Hello everyone,
I'm considering purchasing a seedbox, but I'm a total noob so I'm reading lots of tutorials to grasp the subject. My main concern is privacy. From what I gathered, a seedbox is a good solution for building up ratio (especially on private trackers) without keeping your computer on 24/7 (bandwith is another point). Everywhere I go seedbox and VPN are presented as alternatives, the latter being your primary option for a safe internet browsing, while a seedbox is an ideal tool for torrenting. Correct me if I'm wrong, please. What I don't understand is why many seedbox companies provide a complimentary VPN service with every package: is it, indeed, a complimentary gift or do I need to use it as well to hide every trace of my activity? Isn't it redundant? Won't it slow me? I mainly download torrents from private trackers. Please, help me fill the gaps, I'm a bit confused.
Thanks!

you're safe as long as youdownload your files from seedbox to local via secure protocols, like sftp, https. if you use ftp or http, then you need vpn.

also, general idea is private trackers are safe without vpn. but again, instead to pay for vpn, it is a better idea to get 5€ seedbox with plenty of space (seedhost 1tb) which also provides vpn.

we can discuss it further if you wish.

First of all, thanks for answering.

you're safe as long as youdownload your files from seedbox to local via secure protocols, like sftp, https.

This part of the process is clear; I was more worried about the first step, when I download the torrent file from a private tracker and I add it to my seedbox. Do I need a VPN running while I do that? Thanks again.

no I dont think so. You are not downloading a very big file. .torrent files are small. your isp wont be bothering with that size.
also, you're downloading it from https and uploading to https, so you're secure. even for the http case, yo are safe, because you are not downloading content itself to you computer by. torrent file.

Thanks, you've been really helpful.

i use the vpn to cover all the tracks or as many as possible anyway, i like to cover the client but also my browsing activity.

Originally Posted by Artillery

Hello everyone,
I'm considering purchasing a seedbox, but I'm a total noob so I'm reading lots of tutorials to grasp the subject. My main concern is privacy. From what I gathered, a seedbox is a good solution for building up ratio (especially on private trackers) without keeping your computer on 24/7 (bandwith is another point). Everywhere I go seedbox and VPN are presented as alternatives, the latter being your primary option for a safe internet browsing, while a seedbox is an ideal tool for torrenting. Correct me if I'm wrong, please. What I don't understand is why many seedbox companies provide a complimentary VPN service with every package: is it, indeed, a complimentary gift or do I need to use it as well to hide every trace of my activity? Isn't it redundant? Won't it slow me? I mainly download torrents from private trackers. Please, help me fill the gaps, I'm a bit confused.
Thanks!

Hello,
Does the security also depend on the means of payment of the seedbox or is there no risk? I'm talking about the fact that the owners of the seedbox service will be able to give our information if requested. (this is also a question).

Originally Posted by Artillery

Hello everyone,
I'm considering purchasing a seedbox, but I'm a total noob so I'm reading lots of tutorials to grasp the subject. My main concern is privacy. From what I gathered, a seedbox is a good solution for building up ratio (especially on private trackers) without keeping your computer on 24/7 (bandwith is another point). Everywhere I go seedbox and VPN are presented as alternatives, the latter being your primary option for a safe internet browsing, while a seedbox is an ideal tool for torrenting. Correct me if I'm wrong, please. What I don't understand is why many seedbox companies provide a complimentary VPN service with every package: is it, indeed, a complimentary gift or do I need to use it as well to hide every trace of my activity? Isn't it redundant? Won't it slow me? I mainly download torrents from private trackers. Please, help me fill the gaps, I'm a bit confused.
Thanks!

Hello, I definitely recommend using a VPN (any kind of it, even a free one will do) with a seedbox as well. The problem is that an ISP snoops not only the traffic but DNS request in first place! Try to change your default ISPs DNS settings in your router and your connection speed will be cut down to a few kbs.. Your seedbox has an IP. And if you make a direct connection to it with SSH, SFTP etc. (No matter now securely the traffic is encrypted) your ISP is able to see that you have connected to an IP associated with a seedbox. Its not rocket science to figure out your intentions. And send an email with a "letter of happiness". (lol). When you connect to a seedbox via VPN your ISP can only see that all traffic goes to a VPN server, hence it can't figure out your true intentions. And your SSH/SFTP tunnel will go pretty well inside a VPN tunnel if you set up a VPN correctly to route all traffic through it (it is about checking a certain box in the network configuration window). Lots of users fire up a VPN connection and think they are safe forgetting to do that simple thing)). Well the bottom line is that you need a VPN anyway. And A VPN+seedbox is a bullet proof solution against copyright strikes.

Originally Posted by AltCoon

Hello, I definitely recommend using a VPN (any kind of it, even a free one will do) with a seedbox as well. The problem is that an ISP snoops not only the traffic but DNS request in first place! Try to change your default ISPs DNS settings in your router and your connection speed will be cut down to a few kbs.. Your seedbox has an IP. And if you make a direct connection to it with SSH, SFTP etc. (No matter now securely the traffic is encrypted) your ISP is able to see that you have connected to an IP associated with a seedbox. Its not rocket science to figure out your intentions. And send an email with a "letter of happiness". (lol). When you connect to a seedbox via VPN your ISP can only see that all traffic goes to a VPN server, hence it can't figure out your true intentions. And your SSH/SFTP tunnel will go pretty well inside a VPN tunnel if you set up a VPN correctly to route all traffic through it (it is about checking a certain box in the network configuration window). Lots of users fire up a VPN connection and think they are safe forgetting to do that simple thing)). Well the bottom line is that you need a VPN anyway. And A VPN+seedbox is a bullet proof solution against copyright strikes.

I think this is paronia level. As you said when you make a connection through ssh, sftp, thay can't see your files. So, even they send a letter of happiness, it's meaningless since they cannot prove what you're trafficking. You can say I'm archiving linux distros or some other legal staff. but again, taking extra measures againist whole isps, governments etc is a good thing for your personal browsing too.

Originally Posted by ranik

I think this is paronia level. As you said when you make a connection through ssh, sftp, thay can't see your files. So, even they send a letter of happiness, it's meaningless since they cannot prove what you're trafficking. You can say I'm archiving linux distros or some other legal staff. but again, taking extra measures againist whole isps, governments etc is a good thing for your personal browsing too.

There's a joke in my country, not sure I can transfer the humourous grain of the phrase in the translation. The saying goes: IF YOU DON'T SUFFER FROM PARANOIA IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT NOBODY IS WATCHING YOU! (Lol).