Torrenting brings a world of possibilities for people by providing unlimited access to entertainment, knowledge, and software required to succeed in your field.
However, not everyone, particularly ISPs, views torrenting favorably. Therefore, you must understand how to hide torrenting from your ISP to gain peace of mind.
If you aren’t already aware, BitTorrent is a popular online file-sharing technology for legal and illicit purposes.
Whether you are torrenting legally or illegally, you should figure out how to torrent without your ISP knowing.
Why should you keep your torrent traffic from your ISP?
- If you reside in a country where torrenting is banned or a sensitive legal matter, you might face harsh consequences, such as large fines or jail time.
- If your ISP notices that you are downloading torrents with a large amount of data, it may throttle your bandwidth.
- If your ISP’s Terms of Service are violated by torrenting, they can terminate your service if they catch you downloading torrents – even if you’re only a “first-time offender.”
- Leechers and seeders can see your IP address when you download torrents, revealing your location and ISP. This might be used to launch phishing attacks.
- Copyright trolls may collect your IP address from torrent clients and send the personal information revealed to lawyers and copyright agencies.
- Hide your torrent traffic to gain access to torrent trackers that have been blocked
- Fake torrents are used to catch people who try to download free music or videos, infringing on copyright laws.
How to hide torrenting from your ISP:
Make use of a VPN
A VPN is a service that hides your IP address while also encrypting your Internet activity.
It provides you with everything you need to hide torrenting from your ISP.
- When you log in to a VPN server, your IP address is replaced with the servers. As a result, no one will be able to see your true address in the torrent client.
- A VPN connects your computer to the VPN server through a secure “tunnel.” Because of the VPN’s encryption, all traffic that passes over it is fully indecipherable to your ISP.
Switch to a proxy server
Another great approach to keep your torrenting activity hidden from ISPs is to use a proxy.
Providers such as Oxylabs use a separate server to redirect all of your torrent traffic. Consequently, anyone connected to your BitTorrent swarm cannot identify you since your IP address is concealed. If your ISP becomes aware of a torrent containing illegal content and you download it, they will be unable to identify you since the IP address they see belongs to BTGuard.
Unlike a VPN’s logging policy, Oxylabs and the providers listed below do not store records of internet activity, so you can rest assured that your torrenting activity will never be traced back to you.
Check out some of the best proxies that are presently available:
Consider using a seedbox
Another great option for downloading torrents anonymously is to use a Seedbox.
It also benefits by consuming zero bandwidth and delivering excellent speeds regardless of how far you are from the download source.
A Seedbox follows the same protocol as the BitTorrent network to upload and download torrents. It is often hosted on a Virtual Private Server. However, it has been known to run from physical servers.
Content is downloaded to your device using HTTPS encryption to guarantee that your traffic is protected from your ISP. Because your IP address is hidden, your ISP will only be able to identify your usage of Seedbox, not torrent sites.
Seedboxes, like VPNs, are reasonably affordable. However, pricing can vary based on the storage space you want and the server speeds you demand.
Presently, the best Seedbox providers are:
Anomos application
Anomos’ main functionality is comparable to that of Utorrent. It’s a torrent client that lets you download torrents to your preferred device. In addition, it offers end-to-end encryption based on the BitTorrent trackers and peers’ concept.
Anomos provides anonymization using Onion routing, strengthening the present encryption layer.
The drawback for many people is that the client depends on some Python to work, albeit it’s rather simple once you get started. On the other hand, the client is free and open-source.
Use tor (the onion router)
Another option for anonymizing torrents is to use the Tor Project or The Onion Router. However, it has a few limitations, making it a solution many people would shun.
Sure, it masks your IP address from your ISP to keep your traffic hidden, but it comes at the expense of crippling speeds and unreliable connections.
Around 7000 servers relay your traffic, serving millions of users. When millions of people attempt to torrent simultaneously, an overload occurs, resulting in unreliable connections.
The Tor browser is the only method to ensure Tor encryption works, and because volunteers run shifts, the service is unlikely to be available round the clock.
What are the best VPNs for torrenting?
VPN usage is growing in the online world, so many different types of VPNs are on the market. As a result, several high-quality VPNs are on the market, each excelling in different fields owing to unique features.
The following are the best VPNs in the market:
Conclusion
Whether you’re downloading anything legal or illegal over the BitTorrent network, there’s a strong possibility that your ISP will find out if you don’t protect your online privacy with some of the strategies discussed above.
There may be alternative options. However, a VPN is the most recommended strategy for keeping your torrent activity secret from your ISP.
