I haveint forgotten @dessalines@lemmy.ml’s Favorite apps and services, and in particular his recommendation for torrents VPN (AirVPN, Mullvad, NordVPN, ProtonVPN).

I’ve never used a VPN, and so far no issues (not really an avid consumer, but I’ve occasionally done torrenting for ~20 years). I use the pseudo encryption supported, and in particular, I use rtorrent wiht:

protocol.encryption.set = allow_incoming,try_outgoing,enable_retry

For sure that doesn’t really mask it, but obfuscates a bit the torrenting from ISP providers, which are not doing a hard work looking for torrenting.

Regarding privacy, my understanding is one should trust no one, :) And it’s hard for me to understand why it doesn’t apply to VPNs…

At any rate, from those suggestions, as of now, which is the one somehow better at protecting one’s identity, privacy and security? That would be my major concern, and if there’s a way to keep that with port forwarding. Not interested on fastest, but rather safest…

I’m wondering how on earth I’ve never had issues, when I always read not using a VPN is sort of nuts.

  • sexy_peach@feddit.de
    6·
    3 years ago

    Regarding privacy, my understanding is one should trust no one, :) And it’s hard for me to understand why it doesn’t apply to VPNs…

    Just because you don’t trust them doesn’t mean they can’t be of use. Some countries will immediately send an expensive letter if you seed any kind of copyrighted music or movie. VPNs are an effective tool against this, you only have to trust them not to give away your IP to these countries. They deserve that kind of trust, since they didn’t do that in the past.

    • kixikOP
      2·
      3 years ago

      I’ve used VPN to work remotely for more than 20 years, and different sort of VPNs, unfortunately closed sourced privative ones. VPNs give way too much knowledge and control to the VPN provider or service owner, over the user. They do know who the user is, and they can also block whatever they want. VPNs make a lot of sense for remote work, but I’ve always been hesitant about personal VPN use. If I can get away without VPNs, that would be my preference.

      That said, if there’s no other way, then again, what is the recommendation for best privacy and security possible? I’ve read good comments about NordVPN, and also about mullvad, and if I recall correctly, in some past post @dessalines@lemmy.ml suggested he was using mullvad. Perhaps a plus would be if their servers are all placed out of the 14 or more eyes. But searching on the internet, I guess it’s hard to tell, there’s always hot debate on them. Perhaps knowing I’m all for more privacy/security helps providing advice to me. VPN, as mentioned, is not something I’m happy to use. Also, I’d prefer, and even if it sounds like a contradiction, to use and pay for a VPN from a non profit organization, privacy oriented, perhaps that helps a little bit on the trust issue…

      Actually, it seems privacyguides suggest mullvad, although not directly said… Now, payment is another privacy issue, and cash (I don’t posses any cryptos, and if I were to, that’d be monero, which is not supported unfortunately), and trusting the post service with actual money is sort of a bad idea…

      If only there was a way to set all connections encrypted, and encapsulating the torrenting…

    • kixikOP
      1·
      3 years ago

      I don’t enjoy a static IP, the IP I get assigned is dynamic. Not sure if that helps. BTW, I went there, and what shows there, is nothing anyone using my internet service has watched. Actually nothing I’ve downloaded shows up there, :) Still, I’m not confident, that’s why I’m asking in the st place, :) But if that shows what I’ve downloaded, there’s nothing in there i have, and at contrary, none of what I’ve downloaded is there, :)

  • sexy_peach@feddit.de
    1·
    3 years ago

    At any rate, from those suggestions, as of now, which is the one somehow better at protecting one’s identity, privacy and security? That would be my major concern, and if there’s a way to keep that with port forwarding. Not interested on fastest, but rather safest…

    It’s a bit overkill but you could use i2p torrents? They’re only within i2p (so no torrents found on thepiratebay etc) but they’re sent through the same onion routing as all other i2p traffic and it would be very hard for anyone to figure out who you are. https://thetinhat.com/tutorials/darknets/torrent-anonymously-i2p-vpn-free.html

    Or just install i2p and torrent through the web client with i2psnark.

    • kixikOP
      2·
      3 years ago

      I do use common trackers. If somehow I can keep using them, just slower because of using a more secure layer, then that wouldn’t be an issue, but what I understand is that I wouldn’t be able to use any tracker, right, just some special ones supporting i2p?

      On the other hand, I read I would need a specialized i2p torrent client as well, right? I don’t want to get away from rtorrent, to me it’s the best, I run it on a detached screen (gnu screen), and I have set it up to automate some things as well, and having to just ssh to the host and attach, on such ssh console, to its screen process is just priceless, no need of guis, web, etc…

      So, if I can just set the host to use i2p somehow, and tunnel or route torrents traffic though it, still using any client (in my case rtorrent), and still using any trackers, then let me know how to, :) So far, it seems that’s not possible.

      Also, if there’s a way to enforce encryption, like the pseudo encryption I mentioned, but better, like using specialized universal/proxy trackers that allow finding seeders supporting pseudo encrypted connections to happen at the very start, that would be helpful as well.

      Not discarding i2p at once, perhaps I misunderstood things…

      • sexy_peach@feddit.de
        1·
        3 years ago

        I do use common trackers. If somehow I can keep using them, just slower because of using a more secure layer, then that wouldn’t be an issue, but what I understand is that I wouldn’t be able to use any tracker, right, just some special ones supporting i2p?

        Exactly. You might get lucky and catch a few common torrents, because some seeders might use torrent software that also seeds to i2p.

        On the other hand, I read I would need a specialized i2p torrent client as well, right?

        Yes. You would either have to install i2p, which comes with its own client or install a special torrent client.

        Not discarding i2p at once, perhaps I misunderstood things…

        No worries, it’s not suitable for your use case I think.

    • kixikOP
      1·
      3 years ago

      Thx, will do more in depth later. Already gave a 1st glance. It’s clear that guy really pushes for a VPN, and better yet, according to him/her, with port forwarding.