Post #3990538

2026-07-21 14:57 UTC

@sarahjamielewis@mastodon.social I mostly hear about people using VPNs to do bittorrent, I guess the idea being that the VPN provider is headquartered in another country and that the local authorities won't be motivated (or wouldn't be able to?) approach them to find out who is torrenting copyrighted material I don't know if that's "privacy" exactly but it doesn't feel totally unrelated to privacy. maybe I don't know what privacy is!

Replies (3)

@paul_ipv6@infosec.exchange 2026-07-21 16:41

@b0rk@social.jvns.ca @sarahjamielewis@mastodon.social privacy is both about what information you want to secure and who you see as a threat to disclosure of that information. if hiding details of your online activity from a particular government is that pair, a non-local VPN can be part of that.

Open ##3990536
@beaiouns@is.nota.live 2026-07-21 15:01

@b0rk@social.jvns.ca @sarahjamielewis@mastodon.social yeah, i just wanna download my shows and not get emails from my ISP about it

Open ##4038745
@dzwiedziu@mastodon.social 2026-07-21 15:08

@b0rk@social.jvns.ca AFAIU, the VPN provider might not be motivated to report low-level copyright infringement, as long as it isn't inconvenient. But when given a formal inquiry/subpoena from a LEO they will sell you out ASAP, as your few bucks aren't worth the trouble. The same for “no-log” VPNs, as was proven a while ago. @sarahjamielewis@mastodon.social

Open ##4038746