Well, After hundreds of GB of torrents downloaded, I slipped up. I've been changing around linux distros recently and i believe i configured my VPN wrong or forgot to turn it back on after doing something. Well, I finally got hit with a copyright warning. Just your typical "we had to send this" type of warning but none-the-less, I slipped up.

Sharing this because the day before it happened, I read a post about not only having your killswitch on but also binding your client to you vpn interface for situations like this. Needless to say I didn't take that precaution. For those who are on linux, I found a great post about how to set this up on reddit and wanted to remind people to "double wrap" because why not be safe lol.

The steps were more or less as follows (for QBitTorrent at least):

Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced Settings
Under "Network Interface", select your vpn interface. To test, check what shows with your vpn on, and then turn it off and re-navigate to this part to see what dissapeared. Thats likely your vpn interface if the name wasn't clear. (Do not be seeding/downloading torrents while doing this in case).
To test, download a non-copyright torrent like the Ubuntu ISO torrent. In the middle of download, disconnect or close your vpn connection. This should stop the download.

Not sure if reddit links are cool here but here is the guide source if anyones interested. Binding VPN to Torrent Client

Stay hidden!

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[–] bjorney@lemmy.ca 151 points 3 days ago (7 children)

I collect these like pokemon 🙃

[–] JackAttack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 52 points 3 days ago

LMFAOOOO

[–] lord_ryvan@ttrpg.network 10 points 2 days ago

Maybe do something about your opsec...

[–] powerofm@lemmy.ca 29 points 3 days ago

Based TekSavvy user

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 days ago

All hail Canada's notice-and-notice-and-notice-and-notice-and-notice system of copyright enforcement!

[–] Knoxvomica@lemmy.ca 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Teksavvy is fantastic

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 52 points 3 days ago

Yo this kind of talk got lawyers going after reddit to prove some isp is complicit. Y'all gonna turn the eye of sauron on us! 😖

[–] ramjambamalam@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

Head's up – there's a law firm which many on RFD are talking about being served demand letters from, after repeated warnings were ignored.

Don't worry though, the demand letters are largely baseless and unenforceable, especially since the SCoC ruled last year that service bill payers are not responsible for the actions of their network users.

[–] uninvitedguest@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I had no idea that Teksavvy passed these along. I thought they took a stance to ignore these.

[–] bjorney@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 days ago

The content of the email is very laissez-faire, e.g. "we legally have to send these ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ "

[–] shirro@aussie.zone 54 points 3 days ago

Reply that you work for Meta and Mark said it will be ok.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You can use this to test your IP while torrenting.

https://torguard.net/checkmytorrentipaddress.php

[–] hossein@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I prefer https://ip.network/, much easier to remember.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I do split tunnelling, so only the torrent stuff goes through the VPN.

[–] hossein@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 days ago

Thanks! Gotta admit I didn't check the link, for the lazy like me, it's basically a torrent file that you download and the site tells you your IP. Neat.

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I swear, getting a letter and/or email about your piracy is definitely a rite of passage. My parents have definitely gotten a couple for things I've done (since they pay for the service) and I regret nothing.

Probably not accurate whatsoever, but I like to think ISPs and such refuse to drop your service if they're a big enough ISP because that's less money for their greedy cannon fodder of a CEO and won't do anything unless the government or a larger company comes along either serving them a lawsuit or legal letters/documents.

[–] JackAttack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It definitely felt like a right of passage lol. Ill be saving that. Might have to put it up on the wall to look back upon in my elder days.

[–] AceFuzzLord@lemm.ee 5 points 2 days ago

I kinda wish I could save mine now that you mention it, but I don't have access to my parents emails and they've probably long since deleted the email.

[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 72 points 3 days ago (9 children)

ive not had any leaking since i setup my torrenting container(deluge is my fav) to use the openvpn container(gluetun) for its internet. theres zero chance it can leak, nothing to 'forget to turn on'.. kinda idiotproof, which i needed

gluetun is your friend

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[–] Spectrism@feddit.org 21 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Same thing also happened to me at the end of last year. I usually only use torrents on my PC, but that day I decided to also use them on my laptop and of course I forgot to change the network interface to that of my VPN in qBittorrent because I'm an idiot. After around 2 weeks, I got a cease and desist letter ordering me to pay ~1000 € and sign their cease and desist declaration. Was able to negotiate down to 600 € and only sent back a modified declaration, still pretty expensive for such a silly little mistake. I'd say you can consider yourself lucky to just receive a warning :)

Unfortunately for me, German law makes torrents a very lucrative business model for some law firms who do nothing but send cease and desist letters, thousands each year.

I only got caught for a few seconds according to their letter, but that was enough to get me into trouble. Not sure what the reason was, perhaps I started the VPN too late or maybe systemd was stopping the VPN service before qBt got closed when I was shutting the laptop down. Either way, this probably wouldn't have happened if I had set the correct network interface in qBt and I've learnt to always do that first whenever I install a torrent client. I can only advise everyone to also check the publicly visible torrent IP with tools like this, just to be sure.

Smooth sailin' me hearties! 🏴‍☠️

[–] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

The IP checker you linked likes to flag false positives. I just checked it on my phone and it claimed that my IP address was being leaked, despute me using a VPN and the IP they listed being my VPN's server

[–] Spectrism@feddit.org 4 points 2 days ago

Ignore that orange banner, it's an ad. In fact, ignore all banners telling you something like "Your IP is exposed", because those are all just trying to sell you a VPN and can't possibly know for certain if an address belongs to a VPN server or not. Always compare IP addresses manually.

What's important in this case is the address listed in the table below after you have opened the magnet link in your torrent client. If everything works correctly, it should be different from your actual IP address (which may or may not be the one displayed on the site, depending on whether you're using split tunneling).

[–] JackAttack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Oh dang, well so far it's only a letter they sent to my ISP, in which they relayed that someone on my network was doing it with or without my knowledge.

My ISP has records I can look up the see the original email sent from the person who claimed the copyright. I was like, where did I mess up? They must not have very clear evidence.

Well.. I was dead to rights Lmao. IP, movie name, times, data downloaded, etc. I'm hoping that's the only thing that leaked in that time period and there isn't more just qeueing lol.

But yeah, that's why I wanted to share this post. Some people aren't in countries where this matters, but for those of us that are, stay safe. Learn from others. Im lucky so far but someone may not be and get fined like in your situation.

I used Usenet but honestly I love being able to publicly seed for others. It feels like giving back so it's a risk I'll take over using usenet.

Much love to the community 🏴‍☠️

[–] Trainguyrom@reddthat.com 5 points 2 days ago

Obviously you kicked the former friend off your network after you learned of their illegal activities and admonished them to pay for their media instead nudge nudge

[–] Sparky@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I keep forgetting that some people need vpns to torrent.

[–] black0ut@pawb.social 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yeah it sounds so bizarre to me... What do you mean your ISP is constantly snooping all your encrypted traffic or trying to de-anonimize you by making undercover peers? That doesn't sound very net neutral...

[–] nomy@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago

The ISP usually doesn't give a shit. It's various industry groups (think RIAA) seeding and trying to deanonymize people, then they complain to the ISP who'll usually (IME) brush it off with stern look but I guess in really egregious cases they'll cut service.

[–] brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 3 days ago (3 children)

My father got us kicked off our ISP for downloading music from random public trackers.

I've been on private ones for years and never gotten a warning.

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[–] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 21 points 3 days ago (5 children)

I don't use a VPN, and haven't got a letter from my ISP in all the years I've been pirating.

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[–] Cephalotrocity@biglemmowski.win 14 points 3 days ago

Your link is broken

Also, visit here for a tool that lets you test and ensure your torrent client isn't leaking

[–] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Were you using a public or private tracker?

[–] JackAttack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 3 days ago (10 children)

Public I assume, I'm pretty new to torrenting and haven't really dove into private trackers yet. Any resources your recommend on reading up on that?

[–] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

It can be tough to get an invite to a private tracker, but that's all I've been using in my 20 years of torrenting and I've never received an ISP letter. I don't use a VPN. Just keep an eye out for open sign-ups. Once you're in, it's essential to keep a good ratio.

[–] KSPAtlas@sopuli.xyz 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Tormenting? That sounds a bit extreme

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[–] CidVicious@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

Getting an account on a big general tracker like TorrentLeech is a pretty good foot in the door. They do open signups frequently. There's also IPtorrents and their whole network, although they're pretty looked down upon by the private trackers community. If you want to start working towards invites to more selective trackers, MAM, OPS, and RED all have an interview process. MAM is by far the easiest one to build a ratio on, although note that they do not like to be thought of as a stepping stone.

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[–] kirk781@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 3 days ago (10 children)

Copyright warnings are fairly common in developed nations like much of western Europe and say, US right? Do they result in prosecutions as well( would it be worth it for an ISP to take an individual user to court and spend time and money on it?)

[–] sexy_peach@feddit.org 10 points 3 days ago

In Germany you don't get warnings, you'll have to pay a fine immediately and if you get caught again you signed a notice that you'll pay absurd amounts then.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 13 points 3 days ago

No prosecutions in many many years.

But, with the new oligarchy dictatorship in progress... I would not be surprised to see Sony get some bills passed to have ISPs cut you off permanently.

[–] Shimitar@downonthestreet.eu 9 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Mostly us stuff, never heard of one in Europe

[–] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I got one a few years ago (Europe), but you just throw them out, they're meaningless threats without action behind and to my knowledge no one has been convicted based on one ever in my country. But if you torrent copyrighted material without a VPN here, you'll definitely be getting them.

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[–] rabber@lemmy.ca 13 points 3 days ago

I have hundreds of those. I'm in Canada though so I don't care.

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