Technically you don’t need a vpn if you live in certain countries where the government doesn’t give a shit that you torrent.
this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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Only thing Eastern Europe does better than the west
Maybe it's luck but I've shamelessly torrented in the UK my whole life, I wouldn't be surprised if in the past fifteen years, I've downloaded a petabyte on pirated content.
I've never used a VPN and the one time I got a letter from my ISP, I suspect it was a scam anyway. I have used at least 4 ISPs in this period and two mobile networks, I've even used public and work WiFis with not issue.
I'm not sure if this a UK thing or if I'm just wildly lucky.
I'm stateside, and I torrented something once without a VPN and got an email complaint from my ISP not long after.
To be fair, I'm also stateside and, while I knew enough to know not to do it with abandon, I've torrented without a VPN at least a handful of times and never got anything from my ISPs in two decades.
Have the same story here in Belgium.
Never gotten a letter.
In the Netherlands they pay a small fee (3.5€ on a new phone) on every electronics "with which you can download", which allows them to pirate without much worrying.
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I'm doing fine in Ireland anyway.
Brazil and most Latin American countries are also safe pirate havens, unless you set up a for-profit piracy site, then you're painting a huge target on your head.
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$14.99 Netflix subscription
$11.99 Gamepass subscription
$11.99 Spotify Premium subscription
Want more than one networks programming? Hulu/Max/Paramount/Peacock all cost around the same
ISP still sells your damn data to advertisers
OR
$5 Mullvad subscription.
You tell me what makes more sense.
Unfortunately I cannot recommend Mullvad for Torrenting. They blocked port forwarding, making seeding and thus contributing back to the network that much slower
I just went for ProtonVPN since (next to iVPN I think) it's the only other one to at least be partially OSS and still viable for daily-use
Thats fair, and I agree with you for torrenting, its the one thing I wish they'd change. For privacy though, I feel like Mullvad is leading the pack. (Not having to provide an email, crypto and/or cash payments, DAITA)
Yes shame about Mullvad. AirVPN still allows port forwarding though.
Now days I just stick to private trackers while using a cheap European VPS setup with wireguard. Only saves me a couple of bucks a month compared to VPN service but it adds up.
It's hella cheaper tho
Yeah and something that is useful for all kinds of situations like circumventing geo-blocking as well. So it's always a good idea to have a VPN.
I may or may not have torrented so many games, software, movies and albums without any VPN. It went well for years until we got one of those letters.
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You also need an ISP, which isn't free either.
If you have a non-sucking ISP, you don't need a VPN. But a VPN is incredibly cheap, so just lump it in mentally with the cost of the internet service.
What VPN do you recommend?
That depends on a number of things, like do you want to seed (if so, Mullvad is out), how much do you plan on downloading (if a lot, a VPS may be out), if your ISP blocks any of them, etc.
I generally recommend Mullvad or DIY w/ a VPS (I DIY a wireguard VPN on a VPS), but just try some out and see what works best for you.
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No money, no friends? Maybe that a signal it's time to take a break from the screen
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protonvpn
until proton's ceo was all "o captain my captain" about trump and the "good things" that trump is doing
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Direct downloads are fine enough. No need for vpn.
Edit: Depends on your location. US is fine with ddl
Depends on where you are. Don't try that in Germany, you'll get a hefty fine.
Right? They only get your IP from torrenting because they’re torrenting it too.
A single download source you trust is usually fine unless you’ve got a super-narc for an ISP.
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Can't you borrow games at the library?
You can also torrent games at the library
In Austria you totally can and it costs € 30 / year. But for the new ones you can simply torrent them because nobody cares here.
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Use Tor Or a pretty good free vpn like ProtonVPN. Just not a "free" one. Looking at VeePN with disgust
Please do not use Tor for piracy, you're taking up valuable bandwidth that people in authoritarian countries need to fight government censorship and surveillance
This, and if you're downloading a large game, it might take a few months over a Tor.
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Read the megathread ffs, use ProtonVPN
Don't use Proton, use Mullvad.
That said, if you're only paying for a VPN so you can torrent, you're better off getting a Debrid service instead (like Real-Debrid). It's cheaper and gets you direct downloads to any torrent you want at 1Gbps speeds.
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