Category Archives: VPN

Should You Use a VPN When Downloading Torrents?

Have you ever wondered if someone is watching when you download a torrent?

The answer is categorically yes, even if you haven’t noticed any evidence of it. The snooping is indeed as undercover as it comes.

What you likely have noticed is irritating popup ads for VPNs on torrent sites. Then there are the flashing warnings that your IP address is exposed.

Sure, it’s an attempt to put the fear of god into you so you sign up with a VPN provider.

Nonetheless, is there some validity to covering your behind with a VPN when downloading torrents? Let’s explore that.

BitTorrent: Not Always Unethical

Before proceeding it should be said that LetMeBy.com doesn’t condone piracy. Moreover, it’s assumed the motives of the reader are pure.

Despite its reputation, BitTorrent distributes free content belonging to the public domain. Plus, it’s a protocol much like e-mail or www. So, don’t believe those who broadly label it as “bad.”

And then there are those many gray areas. Perhaps you want to download a video game ROM when you already own a physical copy. Or maybe you’d rather download MP3 files rather than ripping the music CD yourself.

Regardless, you have the ability and right to protect your privacy.

How BitTorrent Works

Downloading torrents isn’t as anonymous as it might seem. To understand why, we need to take a look at the basic mechanics of it.

The BitTorrent protocol is a peer-to-peer method of file sharing. It’s decentralized so there is no single point of failure.

So, when you start downloading a torrent you become an active participant in that system. Right from the top you help to serve the file. Thus, others can get the data you have so far. Then when the download is complete the file starts to seed, making you both an uploader and host of the content.

Who Can See Your IP Address?

During the process described above your IP address is accessible to others connected to the same torrent. So, it’s indeed plausible that an entity could monitor and record the IPs that connected to a torrent. Also, with apps like uTorrent you can view the IP of users quite casually by clicking on the Peers tab.

Savvy companies with big budgets use automated software to spy on users downloading their digital products without paying.

Another potential risk to your privacy is your internet service provider. This is the entity that can find out exactly who you are based on your IP. Although these companies rely on their users to maintain their business, they’ve clearly sided with other big business when it comes to copyright violations.

An online survey of 1,000 conducted by PCMag found that 25 percent of respondents named ISPs as the biggest threat to their online privacy.¹

Those in the Crosshairs

Copyright holders are most concerned about stopping the original uploader of a torrent, followed by subsequent uploaders. Furthermore, since all downloaders are also uploaders by design, there is no way to shirk responsibly for proliferating copyrighted material.

The film and TV industries in particular have been vigilant about preventing unofficial distribution of their video.

Torrents and the Movie Industry

Napster first pulled the genie out of the bottle in the music industry. And it hasn’t been the same since.

The film industry was similarly slow to adapt to technological change. Initially, increased demand for digital downloads and streaming were often met by unofficial channels.

But in this case, studios have done better in terms of enforcing copyright. Along the way film studios managed to utilize incredible technology to defend their turf.

Trackers are now embedded into popular movies which automatically find users who download their material unlawfully. Copyright infringement notices are sent via e-email thanks to cooperation with the user’s ISP.

Thus, downloading movies from torrent sites carries greater risks than many imagine.

Recently 3,400 Canadians faced the legal consequences of illegally downloading movies in Federal Court. The crackdown was launched by a Toronto law firm on behalf of U.S. movie production houses hoping to enforce their copyright claims.

Defendants have paid anywhere from $100 to $5000 to settle these claims.²

How VPNs Protect Users

When you use a VPN (virtual private network), your traffic is encrypted and secured to ensure that no one can spy on your activity—even when you’re torrenting.

Your actual IP address is replaced with an IP provided by the service. This provides anonymity since the IP in use is not associated with any one person.

Recommended VPNs

As there has been a surge in demand for VPNs, there is no shortage of services to choose from. Luckily even the best VPNs are affordable, so there is no reason to go for anything less than top-notch.

Read full reviews of the best VPN providers here. Or if you’re short on time, click on one of the links below. These are currently among the top choices out there:

Wrapping it Up

Don’t kid yourself. ISPs and corporations with copyrights to protect have a very dim view of torrent use. Downloaders are treated with the same suspicion whether their activity is legitimate or not.

This is yet another reason to consider employing a VPN for all your internet use. You may have fared well so far, but there is no telling who is watching your activity waiting for an opportune time to take action.

Sources:

Substratum to Disrupt VPNs or Is the Dream Over?

It’s among the loftiest ideas in blockchain.

Substratum is building the foundation for a new decentralized internet. This is to be an open internet that cannot be censored by restrictive governments.

So, for those using a VPN or Tor to achieve anonymity online and to view blocked content, Substratum brings new hope for the future. Or If you’re a realist, it’s a new alternative to get around the frustrating deficiencies inherent to the web.

Of course, it takes more than great tech to make such a profound change in the internet. And while Substratum has talented people with the software chops, it’s their business ethics that may sink the ship. More on that later.

First let’s get a feel how Substratum works. After all, this project is backed by some game changing vision.

A Decentralized Web Hosting Solution

The established way to deliver web content across the globe is via a hosting service. Small businesses, corporations, and content creators alike rent rack-mounted servers stored in huge facilities, or in the case of many tech companies, operate their own facility.

It’s an effective system run by professionals. However, it’s centralized. This means a website can be blocked by targeting the IP address associated with the site. This is how ISPs, institutions and governments can potentially censor content.

Decentralized hosting has no single point of failure. Thus, specific sites cannot be blocked by simply targeting an IP. So, if one machine contributing to hosting the Substratum network (aka a node) goes down, the role is simply filled by another node. This is an internet hosted “by the people” with their home computers.

How the System Works

To keep their site on the Substratum network, an individual or business pays with Substrate (SUB) tokens. This is obtained by trading another cryptocurrency for SUB, or by exchanging one’s native currency for it.

Users are incentivized to run nodes. SUB tokens are earned relative to computing power and duration that computing power is used to support the network.

A Threat to VPN Services?

Using a VPN service is currently the best way to hide your identity online in terms of speed, effectiveness and user experience.

But free is tough to beat. And the Substratum economy directs all costs to site owners, not users of the network.

So, users seeking to attain greater privacy may gravitate towards the decentralized web over time. And this could put VPN providers in tough spot if Substratum is fast. VPN services are so affordable that many won’t bother to change their habits. However, if SUB succeeds it will take a bite out of their customer base.

Web Hosting Disruption

Substratum creates an interesting opportunity for techies that operate independently from a corporation. Anyone with computing power and an internet connection can contribute to the decentralized network. With the release of Substratum Node v0.5 software, everyone running it will be paid in SUB tokens.

However, it remains to be seen if this system will be profitable enough for hosting companies to participate in any capacity. It’s probable that home users will be undercutting professional web hosts, as new participants in the space will push the value of hosting down.

Thus, if SUB takes off, site owners will now need to think about hosting for both the centralized and decentralized web. Big players using cloud hosting services like AWS or Rackspace may be able to scale back on that and invest some hosting muscle into the decentralized web.

Uncertain Times for Blockchain and Substratum

The cryptocurrency bear market that occurred after the sharp highs of late 2017 to early 2018 took its toll on the psyche of many past zealots. A rain cloud formed over the collective sentiment of blockchain investors. Lower valuations of coins and tokens associated with blockchain projects led to greater scrutiny of the teams involved, and the projects as a whole.

In short, the notion that this would be the team to bring us the decentralized internet was more believable during the boom period. Many were riding high on euphoria when Bitcoin and Ethereum prices went parabolic.

Redditors expressed their disillusionment as the Substratum project couldn’t live up to the stratospheric hype. Substratum leadership has been criticized for promising their community the moon then failing to deliver.

Deceptive Marketing (aka Shilling) on YouTube

Ethereum holders particularly, emboldened by their seemingly perfect investment, were drawn to ICOs and new blockchain projects in late 2017. Substratum took advantage of this by ramping up their marketing activity. Allegedly getting various crypto YouTubers to shill SUB tokens was an especially questionable move. The shadiness was amplified when these YouTubers later became inactive or deleted their videos.

Substratum Delisted on Exchanges

Substratum was delisted on Kucoin in January 2019, and a month later it was also delisted from the world’s most popular exchange, Binance. This was nearly the death blow to SUB trading as almost 97 percent of the trading volume was on Binance.

Members of the Substratum team were accused of engaging in pump and dump schemes with their own coin. This activity would be illegal if it was a public company manipulating their stock price. But since we’re still in the wild west stage in crypto, the most that can be done is to delist tokens associated with unscrupulous projects.

It’s Not Over Yet

Although the hype and enthusiasm surrounding the project has dwindled, Substratum is still an active project with talented team members. And unlike many projects that appeared during the ICO boom, they have a working product.

The issue is, shady trading activities and overpromising have diminished their credibility. It will be a challenge to regain the public’s trust, especially due to the severity of the bear market that multiplied the negative effects. There’s still plenty of time for the tide to turn as the crypto market recovers. However, burned investors don’t easily forget and this turn of events has created many bitter critics.

While many failed projects pulled an exit scam and completely pulled the rug from underneath ICO investors, Substratum did not. So, this is a signal that Substratum is in this for the long haul despite errors in judgement by management.

Substratum tokens were a horrible investment for the many that jumped in during all-time-highs. Nevertheless, if the team manages to deliver a decentralized internet in the future, perhaps this sacrifice was in some ways worth it.

How to Hide Your IP on Nintendo Switch (with a VPN)

Switch is packed with great online features.

Challenge a buddy at Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with online play. Then use the Smartphone app to send him a playful message after running him off the road.

You can also download classic NES titles, or take advantage of cloud storage to protect your save data.

Not bad for $35 USD a year and light-years ahead of the online features included with Nintendo’s previous consoles: Wii and Wii U.

Top Two Ways to Hide your Identity

Sony’s PS4 and Xbox One allow users to hide their IP by adding a VPN in the console’s OS. Nintendo has no built-in features like this.

Luckily there are other methods to cloak your identity when connecting to Nintendo Switch Online. Simply use the VPN features built into your router or a Windows 10 machine.

First, Choose a VPN Service

A VPN (virtual private network) is needed to connect to the Internet anonymously with Nintendo Switch.

This means you’ll need to sign up to a VPN service to complement your Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Luckily VPNs that are both inexpensive and fast are easy to come by these days.

The top VPNs are reviewed here. Don’t pull the trigger until you compare them all to choose the best one for your needs.

Enabling a Switch VPN with Windows 10

Many will find they’re more comfortable with turning on the VPN for Switch via a PC rather than risking configuration woes by doing it with a router.

Note that your Windows box needs to be able to connect to the Internet wirelessly for this approach to work.

Right click on the Start button. A contextual menu will appear. Select ‘Network Connections’ from this menu.
On the left of the new window you’ll notice list of options below ‘Network & Internet.’ Click on VPN.
Make sure you have signed up with a VPN service and have the login credentials needed to connect to it.
Click on the option to ‘Add a VPN connection’ with a large plus sign next to it.
Complete the form with the info provided to you by your VPN service provider. Click the ‘Save’ button.
If your PC has wireless capability you’ll see a ‘Mobile Hotspot’ option at the left of the window. Change the login info and turn it on. If you’re experiencing any issues, try restarting your machine then opening and closing it until it functions correctly.
Click on ‘Ethernet’ then click ‘Change adapter options’ listed under ‘Related settings.
Right click on the VPN connection you created earlier, then click on ‘Properties.’
Click on the ‘Sharing’ tab. Check the box that states “Allow Other Network Users to Connect…” In the dropdown box for network connections select the desired Wi-Fi hotspot (It might be Local Area Connection* #).

Congrats! You’re ready to use your Nintendo Switch online with your IP address hidden.

Users have also successfully connected their Switch to a VPN via a PC with a wired connection, as well as an Android phone. The instructions are cloudy but you can read more in the replies to this post on Reddit.

Enabling a Switch VPN with your Router

Turning on a VPN service with your router is also a great option, especially if you’re a technically adept user.

The precise steps in configuring the router’s software vary depending on the manufacturer. In essence you need to find the correct place to enter your VPN address, username and password so your hardware can route the Internet connection through the VPN.

Every good VPN provider has a knowledge base on their website that steps you through the process of configuring a wide variety of routers to use their service. It’s recommended that you check this first for the most up-to-date instructions.

Here are links to the support pages associated with some of the best VPN services:

Majora’s Mask

Although Nintendo doesn’t officially provide an interface to utilize a VPN, it’s fairly easy to set up anyhow. It’s basically the same process as hiding the IP on a PC.

This guide should provide everything you need to anonymously dominate at Splatoon 2, ARMS, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and other multiplayer titles.

Protect Browsing History After Congress Internet Privacy Bill: Time to VPN?

The US House of Representatives have passed privacy rules that give your ISP the right to access and even sell the data generated when you use the internet.

This has created a shockwave among Web users, with searches about VPN services that allow you to hide your IP and protect online privacy spiking up as a result.

In the past it was sufficient for ISPs and corporations to know just the basics about you: name, address, phone number, possibly your age. Now they want to peer inside your head and get to know what makes to tick. By studying your opinions, interests, and shopping habits they’ll know exactly what products and services to entice you with, just when you want it most.

And that’s a frightening breach of trust for most of us.

For most the internet is a sanctuary of anonymous inquiry, where we can ask Google questions we wouldn’t dare ask even to our closest friends.

It’s disturbing to imagine world in which our every embarrassing concern, politically incorrect query, and questionable download is being monitored by a tireless sales bot, looking its next hit on our credit card balance.

Unfortunately, it’s likely a minority that will take the steps to protect themselves. Anyone too preoccupied, uniformed or too cheap will be separated from an asset of great value to marketers. Keep in mind this isn’t just an invasion of your privacy, it’s a way of taking more from the consumer without directly raising the cost of internet access.

VPN to the Rescue

To understand how a VPN (virtual private network) can protect your online privacy, we need to examine how it works. A VPN connects users together through a private network so these individuals can access a public network (usually the internet) through it. By making this “virtual” connection routed through the internet from the VPN provider’s private network, the data is encrypted. Any parties intercepting this data won’t be able to read it.

Another advantage is a VPN will hide your IP address: the code used to identify your personal machine and where you are in the world. An ISP of course has all your contact information associated with your computer’s IP. Rather than seeing your true IP the ISP will see the IP of the VPN server so they won’t be able to associate that with your identity.

Recommended services:

Is Your Search Engine Trustworthy?

The ever-improving search technologies offered by Google, Bing and others are nothing short of amazing. However with these new policy changes in effect now is a good time to ask yourself if you trust the company behind your favorite search engine.

If not, you may want to use a search engine that doesn’t track user data like DuckDuckGo or Yippy for your incognito searches.

HTTPS: A Partial Solution

Sites that use HTTPS have a security certificate that encrypts the user’s data directly on their server. Web-based companies that value the privacy of their users have made strides to protect it from malicious entities and now to an extent from ISPs.

When you visit a HTTPS enabled site like Twitter for example, your ISP will be able to see you accessed that site, plus the time and duration of the visit. However, the exact pages you accessed while on Twitter will be hidden to the ISP.

That’s not bad but the issue here is that many sites don’t utilize HTTPS, especially small, independently run sites with limited resources.

Although imperfect, you may opt to use a browser plugin like HTTPS Everywhere to beef up security on such sites with no security certificate.

Hit ISPs Back

Some may see the value in voicing their privacy concerns with their ISP directly. Tell them your concerns about privacy issues. Ask about their policies about selling customer data. Then inquire if you can opt out of it.

If the backlash is great enough there will be market pressure for ISPs to rethink how they handle privacy. Congress may have given them the right to sell your data, but that doesn’t mean they can’t opt out too. Better privacy practices may become a selling feature for ISPs that decide to differentiate themselves from other ISPs unwilling to put their customers needs first.

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Photo: Blogtrepreneur

How to Hide Your IP Address in Vuze

The BitTorrent application once known as Azureus continues to be a popular choice as many are attracted by its slick interface and wealth of features.

Follow the directions below to hide your real IP from other BitTorrent users as well as companies that use advanced tracking software to spy on users who download certain torrents.

Step 1

From the top menu go to Tools > Options

Step 2

Make sure “Mode” is selected at the left pane inside the Options window.

Under “User Proficiency” click on the radio button marked “Advanced.” This will give you access to proxy options not available when the lower levels of user proficiency are enabled.

Step 3

Click on the small arrow next to “Connection” in the left pane. This item will expand to reveal subsections. Click on “Proxy” (listed under “Connection”).

In the main part of the window under the label “Tracker Communications” click on the checkbox next to “Enable proxying of tracker communications (restart required).”

Further below under “Peer Communications” click on the checkbox next to “Enable proxying of peer communications (outgoing connections only) (restart required).”

Don’t restart yet; do that later after you’ve entered the required values in the Proxy window.

Step 4

To continue with this step you’ll need to determine which proxy host you’d like to use.

For testing purposes I used a SOCKS v5 host I found on socks-proxy.net, and while this is adequate for very small files the speeds are much slower than paid services.

If you plan on hiding your IP in Vuze on a regular basis and are interested in larger files like most people (movies, music, software), you’ll need to sign up with a VPN service.

Recommended services:

Enter the information provided by a site that lists proxy host IPs (and ports). As a sample to give you a good idea of what you need to enter, I’ve entered the required fields using a publicly available host from Russia in the screenshot.

Most users will want to want to “use the same proxy settings for tracker and peer communications proxy”, so make sure this is checked under “Peer Communications.”

After you’d entered the required info remember to click on the “Save” button in the lower left of the window.

Step 5

Now you can safely restart the software.

Go to File > Restart Vuze (just above Exit).

All Done

That’s it! You’re now ready to start downloading. Load in a torrent and see what kind of speeds you’re able to get.