The other alternative is to simply be smarter about which torrents you get and from what sites. If you grab the biggest torrent from a popular site you're going to be more likely to have problems.

Is there actually any risk though? Ignoring the doubts about the owner of the content knowing exactly who you are, what is the actual risk of being fined/sued for $5k? I'll pay for something I need, but so far this just sounds like a bunch of fearmongering to stir up VPN business.

to the guys that got the notice...how soon after you downloaded something did they send the email/notice?

i'm curious about this...lol. I told myself i'd sign up for vpn the day i get one of these notices but i haven't been dling shit lately so i can't justify the costs. That might change when the summer blockbusters come out later on in the year :lawl:

Reminder: Sign up here!

Can someone please clarify whether the offence is uploading or downloading or both. I'm wondering if the terminology is being confused.

If someone is dl'ing from a direct host (not torrent) is there actually any violation?

I just chekced. Got the notification from my GoT download 1 day after I dl'd it.

Never received another one. This was the leak of episode 1 season 5 so maybe they were sour it got leaked and were going after people for it.

When you are torrenting, you are downloading and uploading concurrently. It's the uploading (aka. hosting) of the content that troubles copyright holders.

The copyright holder will be going after the host, not the downloader, in this case.

EDIT: Before someone chimes in and say that I can just avoid uploading while torrenting to evade from being sued. In practice, that's not possible. There will always be data leakage (uploaded data) while torrenting.

That's what I thought. Thank you very much for this reply.

For those who are savvy.. use a separate (older) computer with VPN always on to do the sharing. If you bind your client to the adapter name eg tun3. The OS will start the VPN when program needs it (much like the old dial up modem do in the past). Most OS still allow you to access the files via LAN. (or just use your neighbors wifi with a spoofed MAC address). You will be surprised how many people thinks they don't need keys with hidden ESSID. Get a few of those and use multicast you can get better bandwidth, especially when some neighbors uses Shaw, Telus and or Novus.

Remember civil trial ie the copyright notices, they don't need to same burden of proof as criminal court.. and the companies often mine other sites for info. You said you watched movie XYGSDF on the Entertainment Forum or Facebook? that's an additional data point.

to be honest, the risk is pretty much NIL. but its the peace of mind that you are after. yes, it isn't likely that you will be fined $5k at all. but for $4/mo, you would need 1250 months of subscription to run a $5k bill. thats over 100 years. which will literally protect you for life of any risk of getting sued for $5k.

if you want to get technical and factor in inflation, its still pretty much your life time. but it takes only one successful sue and you are slammed with $5k bill just cause someone wants to cheap out $4/mo and possible jailtime too if i am not mistaken.