The recent Dallas Buyer’s Club case and the threat of metadata retention mean there’s more interest than ever in using VPNs and encryption to ensure your online activity can’t be tracked. Here are Lifehacker’s best and most popular guides on how to do that.
Monitoring picture from Shutterstock
Remember: you’re ultimately responsible for what you do with your internet connection, and any consequences that flow from that. The ethical arguments around downloading are complex, and worth thinking about carefully.
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15 responses to “Lifehacker’s Total Guide To Download And Torrent Privacy”
Is it safe to enter your credit card details while using a VPN?
Probably best not too. Most will accept anonymous forms of payment. some recommend untraceable gift cards.
You can try Private Internet Access http://bitly.com/privateinternetaccessvpn for torrenting they have specific servers that provide good downloading speed while torrenting also they offer 7 days money back guarantee so you can easily test it.
This guide will really help the users to download their file easily.
Depends on the credit card. Email me your card details, and I’ll let you know 😉
It’s better to use paypal than credit cards because the VPN company gets (and stores) less information about you.
Usually from paypal all the company will get is an e-mail address, a token ID unique to that transaction, and your name.
However, if you don’t login to paypal and just pay using a credit card over paypal, you can enter fake details for name, address, etc and all they will see is the token ID and e-mail account.
If you are ultra paranoid though then using an anonymous gift card is the better way to go.
In regards to bitcoin: The AFP has said publicly they are confident they know (or can find out) where all the bitcoin is in Australia and where it came from.
Really though, if your chosen VPN provider is torrent friendly, using paypal should be no problem at all.
The torrent freak article on vpn providers that really take anonymity seriously 2015 edition asks each provider “Which payment systems do you use and how are these linked to individual user accounts?” so have a look in there and see if your provider was asked and the answers.
How to download torrent securely if you lived in Australia and torrenting is restricted. So IvacyVPN is the best vpn service here https://www.ivacy.com/australia-vpn/
If I torrent, and have PeerBlock turned off, within a week I get a copyright notice from Comcast – if I have it turned on, I never hear from them. Low-tech, okay, but it works.
On my other media I use PIA to encrypt, and WebRTC Leak Prevent to stop IP leaks.
To be on safer side, don’t do it, use alternative options like bitcoin or gift cards etc. using a reliable and secure VPN like ExpressVPN https://goo.gl/r5Wteh
which allow Torrent and P2P file sharing is a must to be anonymous while downloading torrents.
Couldn’t you just use a VPN and switch to usenet or am I missing something?
Usenet is not what it used to be 🙁 most providers respond to DMCA request really quickly. Literally a few hours after a popular TV show is posted online it’s taken off the usenet server. Not to mention everything is usually posted much faster on torrent sites than usenet. However usenet downloads are encrypted with SSL coupled with you VPN you really are probably as safe as it’s going to get.
This is exactly what I was going to write. Usenet is exponentially better, with it already employing SSL, and you’re downloading from a server so the speed is spectacular. I do agree that the DCMA requests are frustrating, but if you set up your script to download your favourite tv shows as soon as they appear, it works superbly. And then movies you just have to check in every day to see whats new.
Safest way to download torrents https://www.unblocknetflix.co.uk/how-unblock-access-blocked-torrent-sites-uk/
I use Vpnoneclick.com it’s encrypted so it’s good also for banking transaction.
Well I have never use any software but my friends use some paid software’s to unblock the geographical location.