Using a VPN while torrenting is one of the simplest ways to conceal your IP address, and ensure your privacy. However, only a limited number of VPN Services allow you to use BitTorrent. If want to torrent files without being monitored, it is essential that the VPN you use does not track your online connections. The VPNs listed below welcome torrenting and do not log your online activities, thereby preserving your privacy. See my other tips for maintaining your privacy while torrenting.
Update: We now recommend VPN.AC as a European-based provider (Romania). The have P2P optimized servers in Netherlands, Sweden, France, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Romania.
Private Internet Access
http://www.greycoder.com/goto/pia2 lives up to its name — they do not retain user logs of any kind. This service is highly regarded by privacy advocates. The company operates out of the United States with gigabit gateways in the U.S., Canada, UK, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
I’ve been testing their VPN service for about 9 months, and so far the service has been fast and reliable. I use it continuously now, and I haven’t noticed a lag when browsing the web, or downloading files.
Their VPN client has handy features like DNS leakage blocking and an “internet kill switch” (a feature that shuts off your internet connection if your VPN connection goes down). The client runs OpenVPN, which out recommended VPN protocol.
In regards to logging user activity, the company says:
We absolutely do not maintain any VPN logs of any kind. We utilize shared IP addresses rather than dynamic or static IPs, so it is not possible to match a user to an external IP. These are some of the many solutions we have implemented to enable the strongest levels of anonymity amongst VPN services. Further, we would like to encourage our users to use an anonymous e-mail and pay with Bitcoins to ensure even higher levels of anonymity should it be required. We will not share any information with third parties without a valid court order. With that said, it is impossible to match a user to any activity on our system since we utilize shared IPs and maintain absolutely no logs.
The service costs $6.95 per month. For payment they accept credit cards, Paypal, Bitcoin, and Liberty Reserve. For extra anonymity, consider paying with Bitcoin while on the Tor network.
Link: Private Internet Access
I had the same experience as Anon when it comes to BTGuard. Wouldn’t recommend them to anyone. Same thing with HideMyAss. They used to be good but it’s like the popularity went to their head or something and now they’re bad. Well I guess they aren’t bad but they aren’t as good as they used to be and their support is a lot worse than it used to be.
IP given by Privateinternetacces isnt the same as the one found when i use any ip website.
https://imgur.com/GET1gDO
I have sent them a support request but im not happy with this issue.
That’s a normal issue when using a VPN. Companies use different IP location look-up tables — and these tables give different location around the world.
STAY AWAY FROM BTGUARD!!!!!
My speed is under 20% what I get
with my ISP which is 65mbs.
I contacted them FOUR TIMES for
support, but they have NEVER
RESPONDED. Instead, they closed
the tickets and marked them as “resolved”.
Then I contacted them again to CANCEL
within 48 hours and I still have not heard
from them. They marked that as resolved
too, but I reopened it.
I have a complaint filed with paypal
against these bastards……
You’ve been warned.
STAY AWAY FROM BTGUARD!
What do you think of Cloudnymous for P2P?
Cloudnymous looks to be a reasonable VPN service. In regards to P2P they say:
However, they do log your connections start and end times and the traffic amount, which means they may respond to DMCA requests.
Are DMCA requests valid outside US?
I’m asking because it seems they don’t offer P2P on US servers exactly because of this reason.
I know DCMA is much harder to enforce when the material in question was downloaded from a server outside the US, I’m not sure of the exact laws.