Just an FYI: for the cost of a VPN, you can buy a Usenet subscription. Depending on your content, you'll get far better speeds, far more privacy, far more content, and far more availability.
Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ
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I used to be all over usenet. Starting about 10-12 years ago most of the indexers turned to shit; either that or takedowns have eviscerated the back catalog of content from providers. I've yet to find a good tracker that can find anything (that's more than 12-24 hours old).
I use usenet, but I find that I have a lot of issues finding content in other language than English. Also, finding rarer content is harder too. So I also use torrents to complete what I can't find over usenet. To this day I would like to get content in French, but it's hard.
This means that I still need a torrenting setup with VPN.
worst that can happen is your ISP sends you a letter to stop, then get a VPN.
American here, I've torrented movies and anime for a few years now and only got one warning (For downloading "The Big Short" of of Pirate bay). I have since stopped seeding on that site, though a seed on smaller ones. I have had no issues with lawyers since.
It (possibly) adds a layer of security. Of course you're just passing your traffic through them. Should they get summoned to court or ordered they could turn over your information and show you were trafficking through them. I'd say to read into how your nation persecutes copyright. How strict are they, how often have people been legally attacked cause of it, etc. If you're in Japan for example, I'd say 100% use a VPN. Copyright is extremely serious there.
Definitely should have one. Highly recommend Proton VPN personally. I love their software suite.
If using qBittorrent there is an anonymous option. Not sure if works well but I haven't received an ISP email in a long time since I set it
You all seem to be starting from the basis that downloading a torrent is illegal. It is not, it is only distribution/upload that's an issue. If you behave as a leech and kill it after you're done the worst you're going to get is a complaining letter from your ISP.
I torrent without a VPN and haven't had a single email from my ISP, but I presume it's because I'm a business customer.
Never had a letter from my ISP and I’ve been torrenting for 20 years.