Let’s not turn this into what the Reddit subreddit of Piracy has turned into and that’s an endless sea of questions that are all the same - “Do I need a VPN?”.

And the loud and vocal answer to such a question is - yes. Yes you do need a VPN for pirating. Nobody gets a VPN for casual use and I’m under the impression that VPN services know a lot of people are going to be going to them for pirating and not just accessing content out of their country. And it’s for that reason, is why I’m skeptical on entrusting my activity with the bigger VPN names available.

I use ProtonVPN myself, by the way.

Pirating under your raw IP address, only will set you up to get pegged by your ISP whether it’s in a short time or a long time. I’ve only ever gotten one single ISP letter in my entire 26 years of pirating and it was simply because I downloaded without a VPN. Well I was also downloading off of someone else’s network to take the fall, but I was confronted about it either way.

And I’ve gotten away with so much pirating because of my careful cautiousness when it comes to pirating. That and this applies to the United States, but the statue of limitations is 3 years when it comes to copyright infringement. So, good fucking luck to any ISP or so that wishes to try and nail me for something I downloaded 10 years ago, but I digress.

But a large part of me avoiding so much does contribute to having a VPN. So, yes, VPN is required. Please don’t ask anybody in the pirating community 100 questions that are all just ways to ask whether or not you need a VPN. You do.

  • PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    7 days ago

    I work for a VPN company. There may be many shitty VPN companies that do keep logs, but not all of them.

    You just need to pick the right ones, ideally audited ones.

    Also, VPNs are absolutely required in some countries if you’re using public torrents. Even if they’re not required in your country right now, you’re still advertising that you’re doing illegal stuff if you don’t use one.

        • ladfrombrad 🇬🇧@lemdro.id
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          7 days ago

          I work for a VPN company.

          So, you understand how things work then right? Or are you being hypothetical?

          In most jurisdictions, piracy is illegal no?

          No, it’s actually embraced by communities such as this sprouting up. Are you a caveman or something?

          • Th4tGuyII@fedia.io
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            7 days ago

            No, it’s actually embraced by communities such as this sprouting up. Are you a caveman or something?

            Not the same guy, and I don’t mind piracy at all, but being embraced by a community doesn’t make something not illegal.

            That’s very much decided by the law of the land you live in, and in most lands it’s classed as a form of theft or copyright infringement, which is illegal.

            Also, bit rude to suggest he’s a caveman for making a perfectly valid point

            • ladfrombrad 🇬🇧@lemdro.id
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              7 days ago

              in most lands

              Well in that sense you’re breaking the law of your land by commenting on such a forum since we’re on the high seas here if you didn’t notice?

              And no, I didn’t intend to be rude if you’re inferring that but it’s blatantly clear what this forum is for and them being employed by someone who purports to protect their privacy selling such a service but then feigning ignorance

              In most jurisdictions, piracy is illegal no?

              if “it’s illegal”, is telling.

              • Th4tGuyII@fedia.io
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                6 days ago

                Well in that sense you’re breaking the law of your land by commenting on such a forum since we’re on the high seas here if you didn’t notice?

                I’m aware of where I am, as I said before I have no problem with piracy - my main point was that just because we’re fine with it, doesn’t just magically make it legal - which is what you were implying.

                And no, I didn’t intend to be rude if you’re inferring that but it’s blatantly clear what this forum is for and them being employed by someone who purports to protect their privacy selling such a service but then feigning ignorance

                Feigning ignorance of what? That it’s probably not the greatest idea to be flogging around your actual IP address while doing potentially illegal/unlawful activities?

                From my PoV, @PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de wasn’t feigning ignorance, the question was a retort to a non-sequitur. One’s view on the validity of laws (i.e. only being illegal cause Disney said so) doesn’t change them - I’ve seen enough “Sov Cits” find that out the hard way to not make that stupid mistake.

                • ladfrombrad 🇬🇧@lemdro.id
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  6 days ago

                  From my PoV

                  That’s the thing - it is legal. Whether you’re in a public library, torrent swarm, or on the high seas. Makes no difference if you want to play by every law; of every land.

                  You could be there all day playing whack-a-mole but ships cruising by don’t really care since that bounty is shared already.

    • yeehaw@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 days ago

      OK some countries, ya I get it - I’m not in one of those countries so for my country, my view stands. Also you do keep some logs, else it wouldn’t be possible to troubleshoot connection issues. Active VPN sessions, etc, who is connected to what IP, session duration, etc.

      • PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        5 days ago

        no we don’t lol. There’s no way for us to connect an account to any of the traffic on our nodes.

        I applaud your mistrust though.

        • yeehaw@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          5 days ago

          Lol. To think you need to sniff actual unencrypted traffic to deduce information and draw lines is ridiculous. You don’t need to do that to incriminate someone, especially if there’s other evidence.

          • PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            5 days ago

            No not unencrypted traffic. Any traffic. If a subpoena comes in like “hey this IP did a piracy pls tell us who it was” there is no way for us to answer that. Any VPN that doesn’t have that is a scam. Sadly, a lot of them are.

      • Th4tGuyII@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        6 days ago

        Is that for @PotatoesFall@discuss.tchncs.de’s IP?

        Cause if they’re working for a VPN company and recomennding you use a VPN, surely they must be using a VPN themselves

          • Th4tGuyII@fedia.io
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            6 days ago

            That’s part of why I asked, cause I’m sceptical they can see it in the first place, never mind that’s its probably not Potato’s actual IP given how much they’re advocating VPN use