Hello,

reading about the topic I personally wondered about how people can use VPNs like ProtonVPN for torrenting which isn’t legal in some countries, without ProtonVPN and other providers getting in trouble.

Of course they don’t log and don’t have data about which user is accessing what so they can’t hand out data. But why don’t law enforcements force them to block specific traffic and thus hindering people from using it for pricacy?

  • Yuumi@lemmy.worldEnglish
    28·
    10 months ago

    I’m not very well educated in this topic, so I hope someone can correct me if I’m wrong here.

    Torrenting as a whole, is not illegal. Look at Linux distributions for example, they offer direct downloads and torrents. What is illegal is distributing copyrighted files.

    • pumpkinseedoil@feddit.deEnglish
      8·
      10 months ago

      And torrents start seeding automatically so it’s only legal as long as you torrent files that aren’t copyrighted, right?

      • hips_and_nips@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        10 months ago

        And torrents start seeding automatically

        Not necessarily, that should be configurable from within the torrent client.

      • TheGalacticVoid@lemm.eeEnglish
        3·
        10 months ago

        Even if you didn’t seed, if it’s copyrighted content, many places make it illegal to download it as well

  • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    19·
    10 months ago

    First things first: not all VPN providers do not log. Many do. And they are happy to sell the data. So keep that in mind when choosing one. Proton is the best imo, I’m a happy user of their services for many years now. They are subject to Swiss privacy laws.

    Torrenting isn’t illegal but it can be used to illegally download. Just like the internet in general.

    It’s like a car. It’s a normal form of transportation but if you want you can break the law with it. If it’s your car, it’s easy for them to find you. When you rented the car and the rental company doesn’t log user data, it’s impossible to prove who was the driver. But the rental company isn’t to blame, as they didn’t break the law.

    Same with VPN providers. They provide a legitimate service which people could use for illegal business. But when there is no user data, there’s no proof of who did it. But the VPN provider can’t be blamed either, they did nothing wrong.

  • aldalire@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    13·
    10 months ago

    For torrenting, any vpn will hide your ip from copyright trolls. Choose one with port forwarding though.

    For shady shit just use tor

  • QueueEnglish
    12·
    10 months ago

    Torrenting stuff that is public domain or intended by its creators to be shared via BitTorrent isn’t illegal. You won’t get busted for sharing a Linux ISO or a copy of Moby Dick.

    You would get in trouble for media made in or after 1929 (currently). A VPN would help to protect you from being caught for this, but you would most likely never get arrested for downloading, only being a major player in a scene.

    And why cops don’t stop them? They do. There’s laws on books that prohibit them, but in (a lot) of countries, they either don’t have a law that stops VPNs, only piracy sites, or simply don’t have the time to care about media piracy when there’s bigger fish to fry.

  • nailoC5@lemy.lolEnglish
    9·
    10 months ago

    But why don’t law enforcements force them to block specific traffic and thus hindering people from using it for pricacy?

    What traffic? They have forced Mullvad and IVPN to stop offering port forwarding and deleted Mullvad guide to binding their VPN to qBittorrent. I don’t think they can do anything else to hinder people from using torrent for piracy.

      • nailoC5@lemy.lolEnglish
        6·
        10 months ago

        where did they say that? Mullvad:

        Unfortunately port forwarding also allows avenues for abuse, which in some cases can result in a far worse experience for the majority of our users. Regrettably individuals have frequently used this feature to host undesirable content and malicious services from ports that are forwarded from our VPN servers. This has led to law enforcement contacting us, our IPs getting blacklisted, and hosting providers cancelling us.

        IVPN:

        Since recent similar changes in the policies of another popular VPN service provider, we have seen a significant influx of new customers, and the risks posed by such activities have grown manyfold. A considerable increase in law enforcement inquiries and erosion of relationship with data centers could threaten our ability to keep serving our customers.

  • zeluko@kbin.social
    4·
    10 months ago

    law enforcement is exactly that… enforcement.
    If there are no laws in place to force providers to do that, it cant be done via these means.
    And if you cannot enforce because the provider is outside the jurisdiction, then you cant either.

    And if you start forcing blocks, the users will adapt by either changing provider or simply evading the block.