The internet is home to a huge number of illegal torrent sites. This doesn’t mean they’re all bad, though. However, if you download content from a torrent site, you leave yourself open to being tracked by copyright holders. After reading this article, you should have a good understanding of how easy – or difficult –staying anonymous is when downloading files via peer-to-peer connections.
Is it Really Possible to Be Anonymous When Torrenting?
There are actually two ways to download a torrent file. You can download a complete copy of the file or just a small portion of the file. When you choose to download a complete copy, you’re given the IP addresses of all the computers sharing that file.
This means that the people behind those computers can see your IP address and know you’re downloading their torrent. They can then trace this IP address back to you. An IP address is a unique set of numbers that identifies every computer on the internet. It’s like a home address that computers can use to find one another.
Because everyone’s computers are visible when they share files via torrenting, it’s easy to see who is downloading specific torrents. This means that if you’re downloading content illegally, you’re putting yourself at risk of getting caught and fined.
How Can You Stay Anonymous When Downloading Torrents?
If you want to stay anonymous when downloading torrents, you need to use a proxy. A proxy website acts as a middleman between you and the content you want to download. This means that any third parties will be able to see the proxy’s IP address and not yours.
A proxy website is going to be specifically designed for downloading torrents. It will have a built-in torrent client that you can use to download files from the internet. These proxy websites will have a system in place that allows you to choose an IP address from a list.
You can then select an IP from a different country from your own. This system will allow you to change your IP address every few minutes or even seconds. Theoretically, this means that it’s impossible for anyone to track you and see your real IP address.
Does Using a VPN Make You Anonymous When Torrenting?
A VPN is a good way for staying anonymous while torrenting, but it’s not foolproof. If you connect to a VPN and then start downloading torrents, you could end up sharing your IP address with other users on that server. When you torrent via a VPN, you’re connecting to a remote server. This means that you’ll be sharing that server with other users.