VPNs

[centaur2469]

I see a notification on Pirate Bay for users to use VPNs whenever downloading torrents to hide our IP addresses. There's an obvious problem with doing so unless you're in a library or coffee shop using someone elses internet. If I'm at home and decide to download something I can hide my PCs IP address all I want but that does not stop it from being recorded as going through my router. This presents a problem with suggesting that we use a VPN when in fact that's useless in preventing some download from linking to me through my router. Most people are unaware of this. What can we do to hide downloads as going through my router which a VPN does not do?

[Moe]

There's an obvious problem

The obvious problem is that you don't understand the hardware and software you are talking about.

Your router doesn't record anything. If it did, and you are using VPN software on your desktop, all it would record is that your desktop has a connection to a VPN server. That is it.

So, yes, using a VPN does hide downloads from your router, which is not really necessary, because your router doesn't care.

Neither does your ISP.

The only reason to use a VPN in the context of downloading is to change the IP address seen in a swarm so your ISP doesn't get those annoying infringement letters.

Also, the notification you see on TPB is an advertisement. It is always there being a nuisance.

[waregim]

If you download warez on on someone *else's* system without a VPN, then they would get the ISP pink slip.

With a VPN the pink slip goes to the VPN server, which is promptly ignored as a proper VPN server has no logs, and cannot forward any info, even under court order.

Everything between the VPN server and the user's machine is encrypted. A good packet sniffer can tell that your connection is with a VPN, but they need to decrypt to find out WHAT is being downloaded.

And at present only the NSA has the capacity to decrypt 128 bit, with 256 bit still off in the future.
And they could care less about warez.
If they're out to get you, they will simply put kiddy porn on your hard drive, before or after a raid.

A very simple method to find out what you have downloaded is software to read your torrent client's cache, and can be done by what appears to be a 'normal' website. Probably best to delete torrent files after completion. Or move them to another drive.

Another method is to place a monitor on the swarms.

One such site is:
https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/en/contacts/