["Hypothetically"], is it possible to use torrent clients anonymously without being caught by your ISP?
For example, If I used Tor or a VPN, will sufficent protection exist against being caught?
Not really but you could use Peer Blocker that prevents access to know *bad* ip/address e.g. gov, etc. that they use to grab your IP - basically a honeyhot trap.
However this is not 100% like anything
You're ISP usually never actually tracks your downloading. Other companies will and contact your ISP to let you know. Your ISP is not allowed to give out your information out, such as your name and address and such. Although once your ISP gives you a call. It means stop for a couple months. But you shouldn't really worry much unless you're downloading 20-30 movies , 2-5k songs, 20 games a night. Just be reasonable.
IP tracking is so unreliable. I was accused of torrenting the movie Balto, which I never did. I had however torrented some cd's like one or two, but there was no mention of that. So I got a slap on the wrist because we have a 3 strike system here. It still mad me really mad because someone else happened to jeprodize my time at school. So torrent with care and be aware of where you downloading or seeding.
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Also be aware that the rules & laws might differ in each country e.g. Some ISP will give your details over e.g. Virgin Media in the UK
Note - Virgin owns Virgin ISP & Virgin Media (record label) so you can see why their ISP arm will hand out details of users that copy music...
I doubt anything you did would actually help. I'd just get an ISP with a dynamic IP, and call it a day.
I doubt that VPN or Tor could provide the speeds even if they could provide the level of anonymity required. Also, peerguardian or other such software might help but I wouldn't really count on them totally. So hypothetically, yes it is possible but practically, maybe not.
How long does it take to get caught for piracy? If you torrent something, is there a timeframe for how long your "danger window" is per se?
Not really a "danger window," but the entire length you are torrenting, there is the possibilty your ISP is snooping.
I knew someone who got caught by their ISP for downloading a 250 MB add-on for a game - probably downloading for only 15 minutes.
Pretty sure its not the ISP that is tracking the downloads. I am with Comcast and I got hit last month, I have a little over 200 movies that I have downloaded and I got an email (slap on the wrist) from them pointing out one movie in particular.
I have a seedbox that I rent in the Netherlands. I torrent to the seedbox and then I download from the seedbox via https.
How about private trackers?
Also @Reptard, wouldn't downloading from a seedbox be slow? I've tried downloading directly from it and the speed wasn't good at all, not to say the download and upload speeds of the seed box were crap (they were really good actually, and my connection is very decent as well, but the seedbox was in another country that could possibly be the reason), but anyway downloading from a seedbox has been pretty slow in my experience.
That wouldn't help much if they do the tracking right and include dates and times. ISPs will generally keep track of which ip you had for which period so they'd still be able to find out it was you. However, errors do occur every now and then I bet.
They cant snoop encrypted inbound and outbound packets if you use a torrent program that can allow you to force encryption between both sides. Also the main reason why people keep getting nailed for torrent downloading is because they download .torrent files instead of using magnet links and info hashes which are more secure.
The only reason I've ever had a notification from an ISP was because the file that was linked to the "alleged pirated content" was a .torrent file I downloaded. .torrent files are the easiest way to get yourself caught because they link your IP address with the data contained on the .torrent file.
I use privateinternetaccess as my VPN when torrenting and its the cheapest and fastest VPN on the market right now. I really recomend you to get it, and everyone else
@lafeverjacob I tried hma and got a warning email from HMA stating, "We have received a file sharing complaint and the date, time, and IP address provided matches the date, time, and IP address your VPN account was in use. Illegal file sharing is against our terms of service and we cannot ignore breach of copyright complaints, as such we kindly ask you to stop sharing said files to comply with this request. Please note repeated offences may result in permanent suspension."
@afeverjacob, HMA VPN will turn over your info without putting up much of a fight at all.
Don't beleive me? Look it up on google. It's been known for a long time. Id stay away from them personally. And PPTP was cracked along time ago. L2TP/IPSec, Are still secure. And so is AES-128, 256bit encryption. Private Internet Access VPN is about the best VPN you can get as A731 Stated. I myself use CyberGhost VPN . Because i got a 1 year subscription To their Premium Plus service for Free. And they don't log Ip addresses, or Keep logs. They only log Bandwidth used.
http://schoolofprivacy.eu/post/41190513699/short-interview-with-hide-my-ass
http://schoolofprivacy.eu/post/40879834584/interview-with-private-internet-access
*Cough**Usenet**Cough*