You need a VPN for everything when it comes to pirating. (kbin.melroy.org)

submitted 1 day ago by Nyxicas@kbin.melroy.org to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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Let's not turn this into what the Reddit subreddit of Piracy has turned into and that's an endless sea of questions that are all the same - "Do I need a VPN?".

And the loud and vocal answer to such a question is - yes. Yes you do need a VPN for pirating. Nobody gets a VPN for casual use and I'm under the impression that VPN services know a lot of people are going to be going to them for pirating and not just accessing content out of their country. And it's for that reason, is why I'm skeptical on entrusting my activity with the bigger VPN names available.

I use ProtonVPN myself, by the way.

Pirating under your raw IP address, only will set you up to get pegged by your ISP whether it's in a short time or a long time. I've only ever gotten one single ISP letter in my entire 26 years of pirating and it was simply because I downloaded without a VPN. Well I was also downloading off of someone else's network to take the fall, but I was confronted about it either way.

And I've gotten away with so much pirating because of my careful cautiousness when it comes to pirating. That and this applies to the United States, but the statue of limitations is 3 years when it comes to copyright infringement. So, good fucking luck to any ISP or so that wishes to try and nail me for something I downloaded 10 years ago, but I digress.

But a large part of me avoiding so much does contribute to having a VPN. So, yes, VPN is required. Please don't ask anybody in the pirating community 100 questions that are all just ways to ask whether or not you need a VPN. You do.

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[-] Firipu@startrek.website 3 points 53 minutes ago

I use a seedbox abroad and secure ssh to transfer stuff to my own server. Don't see what additional security a vpn would give me.

[-] mub@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 hours ago

My torrenting level is very casual and (sry) I only leech. Also my ISP is a small one in the UK. Our Government seems to only force the big ISP to tattle on its users and block pirating sites. At least that's how it has been for the last 10 years.

I have qbittorrent and Plex on my server. It is tempting to setup a VPN just for qbittorrent just to be sure.

[-] threeduck@aussie.zone 3 points 2 hours ago

I hope everything you pirate gets stuck at 99% until the day you start seeding

[-] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 hours ago

That's what I do. I'm in a place that really doesn't give a shit about Piracy (the worst they'll do is send a letter, one of my friends got one and called up his ISP to complain about it and they told him to stop seeding so much lol) but I still run a VPN 24/7 anyway just to be safe. It costs peanuts and doesn't slow down the internet hugely so I figure why not.

[-] BermudaHighball@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 10 hours ago

You don't need a VPN if you use I2P!

[-] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 11 hours ago

Summation of arguments below: if you know a lot, then you know if you know if you need a VPN or not.

If you don't know if you need one, just get one.

[-] GhiLA@sh.itjust.works 4 points 8 hours ago

I'm just lazy.

I can't be bothered to wonder whether or not your specific flavor of piracy is tracking me or not, and I don't really care to know.

VPN and just don't worry about it.

If I hear my provider turned to shit, I move providers. Mullvad rn.

[-] CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee 1 points 6 hours ago

Mullvad isn't good for torrenting anymore since they don't have port forwarding but that probably doesn't apply if you're using Usenet, streaming, or some other form.

[-] GhiLA@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

...I never used port forwarding with them and it just kinda works?

I pirate almost exclusively over Qbittorrent.

there's just gotta be a leak somewhere, that ain't normal...

If Mullvad is off, and I download a Pixar film, I will get a letter. I have.

If it isn't, I won't. I don't.

shrug port forward or no port forward, the data still flows and my ISP can't see it.

[-] CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee 1 points 5 hours ago

Without it, you won't be able to connect to other peers unless they have port forwarding active. If enough people torrent without port forwarding, the whole system breaks down.

[-] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 6 hours ago

Mine works just fine with torrenting...

[-] Nyxicas@kbin.melroy.org 0 points 9 hours ago

I think this comment should be pinned honestly.

[-] gazter@aussie.zone 12 points 15 hours ago

I think you are giving an overly simplistic answer, to the point of being misleading.

Stating that you need a VPN for pirating is blatantly false. It's perfectly possible to pirate without one. You can assume that people are asking if they should have one, but it is helpful to draw the distinction- including the why you believe they should use one. What does a VPN do, how is it helpful, what could happen if they don't, etc.

Teach people, don't just give them blind rules.

[-] RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 11 hours ago

Yep. I am not a strong media consumer. For my purposes, something that I think is called scene release page with links to new episodes or movies that just came out posted on one click hoster pages, as well as streaming sites where I find ways to download the video instead of just streaming, is enough. For neither I use a VPN and probably never will.

[-] Boomkop3@reddthat.com 18 points 18 hours ago

Ahh, American ey?

[-] PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 20 hours ago

Whether you really need a VPN depends on where you live. When in doubt, use one

[-] john89@lemmy.ca 14 points 21 hours ago

Buy an ad.

[-] Enzy@lemm.ee 18 points 23 hours ago

I don't use one. Never had.

[-] Gorusnor@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 day ago

Rants about not going to a big vpn because of privacy concerns, yet brings up one of the largest vpns still that their uses. Btw a vpn is only subjective to what you are doing, torrenting or any p2p activity you will need a vpn. Direct downIoads from datanodes, 1cloudfile or streaming from a site aka broflix, primeflix you dont need a vpn. Ive gone years without getting any notice from my isp with this information. Of course the websites will change over time but the info still stands true to this day.