Torrents and P2P file sharing are dark arts of the internet. For many years, the dangers and risks associated with torrent user’s privacy have risen considerably. This makes the use of a good Torrent VPN highly essential to guarantee your safety.
To simply understand what is torrenting or P2P (Peer to peer) file sharing – it’s the use of a BitTorrent protocol to download any content of the internet. Torrent clients are a very efficient in downloading content from other users who are using the same BitTorrent protocol. There aren’t any centralized servers required for this and it works by “seeding” the content to other users.
However, there are great risks involved when you are downloading such content. More often than not, copyright enforcers catch people who download torrents in their grasps. Similarly, many countries enforce strict laws against copyright infringement. You must have come across various cases where people are sent warning notices, paying hefty fines as a penalty, and seeing jail time for breaching the copyright trust.
How Am I Caught While Downloading Torrents?
In case you are wondering, what are the safety standards of torrenting, without the usage of a VPN? Then we must point out, there is a high probability that copyright holders will catch you. Accessing torrents and P2P networks using torrent clients is like playing Russian roulette with copyright sharks. As torrent clients offer a completely decentralized P2P sharing method, used by large number of people at the same time, the chances of data leak are exponentially increased.
When you upload a file on a torrent client, it can be easily downloaded by a large audience. During the downloading/seeding process, each person can monitor rest of the people in the swarm in real-time. This makes it easy for copyright holders to catch anyone using a torrent client or open websites.
Since you are sharing the content with other “peers”, they can see your IP address, which makes you easy to track down. Imagine if a regular user can easily track you down, then it should be no problem for the government to do so too.
Copyright holder’s monitor P2P downloads of their intellectual property in order to stop illegal access to their content. This shouldn’t come as a surprise as we have read countless times in the news that copyright holders have caught and sent notices to “pirates”. So how do you stay anonymous when you are downloading torrents? The simple answer is that you do it with a Torrent VPN. A VPN for torrenting will help you stay anonymous and secure your identity while you safely download the torrents. Unfortunately, not many VPN providers permit P2P downloads.
To save you from the painstaking task of finding a VPN that allows torrent downloads, we have carefully researched and listed the best VPN for torrenting below.
| Rank | PROVIDER | TOP FEATURES | PRICE | DETAILS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Dreamhost Review 2017 |
| $19.95 per month | |
| 2 |  Private Internet Access Review |
| $3.33 per month 33% Discount |
How Does a Torrent VPN Protect You?
A Torrent VPN creates an encrypted connection between your computer and the VPN server, acting as a proxy between you and the internet. This means that your ISP and anyone monitoring the Web cannot see what activities you perform. I have highlighted some of the points below on how a VPN safeguards you while torrenting:
- A torrent VPN prevents your ISP from monitoring your torrenting activity by encrypting your connection. Because of this encryption, your ISP won’t be able to see that you are downloading content via BitTorrent protocol.
- Since a torrent VPN changes your IP address to the VPN server’s IP address, people monitoring the internet and copyright holders will see the IP address of the VPN server and not yours. This will save you from any copyright infringement and DMCA notices. The only thing you have to worry about is that your VPN provider should not keep any logs. This is where we come in, we have tested various VPN providers and we only recommend which are the best VPN providers in the market.
- Using a torrent VPN can help you gain access to torrents in a country torrent websites are blocked. This depends on your VPN provider. If it offers servers across the globe then you won’t have any trouble in accessing torrent websites.
Finding the Best VPN for Torrenting
Finding the Best VPN for Torrenting can be a daunting task, it requires a lot of research and knowledge before you buy a torrent VPN. But, you don’t have to worry as we have handpicked the best torrent VPN for you. If you are under the impression that any VPN provider will be able to protect you from copyright holders then you are mistaken. In terms of technology, yes they can, but when it comes to ethical grounds, they may not be able to do so. I will explain why!
Not many regions allow the use of torrents. If you have chosen a VPN provider that operates from a region hostile to copyright infringement, then they probably won’t permit the use of torrents. In certain cases, they may even rat you out to the authorities. Some VPN providers only allow torrenting on some of their servers and not others. Primarily, servers located in the UK and US are restricted and could get you into trouble.
If someone recommends you a free VPN for torrenting, then I must warn you that they do not exist. A free VPN will not go on to protect your identity against DMCAs. Instead, it will simply point the authorities to your doorstep as you aren’t paying anything for their service. Premium VPNs however, are a different story. They do a wonderful job in protecting their customers while they use P2P services. Sadly, most of them don’t allow P2P on all of their servers. You will have to talk to their support to gain information on servers that do.
Check if Your Torrent VPN is Protecting You
It is better to keep an eye out on your Torrent VPN while downloading torrents. Some VPNs have this problem of ‘DNS Leak’ in which they fail to hide your IP and make it visible for everyone to see. In order to overcome this issue, visit ipleak.net to see that if your IP address is on display. If an IP address provided by the VPN is visible, then you are safe.
Now to check if your BitTorrent client is leaking your IP address, go to the “Torrent Address Detection”. Add a magnet link to your torrent client. If IP leak does not show your IP address, then you are all good. But, never leave your downloads unattended. Always check back after a few hours to see if your IP isn’t leaking. It’s always better to be safe than to be sorry.
Is Using Torrent Illegal or Unethical?
There is a never-ending saga of on the legality of torrents. Many experts have tried to place it on the basis of ethical and moral grounds. However, the straightforward answer that most people agree with is – yes.
If the content you download is protected by copyright, then you could get into trouble. Likewise, if you have not acquired any legal rights to procure the item, then sharing or downloading the content via torrenting is both damaging to the companies and illegal at the same time. Torrentz and Kickass Torrents are recent examples of torrent websites that got shut down due to piracy concerns, deeming their activities to be illegal.
However, if we delve into the depths of this situation and gauge the reactions of different people regarding the issue, then we will observe that the legality of torrents varies. Some enthusiasts argue with the theory that sharing and copying data is not the same as theft. To back that up, some countries make torrents legal as long as the item downloaded is for personal use. In simple words, in this scenario, there is no loss to any party.
If torrenting policy is compared with copyright piracy, then you will notice that both of them differ significantly from one another. Copyright piracy means an unethical possession and usage of copyright items which are put up for sale. On the other hand, torrenting is basically the provision of a decentralized file sharing mechanism; one that has benefited many users.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, torrent VPN has become the need of the hour due to a spike in copyrights infringement cases. Whether it is unethical to use torrent VPN servers to hide your real identity remains a debate. But, many torrent users accept the fact that using the best VPNs for torrenting prove to be as solid as concrete when it comes to online security and privacy.
That’s all for now! In case you think we have missed out few points regarding torrent VPNs, feel free to leave a comment in the comments section!