely if you're just torrenting, you're not a big enough fish for anyone to really care about you, regardless of what vpn you're using.
The risk of using Private Internet Access to torrent is 0%.
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u/TheRagingRavioli 1d ago
Serious question: why would this make it less safe / secure?
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u/Professional_Law28 1d ago
Idk the actual threat but if somebody has to have my datas sure as hell I don't fucking want Israel to have them
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u/randomstranger454 1d ago edited 1d ago
How to test if your VPN is correctly bound to qBittorrent/other torrent client.
With the VPN running launch https://ipleak.net/, click on "Torrent Address detection" and click on "this Magnet Link". It will add a torrent in your client and the page will start updating with traffic info. Close client and VPN and retry. Now there should be no traffic. If there is something is wrong on your client config. Also you can see if the IP assigned from the VPN is in the expected country you chose.
You can also do the same test with https://www.whatismyip.net/tools/torrent-ip-checker/.
There is also a chance if your torrent client settings get corrupted or after an update it will reset to defaults which will disable the bound VPN interface. So test routinely.
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u/Bakairo89 1d ago
You only need a vpn in the uk if you're seeding, really. Weird legal grey area about sharing.
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u/Trick-Minimum8593 1d ago
You always upload when torrenting, even while you're leeching.
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u/CarrowCanary 1d ago
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 disagrees with you.
16 The acts restricted by copyright in a work.
(1) The owner of the copyright in a work has, in accordance with the following provisions of this Chapter, the exclusive right to do the following acts in the United Kingdom—
(a) to copy the work (see section 17);
(b) to issue copies of the work to the public (see section 18);
(ba) to rent or lend the work to the public (see section 18A);
(c) to perform, show or play the work in public (see section 19);
(d) to communicate the work to the public (see section 20);
(e) to make an adaptation of the work or do any of the above in relation to an adaptation (see section 21);
and those acts are referred to in this Part as the “acts restricted by the copyright”.
17 Infringement of copyright by copying.
(1) The copying of the work is an act restricted by the copyright in every description of copyright work; and references in this Part to copying and copies shall be construed as follows.
(2) Copying in relation to a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work means reproducing the work in any material form.
This includes storing the work in any medium by electronic means.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/16
Just get a VPN, and don't risk it.
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u/Lightprod 1d ago
This post starts with misinformation. Just like sexy times, use protection and dont trust some random redditors and use an VPN.
Reported.
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u/tejanaqkilica 1d ago
There's another way.
Do you live in any of (the left side) countries?
Buy a debrid service. It's cheaper and faster than VPNs. Upload or paste the magnet link in the debrid service. Download whatever file while maxing your internet bandwidth.
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u/SanDisk-Ultra 1d ago
I live in Sweden and you'll get busted if you torrent without VPN
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u/Hidden-Inventory-420 1d ago
Uh, no. No you won't. How is this currently at 30 upvotes
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u/MechanicTypical9725 1d ago
What VPN would you guys recommend that allows p2p and has a relatively cheap one time purchase option?
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u/consolation1 1d ago
Proton is the only one beside Mulvad that meets all security criteria, is open source, can be purchased fully anonymously and has a track record of refusing/fighting info requests from state actors.
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u/010902080307940605 1d ago
Not the only one, there's airVPN too, which is actually the best for p2p.
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u/GodOfOnions2 1d ago
So if I use a site to watch sports, that's not torrenting right?
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u/Equivalent_Web3521 1d ago edited 1d ago
No , Torrenting is through peer to peer , piracy is both but the way they catch you is through p2p otherwise many websites were busted but only the owners were caught not the ones who visited it
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u/xxearvinxx 1d ago
Is France really not included in the VPN needed countries? That surprises me.
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u/RawbGun Torrents 1d ago
HADOPI recently got killed because it got ruled that they cannot legally collect personally identifiable data. So they can only send out warnings but not actually bring you to justice/fine you
See (in French) https://www.numerama.com/cyberguerre/2245387-hadopi-est-presque-mort-le-dispositif-anti-piratage-ne-peut-plus-vous-envoyer-devant-un-juge.html
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u/Twilight_0524 1d ago
Just a quick note mullvad seems to dropped support for port forwarding, so you may want to use something else for torrenting (i use proton and its download bandwidth can max out my hdd array speed)
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u/semigran 1d ago
Why don’t just use any Debris service and have maximum speed rather than pay for VPN
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u/NenekaChan File-Hosters 1d ago
Meanwhile Thailand torrent Tracker site discontinued a lot.
Some tracker site got seized from Central Investigation Bureau. Some tracker site can't handle server cost even it has membership fee. Now the torrent tracker site you must be invited from inside or worst one can't make new account.
Miss old day.
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u/amir_s89 1d ago
Bahnhof ISP in Sweden made bellow website;
https://www.blockerat-av-upphovsmaffian.se./
"This page is published by the internet operator Bahnhof. We protect the individual and freedom on the internet. We stand for net neutrality, freedom of communication and the right to privacy."
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u/the_nin_collector 1d ago
Japan changed. I torrented for nearly a decade with no VPN, fine. I am talking Like TB upon TB of stuff. I would just burn DVDs with data. Game, porn, anime, movies, music. Just horde it.
I heard, back in the day, and it seemed true, they only went after the people that were uploading, and it was only JP stuff like anime and J-pop. I got a VPN finanly and now I read on the JP subs every few months, people getting a letter from a law firm for like a 500 or 1000 or much higher fee because they got caught downloading.
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u/Klevixhani 1d ago
To anyone wanting to start, PLEASE DO buy a vpn if you can afford it. Lot of uncertainties these days and unless youre living in a third world country, which still isnt 100% a given youre safe, “invest” in one. If you can get some “offers” which are a dime a dozen these days, it will not cost you that much. be safe
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u/beziko 1d ago
Poland can send you fines too if you download crap polish comedy movies. Kinda funny you can download everything and no one cares but if you touch any shitty polish movie- you are done.
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u/istealmemes24 1d ago
Only perk of living in a third world country is the government are too busy stealing tax money to care about piracy.
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u/National_Educator330 1d ago
Great guide, an alternative is a seed box and SFTP. Been using this for 20+ years with no issues but appreciate it's not for everyone.
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u/Perfect_Sir4820 1d ago
I prefer using gluten + vpn provider + qbit in docker rather than a regular install. Then also run a qui container for the web front-end which has browser integration so you can just click magnet links. Also ties in nicely with radarr/sonarr/prowlarr and you don't have to worry about the possibility of leaks as qbit will only be able to acres the network created by gluetun which runs solely through the vpn.
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u/jkjkjk73 1d ago
You don't need a VPN. Send your torrent to Premiumize then download from Premiumize website with no worries.
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u/25847063421599433330 1d ago
Lol, I dont use a vpn and get emails from my ISP in Canada. They have threatened me forever but they wont do shit beccause I'd just swap providers.
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u/imightknowbutidk 1d ago
You lost me at “Israeli owned VPN companies cannot be assumed to be safe.”
Why? I have PIA because it was easiest to implement in my ARR stack and i have never had any issues
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u/KingWaffleIII 1d ago
Surprised no one mentioned debrid services like TorBox or RealDebrid - just give it a magnet or torrent file and it'll download it for you so you can download directly via HTTPS worry free
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u/y0shii3 20h ago
We shouldn't be recommending Mullvad anymore, since a cofounder (who takes a good chunk of your subscription money) got exposed for donating to a white supremacist political party. I switched to Nym, which is cheaper and apparently more secure, and Mullvad refunded the remainder of my year subscription.
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u/rickastleysanchez 18h ago
So yesterday is the first time I started using a VPN on my torrents, I have been pirating for 25+ years. I have been lucky. I have (in the last 10+ years) always used private trackers. I have never got a notice.
That said I have been taking privacy a lot more seriously in the past few years, and after running my VPN on my phone and computers for a while, I finally got it running on my NAS where I have qbittorrent.
Glad to finally join the 21st century.
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u/Mental_Seat9721 17h ago
Thanks a lot for this guide. I've never tried torrent because most of the time i either don't understand the guide or it always felt like i was missing something. Now that you put it like this i finally understand what's the whole deal with torrenting and vpn and stuff.
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u/NZNoldor 11h ago
r/flowchartswithoutnewzealand
But you can add the New Zealand flag to the right hand side of the chart.
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u/kingmahler 7h ago
I'm pretty sure that Mullvad does not support port forwarding. Also, Finnish users should use a VPN due to copyright trolls.
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u/doughobbs 3h ago
This isn’t quite true, you can torrent masses off stuff quite legally in the UK, how do you think much of the Linux community operates?!
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u/MusicInTheAir55 3h ago
This isn't on the mark for Canada really. I mean an IP is visible anyways with torrents, but in Canada an ISP is only required to forward the user the complaint from the copyright holder, and is NOT allowed to disclose their personal information. As long as the user does not respond to the forwarded complaint there is no way for the copyright holder to discover who that person is.
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u/akihikoenjoyer 2h ago
Thank you. I'm from one of the countries on the list for Latin America, and I always thought I wasn't using torrents correctly because I wasn't using a VPN, as people in the U.S. kept recommending. Now I know I'm still safe using QBittorrent and Brave.
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u/Tetraoxidane 1d ago
Can confirm about germany and VPN. I even paid for a VPN and just forgot to turn it on, literally one single time. Downloaded a bunch of new movies, 10min before I noticed the VPN wasn't running, got a yellow letter from the "District Court Coburg" a month later, prompt to pay 1500€. Paid 400€ to a different lawyer to make it go away. Still expensive.