4 mo. ago • 92%

Got an email from ISP

How does this firm (or whatever it is) know I torrented something? My VPN app took a shit in the middle of a download and I think it exposed my IP to some "anti-piracy" bullshit firm that contacted my ISP. ISP emailed to let me know and to "not do it again". How does this firm know about torrenting? Do they like watch these sites and hope someone's VPN slips like mine did today?

39 comments

Bind your torrent client to your VPN interface so that if the VPN loses connection for whatever reason, nothing downloads or uploads via your client.

29
- I'm gonna need a lot of education before I start torrenting 🤦🏽‍♂️ I didn't even know such thing existed. How do I do that?
  
  4
  
  I'm using qBittorrent's web ui, and you get to the setting from Options (cog symbol)->Advanced tab->Network Interface. Figuring out which network interface is the VPN interface depends on your OS.
  
  6
They watch the swarm. You can view connections of the swarm. They see your ISP owned IP and send an email.

18
- Fuckers, but how can they see it behind the VPN?
  
  4
  
  My VPN app took a shit in the middle of a download and I think it exposed my IP to some “anti-piracy” bullshit firm that contacted my ISP.
  
  I think you answered your own question.
  
  28
  
  The same way you can see the ip of your peers on any particular torrent.
  
  1
  
  Most VPNs can leak some data occasionally, especially on startup. Maybe it changed servers and was down for a split-second, maybe it was just a shitty option to begin with. Maybe the VPN company sold you out. Who knows.
  
  1
  
  This site is kinda cool
  
  https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/
  
  0
Look into transmission open VPN docker container. Forces/ensures VPN connection. Easy to setup and configure.

7
be careful, sometimes it's a scam or a cash grab with no legal basis.

7
- Thank you. That was actually a legit email
  
  7
  
  Many places have laws in place currently stating that you can't be personally identified by your IP. So if you get emails about piracy and copyright issues coming from a law firm representing rightsholders, the best course of action is usually to ignore them. Responding to them is essentially admitting that you're the person they're looking for and that you committed the offense in question.
  
  4
Proton has a very nice article on how to set up torrenting: https://protonvpn.com/support/bittorrent-vpn/

5
- Oh damn. Thank you for this. Didn't know it even existed.
  
  1
a killswitch is a must-have in this case then

4
- killswitch doesn't work because packets can still get through between the time when the VPN goes offline and when it activates, need to bind torrent client to vpn or have some firewall configuration to prevent non-vpn traffic
  
  1
- I use proton VPN and I have the Killswitch on, but it was the free version and the Windows version of proton VPN doesn't give me the option to choose the server. It chooses it for you (unlike the linux client which I use as my main most of the time). It apparently used a server that didn't support p2p and then the download "stalled". Checked around and found a little window hidden behind qbit torrent that said "your connection was disconnected because you used a server that doesn't support p2p". I have windscribe premium, but I've noticed that it has IP leak, so I'm just waiting for the subscription to expire and I'm not renewing, and have been testing proton
  
  -1
  
  I suggest you to deactivate IPv6 also and force the killswitch.
  
  -3
You might want to cross post to !piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

3
Getting a seedbox is pretty easy and generally cheap too.

3
I've heard they monitor the torrents and try downloading from the peers as evidence of them distributing the content.

Anyway, you could set up firewall rules to only allow connections via VPN interface (and out to the VPN server, of course).

2
- I see. Also, could you please elaborate on the firewall bit? I've set up some rules on games that force data collection before where I just blocked the in and out on the game, but I don't fully understand the "only allow connection via VPN). Do you have clear instructions on how to do that? A tutorial? And what does that do? Thank you, btw.
  
  1
  
  Oof, sorry. This will depend on OS and the software you use for FW configs. I am too dumb.
  
  For example, I use UFW on Linux. So for me it's
  
  # Deny all incoming and outgoing traffic by default ufw default deny outgoing ufw default deny incoming # Allow connection to VPN server ufw allow out to <VPN server IP address> [port] <VPN server port number> [proto] <tcp|udp> # Allow connection via VPN interface ufw allow out on <interface name> from any to any # Enable UFW ufw enable
  
  That's just one simple way.
  
  2
Swap provider(just for the doubts) and implement a good way of killswitching it.. good luck!!

1

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