If you are not taking steps to protect your personal identity when downloading torrents, its just a matter of time before things can go downhill fast. Bittorrent isn’t anonymous, but when using a proxy or VPN, it can be. Let’s go over the two most popular methods for anonymity when downloading torrents: Proxy vs VPN. Both have advantages/disadvantages and we will highlight these quickly:
Torrent Proxy
Using a torrent proxy is hands down the fastest way to download torrents anonymously. The main reason for this is your torrent connection is tunneled “uncapped” through the server of your choice. Since it doesn’t have the high standards of encryption like VPN’s do, users with high speed connections will find that a torrent proxy sucks down data FAST. Setup however can be a little cumbersome if you are not familiar with torrent clients. Torrent software like utorrent, bittorrent, Vuze, and Deluge all feature excellent socks5 proxy support in the settings area and requires the user to edit their download settings (only once) to ensure that all torrent traffic is tunneled through the secure proxy. Another feature is security – no accidental disconnects. Since a proxy is always on, you don’t have to worry about it disconnecting if your power goes out or if the VPN disconnects. For this reason, many people prefer top use a torrent proxy in addition to a VPN simply as an added second layer of security.
Torrent VPN
Probably the most popular option, downloading torrents through a VPN connection gives the user the highest levels of anonymity for two reasons. First, the VPN user’s entire internet connection (including torrents) is tunneled through the anonymous VPN server in the country of their choosing. Second, the entire VPN tunnel is encrypted with military grade encryption to ensure no one can see what your downloading – even if they really wanted to. Another advantage is ease of use since the VPN can be setup in a matter of minutes and activating the tunnel is as easy as clicking “connect”. For beginning torrent users, the VPN is probably the best choice. The only drawback, (and a very small one at that), is a small reduction in speed due to high levels of encryption. This can usually be bypassed by using a high speed server close to you and by connecting via UDP protocol.
In short, bittorrent isn’t the anonymous free for all it once was. If you download content via torrents, its imperative to hide your IP with a torrent proxy and VPN or your ISP might throttle your connection or even worse – pull the plug! TorGuard offers Anonymous Bittorrent services that are optimized for torrents. Signup today and get 30 days risk free to try the service!
