Download Torrent File Using Vpnbook

Posted by2 years ago

While torrenting is most commonly associated with piracy, the truth is that torrenting itself is not illegal – it's illegal only if you download copyrighted content.

Archived

As I mentioned in a previous post, today I will be explaining how to torrent in a safe manner.

DISCLAIMER: The information here is based upon my knowledge, researching and other users that clearly have more experience than I do. If you see anything outdated/that can be improved, do not hesitate to let me know and I will edit the post.

Without any delay...here is my guide.

I. VPNs.

A) Love them or hate them, you need them. Why?

Because ISPs along with copyright companies seem to have an endless amount of time to chase users that torrent their precious revenue. 123

Not to mention, they are violating YOUR privacy as well to ensure you are not doing any sort of pirating.

B) Choosing a VPN

'I-I don't want to go to jail for torrenting XXX Big Boobed Latinas 34, Charasma!'

Porn choices aside, neither do I. However, you cannot go all willy-nilly to the first VPN you see and toss yourself into its arms and trust it blindly. Reviews are rather flawed (and bia$ed most of the time) as well, so I redirect you to a list you all have probably seen a thousand times: That One Privacy Site's VPN Comparison Chart.

Oh and mandatory link to That One Privacy Guy's Guide to Choosing Your Ideal VPN.

Seriously, this is the best VPN comparison chart/VPN Picking Guide you'll find that isn't horseshit promotional propaganda. I don't particularly suggest TorrentFreak's VPN list, since the website is sponsored by some of the VPNs in it, but I'll list it so you have access to it as well. Not to mention, the questions it has are good for selecting your VPN. I have observed that a lot of people recommend PIA, however. Might want to take a look at it.

C) What is the IDEAL VPN for a torrent fan, you say? I can narrow it down to a few crucial aspects.

No logs. If there are no logs, there is no evidence collected from the VPN you downloaded something from TPB or any other torrent site.
Torrenting allowed when using a VPN. Self-explanatory. Some VPNs do not allow you to torrent with them. Don't like it? Don't buy their services.
How DMCA requests are handled. Do they comply? Do they don’t? Will they just toss everything at the feds just to shake off a lawsuit? Knowing this is crucial.
DNS leak protection. The reason of this is that you need to be certain that your DNS will not leak. (I will discuss more about DNS protection later in the post and what you can do to stay safer).
What countries are your servers located in? Avoid like the plague VPNs that have their servers located within the US, UK and probably Australia. Said countries are cracking down piracy and it will avoid you headaches if you avoid them. Ideally, I suggest VPNs located in Switzerland, Rumania or Russia due to their laws being more privacy friendly/other countries can’t poke their noses as easily there.

D) Fam, I am broke. What can I do to get my hands on a reliable VPN ? Free VPNs are rather controversial. They mostly contain malware, tracking, keep logs and show you additional ads (Looking at you, Betternet). More detailed report here.

~~So, basically, I’d say avoid them…but I found~~ ~~VPNBook~~,a free VPN service based on OpenVPN. It does not require registration, either and works based on donations and providing for enterprises. However, you must have some technical skill to install it and get it to run. Don’t be discouraged however, their ~~how-to guide is pretty neat, it even includes how-to for Android phones!~~The process of installing it all boils down to locating where the file for OpenVPN is in your PC and copypasting the .opvn files of your choosing into there, add log in data (it’s on their website) and done.

~~They have servers that are for p2p only (please use those for torrenting) and some optimized for faster browsing but they are still slow—but hey, you aren’t paying for it.~~

~~PSA: the passwords used to log in into the VPN changes weekly, so do keep that in mind~~

~~However, to keep this post bias-free VPNBook has been accused of being~~ ~~scam~~ but it was never confirmed if it is true or not. In my personal experience, I had no problems with it, but I believe it is important for you guys to know before rushing into it. An informed choice is the best choice, after all.

~~Do keep in mind, choosing your VPN is trusting it to do what it is telling you to do in the end. If you can’t trust it, don’t bother to try it.~~

DO NOT USE. It keeps connection logs.

II. DNS

TL;DR version: service that translates domain names into IP addresses. What this means basically is that instead of having to enter 189.456.6783.9 you can write reddit.com and it’ll direct you to the website you are currently now.

Why is this important?

Usually, DNS servers are assigned by your internet service provider (ISP), which means that they can monitor and record your online activities whenever you send a request to the server. Therefore if there is a LEAK of your DNS IT LINKS BACK TO YOUR REAL IP ADDRESS.

Ok, what do I do if my DNS leaks with the VPN I am using?Use this guide to solve it.

However, do NOT USE GOOGLE DNS. It will make your speed increase, but Google DNS, like Google itself, has a nasty habit of tracking you by any means available to them.. Also How to change your DNS.

III. TOR.

Is Vpnbook Safe

If you are still paranoid even if you have a beefed up VPN+DNS protection leak set up and running I suggest you use Tor.

I will be honest, I don’t do it because Tor+VPN is like living with a sluggish dial up modem all the time.

What’s TOR?

From their website: “The Tor network is a group of volunteer-operated servers that allows people to improve their privacy and security on the Internet. Tor's users employ this network by connecting through a series of virtual tunnels rather than making a direct connection, thus allowing both organizations and individuals to share information over public networks without compromising their privacy. Along the same line, Tor is an effective censorship circumvention tool, allowing its users to reach otherwise blocked destinations or content. Tor can also be used as a building block for software developers to create new communication tools with built-in privacy features. Individuals use Tor to keep websites from tracking them and their family members, or to connect to news sites, instant messaging services, or the like when these are blocked by their local Internet providers. […] ”

It all boils down to “We use a shitton of virtual tunnels so your navigation is protected from unwanted eyes”. That’s why it is so slow as well. Slow and steady wins the race, I suppose.

Tor uses ONION sites, which are sites that do not work on any other browser besides Tor. Typing reddit.com won’t work there. TPB has an onion site which makes using torrenting safer and if the site is ever banned in your country, you can go around it with that or their proxy sites.

PS: Yes, you can access the Darknet via Tor but I won’t go into details with that.

Want to download Tor? Go here

IV. Pirating

Let’s move on to the actual PIRATING. A) How-To download torrents.

In case you are a noob at pirating, go here to get an idea how pirating is done. Although I personally prefer using qbittorrent.

B) How to know if they are fake or not.

There’s no 100% technique out there to tell. Use this and common sense.

PS: Verify the same torrent on other sites and compare the space amount- if they are similar or the same, it is very likely it is a legit torrent.

BONUS MENTION: Firefox add-on: “The Pirate Bay Tweaks”

This add-on highlights good or bad torrents based on the information you input on it when you edit its options in about:addons in firefox. It is relatively new, but I gave it a try and it worked just fine.

C) Seeding? Leeching? Peers? What does that mean?

Seeder is someone from whom you can download a piece of file. Basically, they help you get the file you want. No seeders=no more file. Which is why we ask you to SEED as much as possible.

Leecher is someone who has downloaded a file but is not seeding it after it is done. (I call these the hit-and-run downloaders or HRDs).

Peer is someone who is involved in file sharing activity. It is a generic term.

D) Automated torrenting (movies, series). I tried to explain this in my own terms, but came to a blank.

Luckily, there are two explanations better than what I had written here and there’s one made by a reddit user here.

Fair warning, however: it is a relatively long process that requires your undivided attention, since it does involve a series of steps.

BONUS:

TPB (The Pirate Bay) has a sfw version of their site without porn, in case you are doing torrenting near your grandma or don’t want to see porn. This is the link.
More privacy-focused content:

3) More Piracy info:

Piracy Megathread. Worth a read, contains a lot of FAQ regarding piracy.

Thank you all for your time, please leave suggestions and questions and I will try to get back to you ASAP.

~A Guide by Charasma~

Edit 1: Formatting died so I had to fix it again.

Edit 2: Was enlightened about PeerBlock, removed it completely. Added Piracy data in Bonus section. Shout out to /u/WhiteMilk_

Edit 3: Never edit in mobile, it deleted some info. Re-added info.

Download Bittorrent File

Edit 4: Discovered VPNBook keeps connection logs. Avoid it as well. BUY a VPN.

27 comments

I am running Ubuntu 13.04 and using OpenVPN and vpnbook. When I am using a VPN I am unable to download torrents. I have tried it on 3 different torrent clients (qBittorrent, Deluge, and Transmission). Deluge just says 'Checking' and never begins downloading. qBittorrent says 'stalled' next to the torrent and Transmission does not say anything and just doesn't download. Is there some network setting I am missing or some OpenVPN config I need to do?

Braiam