How do I torrent safely in the US if I can't afford a VPN? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 11 months ago by ScratchySoft@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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Before I say anything further, yes I know how much the recommended VPNs cost. I can read. Please do not interrogate me about it.

I've been wanting to get into torrenting for a while, particularly contributing to private trackers related to music (and to a lesser extent retro games, though I don't have much original stuff to put there as it's harder to find rare games than rare music). FMHY recommends RiseUp if I must get a free VPN while I'm working on my financial situation, though I'm not sure whether it's been tested in court. What are my options, if any?

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[-] HelloRoot@lemy.lol 1 points 11 months ago

essentially using it as a giant, dynamic maze of proxies, where all your traffic is arguably better encrypted than via Tor.

from https://geti2p.net/en/about/intro :

Outproxies to the Internet are run by volunteers, and are centralized services. The privacy benefits from participating in the the I2P network come from remaining in the network and not accessing the internet. Tor Browser or a trusted VPN are better options for browsing the Internet privately.

[-] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

An outproxy could fuck you over sure, but in the same ways as a VPN getting served with a warrant can, like say Proton VPN, or, a Tor exit/entry node that's actually being run as some kind of Law Enforcement / Intelligence Service honeypot.

Difference is that I2P packets themselves are, again, arguably, in my estimation... more encrypted, more difficult to disentangle and backtrace, than a VPN shunted traffic, or even Tor, if you're bouncing through enough comprimised, honey pot nodes.

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