Jun 05, 2015, 22:36 pm
I have been a big proponent of file-sharing for a long time and have despised trade group efforts against it. As I have been busy in my life, I have not done much at all recently compared to the early 2000s. Even in the early 2000s, I was not the heaviest user, but did it a lot more than now. I was more focused on being an advocate for high file-sharing was not stealing and how everyone should have the right to do it and how to help users protect their identities back in those days in online communities when I had more time on my hands (Although occasionally I will download a game or 2 from torrent websites, but that is pretty much it). My opinion has not changed, just have not been involved as much due to a much busier life style and haven't been able to keep up as much recently
Now my question is, as I do get a bit paranoid sometimes, what are the odds of actually being tracked down and sued. Is that extremely low and is the worst case most likely just a letter from ISP warning to stop. IO have never received one, but ever since I downloaded a couple of new games late Sunday to late Monday early this week, the thoughts about all of this have crossed my mind.
I have not used a VPN, but always stop my torrent when finished downloading without seeding due to my fears. I would like to seed and even for a long while, but do not want a letter form ISP or god forbid be named in a John Doe lawsuit which is why I stop it. And I have not done much research on VPNs to choose the right one or which one to trust or if anything can be trusted.
So I guess my question is this. If I only occasionally download a new game or 2 via Torrent and do not seed for long when it is finished, is it necessary to have a VPN. Or are you relatively safe unless you are a heavy seeder and user of lots of things at least when it comes to the aspect of a lawsuit. A letter form ISP is probably something that can be ignored as long as you do not do it anymore and hide your tracks.
Also another thing that I wonder about after recently doing some research. It seems as if it is the music and movie industries in addition to some select adult porn industries who seem to want to target individual torrent users sharing/seeding/downloading their content where as the game and software developers do not seem to target individual users nearly as much at least if based on what you read in the news is to be believed. Why is that? Is it true, or just the software/game industries fabricated?
Now my question is, as I do get a bit paranoid sometimes, what are the odds of actually being tracked down and sued. Is that extremely low and is the worst case most likely just a letter from ISP warning to stop. IO have never received one, but ever since I downloaded a couple of new games late Sunday to late Monday early this week, the thoughts about all of this have crossed my mind.
I have not used a VPN, but always stop my torrent when finished downloading without seeding due to my fears. I would like to seed and even for a long while, but do not want a letter form ISP or god forbid be named in a John Doe lawsuit which is why I stop it. And I have not done much research on VPNs to choose the right one or which one to trust or if anything can be trusted.
So I guess my question is this. If I only occasionally download a new game or 2 via Torrent and do not seed for long when it is finished, is it necessary to have a VPN. Or are you relatively safe unless you are a heavy seeder and user of lots of things at least when it comes to the aspect of a lawsuit. A letter form ISP is probably something that can be ignored as long as you do not do it anymore and hide your tracks.
Also another thing that I wonder about after recently doing some research. It seems as if it is the music and movie industries in addition to some select adult porn industries who seem to want to target individual torrent users sharing/seeding/downloading their content where as the game and software developers do not seem to target individual users nearly as much at least if based on what you read in the news is to be believed. Why is that? Is it true, or just the software/game industries fabricated?
