I don’t live in the US, so my ISP doesn’t really seem to care what I torrent, but the megathread vehemently recommends to always use one. Since VPNs aren’t cheap and I’m on a strict budget (wouldn’t pirate otherwise), is it really that dangerous to torrent without one?
VPNs are only really necessary if you use public trackers. Private trackers are generally viewed as small enough and not worth the bother by copyright holders to pursue. Like someone else said earlier, it’s a matter of risk. I tend to view private trackers, especially those seen as “elite” and difficult to enter as being very safe.
Would you mind expanding on public and private trackers, like ones you suggest and ones you avoid? I haven’t torrented since 2009ish and am kind of lost in the landscape at the moment.
Private trackers tend to have better quality control and selection. They also have stricter rules about ratio, seeding, and behavior. An invite is required. Sometimes you can go through an interview process to get an invite. Usually once you get started in a decent private tracker you can get into others through recruitment. I won’t name names, but it’s not hard to find info.