Lately it seems Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been cutting down on people downloading content from BitTorrent sources. In the past it used to be a big deal with songs, now they have moved onto movies. A couple days ago I received a letter from our ISP explaining that one of the movies I downloaded was having its download activity being watched by the makers of the movie, and that I need to stop downloading copyrighted material, and delete any copyrighted material I have now. I talked around, and it seems that a lot of people have gotten more than one of these notices. So today I’m going to show you the steps I took to help avoid getting in trouble, and help better protect your identity when downloading torrents.
Everything I’m going to talk to you about involves proxies. A proxy is just an alternative path to a source via a provider that keeps you anonymous. So for example instead of going up and telling someone “Hello my name is __ and I’m downloading your movies” , the proxy will do that for you and say “Hello my name is Proxy and I’m downloading your movies for someone who I can’t tell you their name”. Of course there is a lot of proxies out there, and with the right papers in some countries they can make that proxy reveal who the true downloader is (You), and that is why I use a proxy from Canada. Canada has some of the most strict privacy laws, helping this proxy keep its customers hidden.
How A Proxy Server Works
BTGuard (Torrent Downloading Proxy)
The proxy I’m using right now is called BTGuard. BTGuard is not a free service but there are no free torrent proxies I know of. It is also important to take note that going through a proxy your download speeds will drop, and if you use a free service to do this good luck downloading at all. With this any downloading I do is now going through a proxy, leaving my identity hidden.
Furk (Torrent Searching)
You should be doing pretty good keeping your identity hidden when it comes to downloading and uploading torrents but what about when we search for them? A lot of ISPs have been blocking torrent search sites and with a proxy you can get passed that. Although it is not required if your ISP is not blocking them, it is still a good idea to use it so your ISP does not know what you are searching for. My favorite service to use is Furk.net. It searches all my favorite torrent sites to include ISOHunt.com and ThePirateBay.
So now you are all proxyed up and ready to start downloading torrents again in complete privacy. Some sources also suggest turning off the seeding features in your torrent client but I DO NOT recommend this as it beats the whole purpose of torrents, and you are already hidden behind your proxy. Like I mentioned before, downloading will be a lot slower now, but just plan your downloads to start over night and/or turn the proxy off when downloading safe content (Just don’t forget to turn it back on).
Looking for a ISOHunt Alternative? Check out this article
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Have you had any issues with btguard? Any ISP issues, etc? I recognize speed will decrease some, but cannot seem to find evidence of efficacy of this service.
Thanks!
The service really does degrade your speeds due to the fact that all their customers are going through one pipeline or a few pipelines.. But as far as working I can not know FOR SURE until I get busted, I can just assume that it is working right?
I can say that I have not gotten anymore threatening letters from my ISP telling me to stop downloading copyrighted material or they maybe forced to terminate my account, so in that way the BTguard is working wonderful =).
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