Is torrenting safe in 2018?

Hundreds of millions of people torrent files every day, regardless of the legal implications. If you've been doing so for years, and haven’t ever received a threatening email from your ISP, you may be under the impression that, while illegal, it’s generally overlooked.

Well, that’s partly true. Since so many people torrent, ISPs and law enforcement do not go after most of them. But that does not mean they won’t go after you. It just means that they haven’t done so yet.

At the same time, a threatening letter can be faked, and may come from so-called “copyright trolls” rather than any real authority.

So let’s take a quick look at the facts to see if torrenting is safe in 2018.

Copyright trolls

Copyright trolls are people who take advantage of the fear people who torrent feel upon receiving a threatening letter. They understand that torrenters know they're doing something illegal. When an average torrenter receives that letter, they just want to make it go away.

Copyright trolls use this reality to scam people. Some of them actually have deals with copyright protectors, but others have simply used your IP address to track you down and are trying to get money out of you.

Be careful to make sure that any threatening letters are actually from your ISP or the authorities, and don’t simply make payments in the hope that the problem will go away.

But aside from the trolls, will the authorities go after you?

Not all torrenting crimes are equal

You might have heard horror stories of people going to jail for the simple act of torrenting. And there are many stories coming from the UK of people getting major fines for streaming sporting events illegally or downloading torrents.

But some people are at much higher risk than others.

Firstly, if you're responsible for making the file available in the first place, you're in much greater danger. This is because you are causing the problem and not simply benefiting from it. It’s like the difference between a drug dealer and someone who occasionally uses marijuana.

On a smaller scale, if you allow torrents to seed long after you've finished downloading them, you're more complicit in the crime.

Secondly, you're at much higher risk if you're torrenting the most recent content. A movie that has just come out, for example, or an album that is at the top of the charts. In these cases, copyright protectors are looking to prevent the problem getting out of hand, and are possibly monitoring torrenting sites.

So torrenting is not exactly safe, from a legal perspective, although the risks depend on how actively you take part in the peer-to-peer culture.

Use a VPN

The good news is that you can protect yourself from legal action by using a virtual private network (VPN) which prevents ISPs and others from tracking your IP address. It makes it much more difficult for them to discover who you are.

If you're using the best VPN for torrents, you're likely safe from legal issues. However, that doesn’t mean you should let your guard down. Unless you really know what you're doing, don’t be the first to make new content available. You can download it, and even seed it, but being the major culprit could be a costly mistake.