Are direct download sites safer than torrenting and what can i do to make things as safe as possible without having to use something like a vpn? becasue there are a few movies and retro games im having a hard time finding so what can i do to be safe while trying to find the media i want?

Im not even sure if the pirates life is for me...

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[–] undated9198@lemmy.fmhy.ml 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It all depends on the jurisdiction of your residence:

Direct downloads can be a breach of law as you illegally „copy“ (by downloading) protected IP (intellectual property).
Torrenting is „worse“ though, as you both „copy“ and „distribute“ (by uploading) protected IP. The distribution part usually gets you into trouble if you can be identified.

For an overview see: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_aspects_of_file_sharing

For example in Germany:

German laws concerning file-sharing are pretty strict and clearly condemn any kind of file sharing activity related to copyrighted content. While both download and upload are condemned by law, it’s in reality the uploading part of the process that will be rewarded with a warning letter. Using services like torrent clients makes you automatically share the file you are downloading. This is why torrent and other P2P clients users receive a lot of letters from German lawyers.

Source: https://www.settle-in-berlin.com/illegal-file-sharing-germany-letter-cease-desist-warning/

Just stating facts, not my opinion.

[–] cnnrduncan@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

As an aside, it is technically possible to disable uploading/sharing when using torrents though it is generally frowned upon. There are also service such as debrid websites and torrent boxes that can download a torrent for you to then directly download over HTTPS from their servers.

[–] Nitrate55@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

As an aside, it is technically possible to disable uploading/sharing when using torrents though it is generally frowned upon.

Disabling uploading on a torrent application makes no difference. The moment you add a torrent to your client and start it, you connect to the swarm, and copyright trolls send letters to the ISPs of every IP they find on the swarm, so it doesn't matter if you were or weren't uploading at the time that they detected your IP.

Not to mention that some trackers and torrent clients ban or refuse to connect to clients that don't upload.