Simple, trust no one. Get a no-reported-logs VPN, don't download anything that has a strange file size or extension, look at comments, look at the number of seeders if it's a torrent. If you can, join something like a private tracker where there's moderation too. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it's probably not the movie you were looking for and there might be a Trojan army inside waiting for you to let the duck enter your computer... That metaphor may have fallen apart on me...

[–] cheezoid@retrolemmy.com 36 points 10 months ago (1 children)

[–] kumatomic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 27 points 10 months ago

I know they're an army in this metaphor but I still want to hug them.

[+] lukas@lemmy.haigner.me 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

[deleted]

[–] phorq@lemmy.ml 8 points 10 months ago

I was trying to give general advice, since it didn't sound like they had a trusted private tracker already it's a good idea to have a VPN to mask your IP. I agree, it probably won't help against malware.

[–] httpjames@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Most come with DNS blocklists now that can prevent you from accessing it

[+] lukas@lemmy.haigner.me 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] FutileRecipe@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's part of defense in depth. No single piece will protect you from everything, so you you use multiple layers of protection.

[+] nicman24@kbin.social -29 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Get a no-reported-logs VPN

lol there is no such thing. use tor

[–] twena@lemm.ee 26 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Piracy using TOR is extremely slow and not really anonymous

[+] nicman24@kbin.social -12 points 10 months ago (3 children)

maybe 5 years ago

[–] twena@lemm.ee 10 points 10 months ago

Slowness and bandwith limitations are still an issue and it's likely that they will always be. It's already too slow to torrent large files over Tor and it also takes away the bandwith of other users. Tor also still doesn't support UDP connections, which may cause data leaks.

[–] averyminya@beehaw.org 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Don't torrent over tor, its nodes should be used for more important things than piracy

[–] nicman24@kbin.social 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

you do not have to use exit nodes. you can p2p with other tor users. piracy imo is important due to the censorship that countries can have on legitimate content.

[–] averyminya@beehaw.org 2 points 10 months ago

Regarding your last point, I agree, however it is not as important and it does take up resources that could otherwise be used for the people who need it (journalists utilizing tor, victims trying to get away from abusers etc).

Especially given that there are still alternatives to piracy without tor, whereas there are far fewer alternatives for these people.

That said, you're still right, it's minimal. Overall though, options for piracy without tor are accessible and should still be used when possible. From my understanding, few circumstances arise where pirating over tor is a better method for you and for others

Basically, use tor for legitimate content to help make tor safer for others using it.

[–] supervent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

For p2p it is better to use i2p, not tor

[–] nicman24@kbin.social 1 points 10 months ago

yeah completely agree although it is even more niche

[–] phorq@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I added the word "reported" because I don't trust VPN providers to not keep logs, but ideally they should report that they don't keep logs and have an established history of not providing logs. Tor is really not ideal if you're trying to download anything large and you're still vulnerable depending on who controls the exit nodes.

[–] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 12 points 10 months ago

Mullvad I think is very good for this. They have an extensive description of their no-logs policy on their site, and have also been raided by the police before, who apparently were unable to find any customer information.

Shenanigans are always possible of course so you shouldn't 100% blindly trust anyone, but all the available evidence seems to point to them being pretty legit IMO.

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 33 points 10 months ago

[–] Sterben@lemmy.ml 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Surface the Web with VPN, Ad blocker, Anti-Tracker, use Linux. In 5 years, I have never encountered a virus or a trojan. Following these 4 "rules" and you'll be fine on any website.

[–] chriscz@iusearchlinux.fyi 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

If you want to go one step further, isolate/sandbox your media player, browser and torrenting apps in firejail.

[–] Sterben@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago

Really extreme, but good to know. 😉

[–] xilliah@beehaw.org 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'd avoid any websites containing the string google.

[–] Sterben@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

Yes, true that. :)

[–] rockhandle@lemm.ee 10 points 10 months ago

Depends on what you want. For games, find a trustworthy repacker (fitgirl and dodi are good in my experience) and only download from them. For software, again, it depends. For adobe products, M0nkrus is pretty good, but I'm unsure about other software. Movies and music are typically quite safe as long as you practice due diligence (basically dont open a file called song.mp3.exe).

[–] julianarestrepo@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

cs.rin.ru they use the ban hammer for malware distributing hard