Before I say anything further, yes I know how much the recommended VPNs cost. I can read. Please do not interrogate me about it.
I’ve been wanting to get into torrenting for a while, particularly contributing to private trackers related to music (and to a lesser extent retro games, though I don’t have much original stuff to put there as it’s harder to find rare games than rare music). FMHY recommends RiseUp if I must get a free VPN while I’m working on my financial situation, though I’m not sure whether it’s been tested in court. What are my options, if any?
Paiphon and Windscribe are good. The former gives you unlimited data, while the latter only provides 10 GB per month but has a court tested no logs policy.
Others have mentioned private trackers, it’s not a perfect defence by any means, but dm me and I can send you an invite to one (torrentleech)
Uhmm, I know that it might come off as begging, but may I also have an invite? I’ve been using RuTracker for 5 years at this point, but some stuff is just isn’t there.
Thanks in advance!
I need an email, dm me and I’ll send one your way. IME torrent leech doesn’t have way more content, but what they have will be faster and more reliable.
Use someone else’s wifi.
I used to park my car in a Home Depot parking lot when I went to work with a laptop torrenting until the battery died.
Look at newsgroups - some indexers are free, others have a lifetime fee that’s reasonable. I moved to nzbs and haven’t looked back - I can’t get dinged for sharing copyrighted stuff if I’m only downloading, never uploading.
any specific lifetime fee indexers you recommend?
Nzb geek and planet are two good ones.
I2p is slow and lacks selection but could work.
What’s selection?
Ok so, I was gonna top level comment, but somebody already mentioned I2P, so:
I2P.
https://geti2p.net/en/docs/applications/bittorrent
Now, with normally configured I2P, you can only torrent or file share with other I2P users/nodes/sites.
But, you can also set up an ‘out-proxy’, to connect to the broader 'net, via I2P, essentially using it as a giant, dynamic maze of proxies, where all your traffic is arguably better encrypted than via Tor.
Or, you could actually use Tor as the out-proxy, for… ludicrous levels of encryption maze.
https://geti2p.net/en/about/browser-config
Its slow though. Much slower than all but the most dogshit free vpns.
But… that’s the tier you already appear to be at, lol.
Uh yeah, you can use I2P to access/browse and torrent from the clearnet, not just the I2P net, you just have to properly set up I2P with an out proxy.
I believe the youtuber Mental Outlaw has some videos that walk you through both how to do an I2P basic set up, and an out-proxy set up.
Also, general privacy/security tip:
configure your webbrowser to only do DNS over HTTPS, also known as DoH.
Use Ublock, Canvas Blocker, Privacy Badger, test your web fingerprint with EFF’s tool, make sure all your shit is actually configured right before torrenting anything, use sites that try to trace route you and find your real ip, make sure you don’t have any… emergency fallback to not using your VPN or I2P or normal HTTP.
RiseUp is slow and intended for activists and the politically vulnerable. It’s not for poor people who cannot afford a $5 a month VPN. You will be fucking over people with much more legitimate use cases than yours if you start using it for torrenting.
I see… Not sure what I’m supposed to do then.
Windscribe and Proton are also free but they’re much faster. I recommend trying them first.
If you use private trackers, a VPN is irrelevant. All you need to do is fully encrypt your traffic in your torrent client so your ISP can’t see what you’re doing. It’s been working just fine for me for 15 years, and I’ve never gotten a letter.
You can get into private trackers and trust them. Not recommended, but some do.
Generally speaking, the copyright trolls only target public trackers and DHT. There have been some instances of them making way into TL and others. Your ISP could also identify torrenting on private trackers if they wanted to, even with mitigations. In my experience and from what I hear, most ISPs do not go to these lengths.
So, there a risk doing the above. Whether or not it’s worth it until you can afford a decent VPN is up to you.
Aside: Please do not use a free VPN for torrenting (or tor, for that matter). They are either like RiseUp and run on donations for people who really, really need them, or Proton which is commercial and specifically try to block or slow down the traffic. Either way, if ruins it for everyone else.
this is like asking how to safely hook up with strangers at the bar if you can’t afford condoms to help protect you from STIs. if you can’t afford a VPN, you can’t afford to get disconnected by your ISP for three strikes, let alone afford a settlement because some copyright troll logged your IP as a downloader. just don’t do it until you can properly put some safeguards in place.
Public WiFi exists and it’s also pretty easy to get free condoms.
Pro tip: Never use public WiFi without wearing a condom.
Why does this anti poor bullshit have so many upvotes? Public WiFi exists and it’s also pretty easy to get free condoms.
hey hows about you go fuck yourself
