I know it’s probably a dumb question. I’ve been torrenting for years without any real issues, then today all of a sudden I got a bunch of DMCA emails. I don’t know how seriously they really take those, but id rather is safe than sorry. I’ve never paid for a VPN, but I’m considering it if that prevents those in the future. Would a VPN help with this? If so, any VPN recommendations or ways it should be configured? Sorry I know these are dumb questions, appreciate any answers
Yes it would help. Go for mullvad. It’s really easy to use and quite reliable.
Yeah, get a vpn and use qbitorrent. Specify it only use the vpn tunnel to route traffic. It’s the only way I would ever torrent.
The only way I would ever use a torrenting service is to get a VPN and use a qBittorrent client; this will ensure that all traffic is routed through the VPN tunnel, providing an extra layer of security.
Short answer is yes.
People like to dig into how some of the vpn providers are a little shady, but they will protect you from dmca threats if you torrent .
Most of them have sales around Easter and on Black Friday, so follow a few of the big names on social media and get a feel for them.
I go atlasvpn for 5 years for 50 euro.
The app sucks, but it works flawlessly in the terminal if you are on Linux.
Nord, ghost, express, will all do the trick for you.
They all also have a “killswitch” option which quits your torrent client if the vpn crashes.
If you are getting the emails, its time to take things seriously. Enough strikes and you are going to get your internet access terminated. Your piracy has entered a phase of legal obligation for your ISP.
Use a VPN
I was going to state my personal experience with PIA at the
bottom of this review but after reading the original post again, I felt it was
better to post it here…even before the intro. I have used various VPN’s
including Torguard and a month or so ago I came back to PIA. So without further
ado, here are my thoughts about PIA and VPN’s in general.
I hope this helps…
…I am not sure how familiar/knowledgeable you
are with VPN’s as a whole but in any case I will break down what I know of them
as I have been using a VPN or so for a number of years now. I am not in the EU,
however… I believe this review might help you out. When considering a VPN you
want to keep a few things in mind when considering a company worth its weight
in service and security when dealing with a VPN… VPN’s should have very high
standards as countless people rely on them for security and reliability. There
is no room for either to falter…
So I broke it down like this… these are they key features ANY
good VPN should have. Some of these following features should be considered FAR
more important than others… no less, these are what I would look for when
Getting a VPN… also I am NOT paid nor endorsed by PIA… I love Networking and
doing research in this field, that is all…. Like everyone else I have to pay
for what I use in regards to these services.
1.
LOGS
2.
Kill-switch
3.
Audit(s)
4.
Reviews/News Stories (if available)
5.
Server Speeds/Bandwidth they offer
6.
Pricing
Ok, lets begin this break down in the following order….
1.Logs…. this should be undisputed, no questions not even a 2nd
thought… NO LOGS IS A MUST!!! Buying a VPN that keeps logs would make no sense
for a common user (non-commercial use I mean). DO NOT BUY a VPN that keeps ANY…A-N-Y
type of log ever. Now since you are asking about PIA…. This is their stance of
LOGS……
And I quote: THEY DO NOT LOG/KEEP RECORDS OF: Your IP Address,
Browsing history, VPN Session Timestamps, Bandwidth consumption, DNS Inquiries
or Connection Logs. Here is the link for reverence/proof as well
The Best No-Logs VPN Service: Stay Secure Online | Private Internet Access.
2. Killswitch…. This is vital. A killswitch is a failsafe in
terms of your vpn connection getting disconnected. You should always keep this
on/enabled. Without a Killswitch… in the event of a disconnection your true IP
address WILL be exposed. As far as torrenting, I have read that Qbittorrent is
the way to go… just make sure you BIND YOUR VPN. You can google this and learn
how to do it. Again QBITTORREN + BIND YOUR VPN with it.
3. ANY good, reputable VPN will have an audit to back up their
claims, such as NO-LOGS. If you are not familiar what an AUDIT is in terms of
VPN’s and what that entails…. This is what I mean, and what it is in a
nutshell… an Audit is where a outside party/Network Firm/Company comes in and
tests the VPN out NO-LOGGING POLICIES, (especially in terms of NO-LOGS and
whether they really do not keep logs or if they do) and Security (I
think/believe as well in some cases possibly). Once an audit is complete… then the
results are published online… as for PIA… here is a link for their June 30,
2022 Audit Report….
Private Internet Access No Logs Policy Reviewed by Independent Firm
https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/audit/DeloitteNoLogsAudit.pdf
4. News stories/Reviews…. This is a tricky point to tackle as
countless people have mixed reviews about VPN’s as a whole and not just PIA,
but here is something to think about and consider… PIA was bought out by Kape
Technologies In November 2019. While some people found this to be a bad business
move on PIA’s part… keep this in mind… Kape Technologies also owns CyberGhost
VPN, ZenMate VPN, Private Internet Access (PIA), as well as ExpressVPN…. Also,
the PIA Audit report was published Nov. 2022… just something to keep in mind.
To me this is a win-win.
5. Speeds/Bandwidth…. I didn’t really put as much weight in this
before in life until this last year but keep this is mind… Before I switched
back over to PIA I was using a vpn (Torguard) that was using 1GB servers. While
the speeds were descent… they weren’t nearly as fast as Private Internet
Access. PIA states that ALL Severs are 10GB servers. Using a VPN with 10GB
servers means FAST download speeds, very fast download speeds as well as
STREAMING…. PIA even offers servers just for streaming(Netflix for example). As
stated earlier, ALL Servers are 10Gb Speeds, Netflix isn’t the only thing you
can use to stream on FYI. I used other means to streaming…and let me tell you
it is awesome!!! As for my own experience with the Speeds…it has maxed out my
connection at 95-99% speeds… if not over 100% at times as well(downloads)…
I am even talking about severs as close to where I live as well as servers far
away.
Also, as an added benefit for security… PIA uses
RAM-Based-ONLY-Servers. NO-Hard drive servers in other words. MORE SECURE!!
The 5 Best VPNs With RAM-Only Servers (Update 2023)
Behind the Scenes: 50 Servers in 50 States
https://www.vpnbrains.com/blog/best-ram-disk-servers-vpns/
6.Pricing…. Pricing is something to definitely take into
consideration but not as important as a NO-LOGS per say. Pricing does matter,
lets be honest who in their right mind doesn’t take pricing into consideration
when purchasing anything?? LoL. PIA is in fact not the cheapest VPN however it
is AMONG the MOST AFFORDABLE VPN’s I have come across. Right now and for some
time you can get 3yr + 3 months of service for 80$. It’s honestly one of the
BEST deals I have found online. When getting my list of points I wanted to
cover I also wanted to mention that PIA allows up to 10x simultaneous
connections at any given time. What’s nice about this is you can share your
plan with friends or family…. You could even split the plan with friends or
family.
In closing keep in mind that EVERY Connection is SOLID/SECURE……
Since purchasing PIA and using it 24/7 quite literally…. I have only had 1
connection drop where it had to re-connect( which it did automatically on it’s
own as per settings on the desktop client) and in which case this is where the
KILLSWITCH helps.
Closing thoughts…
Again I am not paid by PIA… just a very big fan of networking
and I find VPN’s fascinating… I have done a lot of research about various
vpn’s. It is said online that ExpressVPN and Nord-VPN are the best but it seems
like PIA offers close to everything the top 2 VPN’s offer with more than half
the cost $$… so why not get the benefits/security and save as much $$ as you
can along the way?? Ya know…
I hope this helps out…
Short answer yes if DNS leakage prevention, DoT/DoH, no logging (although they all claim this, comes down to past reputation), and a Killswitch are implemented as features, and assuming you configure it correctly.
Not in my experience. I recently used SurfShark with their MultiHop feature - the thing that enables you to connect via two different VPN servers - and pirated a game via qBittorrent that I already own but lost thanks to a certain incompetent game publisher. Not even 24 hours later I got alerts from my ISP about copyright infringement. The IP address listed in the email wasn’t my real one so I’m quite puzzled how they found out it was me. I immediately contacted live support of SurfShark and requested a refund. Never gonna sub to a VPN ever again. All I wanted was my game back. No way was I gonna give that sh*tty publisher any more of my money.
Thanks! I’ve not heard of that one, ill have to check it out. Any particular way I should configure my settings or, really just as long it’s on I’m good?
Shoutout to PIA too. They’re owned by a shady parent company, but they had an audit in 2022 which confirmed their no logs policy.
Before anyone says anything… Kape Technology also owns: CyberGhost VPN, ZenMate VPN, Private Internet Access (PIA), and ExpressVPN… also Kape Technology uses the same servers as PIA and Torguard …“M247”
This may help
I bought 3 years of that service your saying stop using them?
Oh, this is super handy. Ill have to read through all this and once I’m settled on a VPN ill go through that step by step in the comments. Ive never heard of binding the VPN to the torrent site…
No, I’m not saying that. I’m saying that even though people like to fear monger about their parent company (Kape technologies, not PIA themselves. they apparently used to do adware, but rebranded in like 2018) but they we’re confirmed as recently as 2018 to do what they claim to do. (not keep logs and generally anonymize you) Its the vpn I use.
The only thing really bad about them is their port forwarding features are kind of lackluster.
PIA is solid, not shady…. You have a great vpn man… Kape technology also owns Express vpn and a few others…
Mullvad VPN all the way , been using it for over 7 months now , payin 5 bucks a month , i get to use all the 5gbps provided by ISP without latency penalties [7ms with mullvad and 2ms without mullvad] , the servers are super good and i dont even connect to the servers in my own country lol thats how good they are
Yes u will need to port forward Qbittorrent to mullvad VPN , plenty of tutorials on how to do it . Eventho i used to get like some mails from ISP for DMCA without mullvad / now with mullvad , they’ve completely dissapeared. Not a single one.
Mullvad VPN works with Android , Windows , Mac , linux .