How to Report User Uploading Illegal Content on Torrent Site

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What is Torrenting? Is it Safe? Is it illegal? Are you likely to exist caught?

Looking to find out more well-nigh torrenting? We explain exactly what torrenting is, how to torrent safely, and what to do if you go caught.

@pabischoff UPDATED: January 18, 2022

Three questions I'm often asked are: Is torrenting condom, is torrenting legal, and what happens if I become caught? This post answers those questions and looks at the methods torrenters use to stay safe and bearding.

What is Torrenting?

Torrenting is the act of downloading and uploading files through the BitTorrent network. Instead of downloading files to a cardinal server, torrenting involves downloading files from other users' devices on the network. Conversely, users upload files from their own devices for other users to download.

Torrenting is the most popular form of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing, and information technology requires torrent direction software to connect to the BitTorrent network. Such software can exist downloaded for complimentary for a number of different devices.

Everyone downloading or uploading the same file is called a peer, and collectively they are known as a swarm. Because of how BitTorrent works, a peer tin download a file from several other users at once, or upload a file to multiple other users simultaneously.

Torrenting is often associated with piracy because it's frequently used to share files that are protected past copyright, including movies, games, music, and software. All the same, torrenting has many legitimate uses too, such every bit lessening the load on centralized servers by distributing the hosting burden amongst users.

Torrenting rubber and legality: In curt

Is torrenting legal or illegal? Torrenting itself isn't illegal, merely downloading unsanctioned copyrighted material is. It's not always immediately apparent which content is legal to torrent and which isn't. Some fall in a grayness surface area, so you may find yourself unwittingly on the wrong side of the law.

Your isp (ISP) and copyright trolls monitoring the BitTorrent network tin take action if they grab you lot illegally torrenting. This tin can range from a warning letter and throttling (slowing down) of your internet connectedness speeds to legal activeness – although the latter is increasingly rare.

Digital privacy-conscious torrenters will employ VPN services, or virtual individual networks, to go on their internet activity hidden from their Isp. With a wide range of applications, some VPNs are better suited for torrenting than others. If yous want to keep your Internet service provider from snooping on your action, choose a VPN connection that: a) doesn't keep a log of your activity, b) isn't based in a state where the legal system can be used to demand customer records, and c) is fast plenty that it won't slow entire downloads. We've rounded upward the providers that fit these criteria and others in our list of the best torrenting VPN services.

How to torrent safely

It is relatively simple to torrent safely and keep your online activeness private. Notation that while a VPN for torrenting will keep your action private and safety from prying optics y'all may still be susceptible to malware from some public torrent sites. Follow these 5 steps to torrent privately with a VPN.

Here's how to torrent safely:

1. Download and install a VPN matching the criteria mentioned in a higher place. We recommend NordVPN.
2. Enable your VPN's impale switch, if it has one.
3. Connect to a VPN server, preferably in a P2P-friendly country
4. Once the connection is established, open your torrent client and start downloading as usual
5. Your online activity is now encrypted past your VPN

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Torrenting without a VPN

Torrenting without a VPN means your internet service provider (Isp) tin see your online activeness including the sites you visit and the content you view. In certain countries, including the The states, ISPs are allowed to share this information with tertiary parties including intellectual property owners. A VPN will keep your online activity private from your ISP.

Is uTorrent safe?

uTorrent is the official torrent customer from the creators of the BitTorrent protocol. It is proprietary—non open up source—software maintained by a legal The states company. Like BitTorrent, the uTorrent software itself is legal, although it tin be used for digital piracy. The official uTorrent is free of malware and can be used safely and privately in combination with a VPN. It does not, however, prevent users from downloading malicious files that tin can infect their device.

In detail

The BitTorrent protocol rose to get the most popular medium for peer-to-peer file sharing in the world afterwards the demise of centralized services like Napster and Limewire. Unlike those services, torrenting is virtually completely decentralized save for the trackers that allow users to search and download torrent files and magnet links. Torrent files and magnet links are used to discover other users on the network who host the desired file or files only exercise not actually host those files for downloading.

Is BitTorrent safe and legal?

The BitTorrent protocol is not in itself illegal or unsafe. It is just the means to share whatsoever type of file, and plenty of legal torrenting services do exist. The nigh popular torrent trackers, such every bit ThePirateBay and KickassTorrents, however, operate in a legal grey area, offering users free access to copyrighted content. Sharing and downloading copyrighted content by BitTorrent, or other ways, is illegal in many countries and tin can be unsafe since sites including KickassTorrents have been shown to host malware.

These trackers would argue that they simply find and organize information that is already out there, and they do not illegally host whatever copyrighted content on their own servers. Just similar the BitTorrent protocol itself, they are the means to an finish. Not everyone is convinced. Major trackers have come nether heavy legal scrutiny from content creators and distributors who debate the trackers enable and encourage theft.

The arraign ultimately shifts to the users, the millions of individuals who host files on their personal computers, downloading and uploading movies, games, software, music, ebooks, and more than. Users connected to the aforementioned tracker are called peers, and they fall into two categories. A leech uses a torrent file or magnet link to download the file from other users on the network who already accept the file. These users who already have the file are called seeds. When a leech is finished downloading a file (or fifty-fifty only function of a file), he or she becomes a seed, allowing other leeches to download the file from his or her computer. As a general dominion, information technology'south considered proper pirate etiquette to seed equally much equally y'all leech.

Comparitech does non condone or encourage any violation of copyright constabulary or restrictions. Delight consider the law, victims, and risks of copyright piracy before downloading copyrighted material without permission.

Legally speaking, seeding and leeching copyrighted textile fall into different criminal categories. Call back of information technology like buying illegal drugs: purchasing the drugs for personal utilize is definitely a criminal offense, only a relatively minor ane. Turning around and selling those drugs to others is a much more serious criminal offence. Finding the original source of the drugs, or in this instance the HD rip of the new Avengers film, would be the best case scenario for law enforcement, merely that isn't ever possible. The trackers act as the shady dorsum alley marketplaces where all of these transactions go down, simply they don't personally handle any of the drugs.

What happens if you are caught torrenting?

The prosecution of torrent users has been desultory. The chances of really going to court or having to pay a settlement are pretty slim, just the penalties tin be extremely high. The frequency of copyright holders suing torrenters for copyright infringement peaked in the late 2000s. Copyright pirates were sued for wildly disproportionate amounts of money, and almost settled out of court.

These public scare tactics shone poorly on the recording and movie industries considering they were portrayed every bit footling millionaires bullying poor college students. Direct lawsuits are much less common these days, just the campaign against torrenters is far from over.

Copyright trolls

Now the job of going after individual copyright pirates has been outsourced to a growing number of small businesses known as copyright trolls. These companies locate torrenters who illegally download copyrighted content through their real IP addresses. They then arroyo the copyright owners and sign a bargain that lets them take legal action on their behalf. Others are hired straight past Hollywood production companies to sniff out pirates.

With legal leverage and a list of names, the copyright trolls so go later torrenters via mail, e-mail, or even past going door to door and handing out settlement letters. These letters are not legally binding documents or injunctions. Copyright trolls use intimidation, fear, and shame to make torrenters pay without ever going to court. A common tactic is to threaten to sue for over $100,000 merely simply ask for $three,000 or and so in the settlement. That makes the $three,000 expect like a good deal, but going to court is costly and risky for them, so don't give in if you receive such a alphabetic character.

What to do if you receive a settlement letter

The most common way to receive a settlement letter is through your internet provider. A copyright troll volition go through the court system to subpoena your Internet service provider and force it to email customers with a legal threat and hand over personal details.

According to The states constabulary, an IP address is not a person. If y'all were contacted through your Internet access provider, chances are that'south because the copyright troll doesn't know your bodily identity yet. If the alphabetic character doesn't contain any identifying information on yous, proceed information technology that style and practise zero. Your case could be dismissed earlier the appointment that your ISP is gear up to reveal your personal details to the troll. If you respond and identify yourself, that gives the troll a more than direct ways of targeting you.

This is a game of probability for copyright trolls. If they ship out one,000 threatening emails and 50 people reply, they simply need a handful to actually coughing upwardly coin to make it worth their time. Chances are information technology's more toll effective for them to move on to the next swarm of torrenters than pursue the remaining 950 people.

If things escalate and you determine to accept action, lawyer up. Hither'south a listing of attorneys compiled past the Electronic Frontier Foundation that specialize in these sorts of cases.

ISP penalties

Depending on your ISP, it may take actions against you lot on its ain behalf. That could hateful throttling your internet connection or threatening to hand over personal details to a copyright troll. Why does your ISP even care? Because torrenting takes upward a lot of bandwidth, and that bandwidth costs ISPs money. On acme of that, an Internet access provider could be receiving kickbacks from content owners and their associates.

How to protect yourself

To avoid any legal ramifications, it'due south best to but not torrent. Still, if you insist on torrenting, take the time to protect your online privacy and keep copyright trolls at bay.

Apply a VPN when torrenting

The best manner to torrent safely is by using a VPN. A VPN accomplishes ii things: first, it re-routes all your internet traffic through a server in a location of your choosing, which changes your real IP accost to ane used by hundreds or thousands of other people (bold your VPN uses shared IP addresses, which most do). This adds a significant layer of anonymity and makes it much more than difficult for anyone to track you. Second, a VPN encrypts all your torrent traffic earlier it leaves your computer. That ways your ISP cannot monitor your internet activity, nor tin can anyone else. And because all your traffic heads to the VPN server offset, ISPs can't even tell where it's going.

Using a quality VPN is key; don't settle for a "gratis" service or VPNs that log your activity, cap your bandwidth and data, or don't provide sufficient DNS leak protection. Not all VPNs tolerate torrenting. You can check out our list of the best VPNs for torrenting here, which are services with fast download speeds and a focus on online privacy, security and anonymity like NordVPN, Surfshark, and ExpressVPN among others.

Other alternatives

If you lot don't want to pay for a VPN, yous might be because Tor. Tor is similar to a VPN in that information technology routes your traffic through several volunteer "nodes" while encrypting traffic. We recommend a VPN over Tor for a couple reasons. First, Tor is slow, and usually best for simple browsing and other low-bandwidth activity. Second, connecting to Tor could really draw more attending from your ISP and law enforcement, as it's a well-known tool for hackers and criminals.

Another pop app among torrenters is Peerblock. Peerblock is a desktop firewall with a regularly updated blacklist of IP addresses. These IP addresses belong to entities that try to track your activity online, especially on peer-to-peer networks. Unfortunately, the blacklist is merely updated once upon installation. After that, users must pay to keep them updated. Even if you're willing to pay, it's unlikely that the blacklist could contain every possible IP accost for copyright trolls, universities, and law enforcement. A copyright troll only needs to connect to the swarm–all the devices connected to a single torrent–with an IP that isn't on that blacklist to go your IP address.

Usenet

Instead of torrenting, another alternative is Usenet. Usenet is a paid service-usually between $10 and $20 per month–where you lot download files from centralized servers instead of a network of peers. Usenet downloads are much, much faster; often every bit fast every bit your Internet service provider can handle. Usenet is more private equally well. The connections take place betwixt you lot and the provider's network of servers, and the best providers offer an SSL-encrypted connection. Some fifty-fifty throw in VPNs for expert measure out. Torrents, on the other hand, crave that you share at least some identifying information to connect to the tracker and peers.

Finally, downloading a Usenet file doesn't mean you have to seed information technology for other internet users afterward. Legally, this makes you less of a target because yous're non supplying strangers with copyrighted content, at the aforementioned time consuming fewer estimator resources and net bandwidth.

Usenet providers make files bachelor for a certain number of days. How many depends on the provider, only the standard is 1,200 days later on the original posting. Until that time is up, users have full access to that file. Torrents but stay upwardly as long equally people seed the file.

Nosotros've rounded upwardly some of the best Usenet providers here.

Public vs private trackers

A "tracker" is like a search engine that indexes files on the BitTorrent network. Trackers can be private or public, and the onetime usually requires an invitation from an existing member.

ThePirateBay, KickassTorrents, and Demonoid are all examples of public trackers. Anyone tin but go to their corresponding websites and search without logging in or requiring whatever sort of hallmark. Too, anyone can upload files for others to download. These uploads are non chastened, so users must judge whether a download is safe and accurate based on comments and the reputation of the uploader.

Private trackers are more exclusive both in terms of who can upload and who can download within a group. They vary wildly in terms of content and quality, simply many members of private trackers attest that they have higher quality files, faster downloads, longer memory, and an overall more consequent and safety feel.

The law views private trackers the same equally public trackers. Internet piracy is piracy whether you exercise it in public or within a private group.

Streaming vs torrenting

Many people have moved away from downloading entire files through BitTorrent and opt instead to stream video content either on their web browsers or through customized programs similar Kodi. When it comes to safety and the law, what's the deviation?

Legally speaking, yous're probably nevertheless breaking the constabulary when you stream illegal content from a pirated source. However, this depends largely on your state. In the Uk, it's outright illegal. In India, a court ruled that it is absolutely not illegal. In the United states of america, it'south all the same a grey surface area, as there's been no precedent of anyone being convicted for copyright piracy after streaming copyrighted video content from an unsanctioned source.

Those who upload the videos without compensating or asking permission from the copyright holder practise so illegally. That's pretty much standard no matter where y'all are.

Not but do laws tend to be more lenient toward streaming content, simply it's also more difficult for copyright trolls and law enforcement to catch users in the human action. When yous download a torrent, you can encounter the IP addresses of everyone else you're uploading to or downloading from. But streaming transmits a video straight from a website to your device, with no 3rd parties involved.

Don't get too comfortable, nonetheless, as in that location are even so risks. The website could be logging IP addresses or other information about its users, which it could then hand over to law enforcement or a copyright troll. Your ISP could monitor your activity and see that you are watching pirated content. These are risks that can be mitigated by connecting to a reputable VPN.

When it comes to security, streaming video carries just as many risks every bit torrenting. Websites that stream pirated content tend to be chock full of intrusive ads, malware, and phishing threats. Kodi users are subject to man-in-the-centre (MITM) attacks and other threats from the add-ons they download.

More than tips

As a dominion of thumb, avoid downloading movies that were released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the past threescore days, especially big-hitting blockbusters. That'south when movies make the vast majority of their mail-box role money, after which their income significantly drops off. Copyright holders will put most of their anti-piracy resource into going subsequently torrenters of new releases to minimize the financial damage. The same goes for Tv set series, shows and video games.

Users of Popcorn Time, the free pic-streaming app, should tread just as carefully as torrenters. Many Popcorn Time users don't realize that the app actually streams directly from torrents and will even seed a file so it is uploaded to other users. All the risks associated with Popcorn Time utilize in equal measure to torrenting.

Choose your torrents wisely. The most pop torrents on ThePirateBay and KickassTorrents are probably the ones existence almost closely monitored by copyright trolls. However, don't selection totally unpopular ones either. Read through the comments section, where users often run virus scans on torrent downloads and post the results. They will also give you lot a general review of the quality.

Even if the comments are positive, run your own virus scans besides. Ideally, use multiple antivirus programs to run an assortment of scans, as each of their virus libraries can differ. Non all antivirus programs play overnice with each other, however, and so mixing two or more must be done with care. Nosotros recommend Bitdefender to scan all downloads earlier opening. This is especially of import when downloading games and software, which are often "cracked" by the uploader. Cracks brand information technology easier to featherbed DRM schemes that validate content with the publisher, but they also brand information technology easier to distribute hidden malware, spyware, and viruses. Cheque out Comparitech'southward antivirus reviews department here.

Torrenting FAQ

Why did BitTorrent install adware on my calculator?

BitTorrent is a network and protocol used to share files, so BitTorrent itself cannot install adware on your computer.

However, the programs used to connect to the BitTorrent network and download files, called torrent managers or torrent clients, tin can and frequently do come up with adware. The files you download can also contain malware and adware.

Stick to reputable torrent managers and, if prompted, refuse any offers to install additional software alongside them. These boosted programs are often adware.

Likewise, exist certain to only download and upload torrents you trust.

Is downloading a shared torrent from Google bulldoze illegal?

If you're downloading something from Google Bulldoze, then it's non a torrent. It's just a download. The file might have originally been downloaded through BitTorrent, then uploaded to Google Drive where others can download it.

Semantics aside, if the content of the file is protected past copyright, then yes, it is illegal to download pirated files from Google Bulldoze.

Can I simply download a torrent from a public identify?

Near torrenters use public trackers to find and download files through BitTorrent. So in that sense, yes, you tin can download a torrent from a public place provided you lot have a torrent client installed on your device.

The files themselves are downloaded from other BitTorrent users who have downloaded the file and are at present uploading it to young man users.

Private trackers are besides bachelor and are frequently safer, just typically require an invitation from an existing fellow member.

Can I go to jail for torrenting?

It depends on the circumstances, but no, it's highly doubtful you would become to jail for torrenting. Nigh lawsuits regarding torrenting are civil suits, not criminal ones, then if a penalty is levied, it's commonly a fine or some other budgetary compensation.

That existence said, it also depends on what country you're in, what y'all torrent, and whether yous also seeded the file so it could exist downloaded by other users. Bank check your local laws and regulations.

What are the risks of torrenting music?

The music recording industry has, on occasion, aggressively targeted torrenters who engaged in music piracy. These days, litigation is mostly done by copyright trolls who target torrenters on behalf of recording studios. They'll transport out settlement letters demanding hundreds or even thousands of dollars to torrenters whom they can identify. They ordinarily become through internet service providers to contact torrenters. Your Isp could throw you lot under the bus, and that's not a run a risk we recommend taking. Past using a VPN, you lot can profoundly reduce the risk of being identified by a copyright troll.

What legal employ cases tin can I use torrents for?

There are enough of gratis ways to use BitTorrent. Hither are a few examples:

• Open up-source software, such as Linux distros, are often available for download via BitTorrent. This saves the organization maintaining the distro from having to host the files themselves.
• Public domain media, like quondam movies, books, and music for which the copyrights accept expired, can be establish and legally downloaded through BitTorrent
• Independent artists making movies, games, books, and music often post their content for free on BitTorrent.
• BitTorrent is a convenient way to access fair use materials from various media

Where do people get torrents from?

Torrents are usually found on BitTorrent trackers , which are essentially searchable websites that index torrents uploaded by users. Users tin can download the small torrent file, which your torrent customer uses to detect other users uploading and downloading the same content.

Trackers tin can be public or private. Some torrents are linked to straight.

What are Seeders and Leechers?

A seed is a user who uploads files to the BitTorrent network for other users to download.

A leech is a user who downloads files from the BitTorrent network from other users.

A typical user starts equally a leech past downloading a file. Once the file is finished downloading (or even before), the user transitions to being a seed and starts uploading the file to other users.

A common courtesy amongst torrenters is to seed as much information every bit you leech. Then if you download a one GB file, you should seed that file until yous've uploaded at least an equivalent corporeality of information. Nonetheless, this guideline is in no way enforced.

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Source: https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/is-torrenting-safe-illegal-will-you-be-caught/

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