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Does a vpn really matter when torenting? Do people care? (leminal.space)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by GrumpyCat@leminal.space to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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I know this is a dumb question... But i cant really aford a vpn like at all, is it possible to torrent without using a vpn in the USA or will i get in some trouble and go to jail if i torrent without a vpn?

The reason i cant get a vpn is because im just broke and im young enough to live with family so i cant really get a job.

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[-] Banzai51@midwest.social 19 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Do your ISP a favor and use a VPN when torrenting. They will know you're torrenting based on traffic patterns, but they won't know what you're torrenting. That way they don't have to serve you a notice or kick you off their service at the behest of movie or music studios. Your ISP may not care what you're doing, but those businesses do, and the law is on their side.

VPN makes it extremely difficult for your ISP to spy on you, which is the whole point.

[-] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

Let's just get a VSP from Ethiopia and stop worrying about it.

[-] sun@slrpnk.net 4 points 4 days ago

Unless you use a VPN that supports traffic pattern obfuscation. Mullvad VPN does this https://mullvad.net/en/blog/introducing-defense-against-ai-guided-traffic-analysis-daita.

[-] ftbd@feddit.org 4 points 5 days ago

How will they know you're torrenting if all they see is a lot of wireguard traffic? You could be uploading backups to a remote location for all they know

[-] irelephant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 5 days ago

Just gettin' a few linux ISOs

[-] Scrollone@feddit.it 4 points 4 days ago

I've been collecting over 10 TB of Linux ISOs this year.

[-] Banzai51@midwest.social 1 points 5 days ago

The nature of uploads/downloads happening with torrents coming and going from disparate sources. Apparently it has a certain network signature that can be identified fairly reliably. ISPs don't really give a shit about WHAT you torrent, but they will try to traffic shape it so it doesn't affect other users on the ISP much.