Do You Need a VPN for Torrenting? The Complete Guide
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If you enjoy torrenting, you already know that downloading the content you want to watch, read, or listen to is just a few clicks away. However, many countries have different regulations on this matter, and there’s a gray area for downloading specific material.
Online privacy concerns are as old as the internet itself, so one might wonder whether their information is secure while downloading a few torrents, and wonder: “Do you need a VPN for torrenting?” Let’s find out.
Is Torrenting Safe?
One of the first questions regarding torrenting is whether it’s safe and legal. While torrenting itself is not against the law, downloading copyrighted material is. Users often download files unaware that having them on their computer might get them in legal trouble.
Torrenting is generally safe, but some things lead to problems, like infected files that you might download. Torrents can be intentionally infected with malware, so people download a movie or a song and end up with a virus. This cannot be solved by using a VPN, so torrenting should always be done with anti-malware turned on.
Some countries have stricter copyright laws than others. Without a VPN, internet service providers (ISP) can see your online activity, and are sometimes required to share this information with copyright owners. If you downloaded copyrighted material, you might get a warning or a fine. ISPs will sometimes slow down your internet speed if they establish you’re downloading a torrent file. This practice is not common, but it does happen occasionally.
VPN Protection While Torrenting
Now that we’re aware of the risks of torrenting, let us tackle the central question: “Do I need a VPN to torrent?” This article will discuss how a VPN can help you torrent, and what to look for while choosing a VPN for this purpose. Indeed, there are many available VPNs, so choosing the right one is essential.
We already know that your ISP tracks your online activity, and this is where a good VPN can help. A VPN will make it impossible for internet service providers to track your activity by hiding your geographical location. Moreover, encryption will add an extra layer of anonymity. The final result is a secure and private internet experience.
Choosing the Best VPN for Torrenting
You’ll want to find a VPN that offers a fast connection with good P2P support. Sometimes, the VPN may have excellent privacy features, but it won’t be very useful if the connection is slow or constantly breaks.
Most people get a VPN because they want to improve their internet privacy. Therefore, the features you need to look for are a no-logging policy and proper encryption. No-logging is crucial because your information will not be kept anywhere and therefore be impervious to leaks. The best pick is a VPN using the Advanced Encryption Standard.
Torrenting with VPN is one of the ways to ensure complete privacy, but even VPNs break down. Sometimes, encryption can be stopped for a short while, so to prevent the ISP or any third party from accessing your information, a kill switch will disconnect you from the internet, thus securing your data.
Also, make sure to find a VPN with no caps on bandwidth; without that, you might find yourself looking for a new service all too soon. Luckily, the best VPNs for torrenting will include all of these features.
Free or Paid Plan
Using a free VPN plan will do the trick for most purposes, but it might be advisable to invest in a paid VPN for many reasons.
Paid VPNs offer a range of features to help you remain anonymous, browse the web securely, and download content with much greater speed. You’ll be sure your data isn’t compromised, and there will be no limits on how much of it you can spend.
Some free VPNs will sell your information to a third party, causing the exact thing you wanted to avoid in the first place. It’s also very common for free VPNs to lose connection frequently and slow down your speed. Generally, the paid offering is very diverse, and you can find an affordable plan for yourself, especially if you’re going to use the VPN for torrenting.
Torrent-Friendly VPNs
NordVPN offers a variety of servers with incredible speed – it has everything you need for a complete torrenting experience, and you can make the most of it when torrenting.
Aside from Nord, ExpressVPN is one of the best VPNs for torrenting. All of its servers are P2P-optimized, which guarantees excellent speed.
ProtonVPN is another service with dedicated servers, advanced split tunneling, and impressive speeds.
Conclusion
How easy it is to torrent depends on where you’re torrenting from. Some governments block torrent websites and restrict content. In these cases, using a VPN is a logical step because it can bypass the restrictions of your country by changing your IP location. After all, downloading files without one can lead to warnings, fines, and even jail time, so you should definitely use a VPN for torrenting.
