this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2023
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So like what's the actual deal with pirating content nowadays? I remember in the early 2000s it was don't seed and don't torrent just-released content and you won't get caught. Are the companies more rigorous nowadays? Are they going after people and you really do need a VPN? Can you torrent content at a human-watchable pace (like a show or two a month, maybe a movie or two a week) and no one's going to notice you?
Depends on the country. In the U.S., instead of chasing users themselves, they have leveraged the Internet providers to act as enforcers. If you torrent something they first send you notice of violation from your Internet provider.
If you continue to torrent, they can
cancel your service or the copyright holder can start legal action.
Honestly, I would never torrent anything anymore. There are great webpages that offer streaming for no cost.
A direct download/streaming site can be shut down at any time. Torrents are resistant to censorship, as they are decentralized. Just grab a good VPN or a seedbox and you can torrent as much as you want.
They generally ignore it unless you become excessive and then they just warn you, nothing horrible. But if you do it over a VPN, they can’t do anything. Or do it from a cloud instance from Amazon, or Google, and then download the files locally from there.
I personally love QBtorrent and the built in search engine, plus if you look for it there are block lists you can quickly install into it that blocks you from connecting to known IP addresses of copyright enforcers but I'd still recommend a VPN anyways for good measure from your ISP but those are cheap and easy too.
I definitely seed a lot more than I did in the 2000s but I have fiber and unlimited data so that's an easier ask.
There are supposedly great private torrent sites but I've been ok with the ones everyone else uses and haven't figured out if I need to do different.