I do have experience in these areas (torrenting for a long time though not at all in the past several years, read TorrentFreak over the years, followed Snowden, etc.), but have never personally bought access to a VPN, even though I feel like I **should ** have been using one since like 2008.

I familiar with most terms and concepts, I know to look for non-FVEY/SSEUR jurisdictions only, strict no-log, network killswitch, pay with cash/crypto, DNS leak protection as a bonus, etc.

I am wondering which service you all have decided to go with.

  • sunlit_uplands [none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    "Don’t #1: Use Tor for Torrenting

    As a powerful privacy tool, Tor might seem like the perfect means of downloading and uploading files via BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer networks, but it is not! Using a torrent client bypasses Tor’s protection and blows your anonymity by sending your real IP address to the torrent service and other ‘peers.’ This action allows them to identify you, the port you’re using for torrenting, and even the data you’re sharing, if it isn’t encrypted.

    They can then potentially target you with malware or even notify the relevant authorities (if you’re sharing copyrighted material). Additionally, torrent traffic places a massive strain on the Tor network and slows it down for others, so it’s selfish and careless.

    For all these reasons, Tor says file-sharing is “widely unwanted,” and exit nodes are configured by default to block torrent traffic."