How to Torrent Safely

[koolkat]

Intro

It is well known that most torrent files are subject to ownership rights, and downloading them can get you into serious legal trouble, including heavy fines and even imprisonment. Plus, other than when downloading from a file host, getting a torrent entails offering it to others at the same time, which is very bad for your legal position.

It is further known that your torrenting IP address is fully visible to the authorities and rights owners. For this reason, the safe way to get torrents is by hiding your real IP.

VPN Services

The proper way to hide your IP is by means of a good VPN service that allows torrents and does not log user data. So read the description before you pay, and go for a widely used one that has better chance of keeping its promises. Last but not least, make sure you configure it correctly, or get one that’s already preset.

But good VPN services cost money, because their operators incur expenses. So, many torrent users resort to free proxies instead.

Proxies

You can find proxies on the web, but their use can be a pain and worse, they may leak your true IP and thus only offer a false sense of security. So make sure they are elite or high anonymity. But how can you be sure of that, or indeed even that your traffic goes thru them?

It is also pointed out that VPN browser extensions are only good for bypassing geo-restrictions, but useless for torrenting, as torrents don’t pass thru the browser.

Check your Torrent IP

The question now is how to find out your torrent client’s IP, so that you can check your anonymity.

Your torrent client itself won’t show your torrenting IP, nor of course will any of the “Show my IP” sites, which display the browsing IP.

To see your torrent IP, go here:

https://torguard.net/checkmytorrentipaddress.php

and get the free little torrent tool they offer. It won’t download or burden anything, it will only allow the page to display your torrenting IP.

[bluescope]

Koolkat,

for our members who are not so internet savvy, please detail what you do when you get to that page, because it is by no means clear.

Maz (bluescope)

I am woman, hear me giggle!