Read our guide to free torrent VPNs for more info.Īs far as proxy services go, you can definitely find some free SOCKS proxies on the internet, and these can in fact be used with Qbittorrent using the instructions later in this guide.įree proxies will have several limitations however:
They only allow torrents if you upgrade to a paid plan. All of these free VPN’s specifically block torrents on their network. There are some free VPNs out there, even 1 that claims to be free and non-logging, but here’s the catch. The short answer is NO for VPNs and ‘Yes, but…’ for proxies. We’ll also show you our favorite VPNs for downloading torrents.Įven better, several torrent-friendly VPNs actually include SOCKS Proxy service at no extra charge, so you can get the best of both worlds without paying for 2 different services. Next we’ll show you use both methods with Qbittorrent (either separately or together).
Leak #2: Your internet provider (ISP) can see your download & web historyīy default, bittorrent data is transferred in plaintext (unencrypted).
We’ll show you how to set up a VPN (and choose the ideal VPN service) a bit later in this guide. Some VPN services own thousands of anonymous IP-addresses you can use.
This is best done by using a torrent-friendly VPN service, which will replace your visible IP address with one of their own. Some will even show you what torrent activity they’ve tracked to your IP address.įortunately, you can hide your ‘real’ IP address from torrent peers
Not only can you see the full IP address of all connected peers, you can also see what port# their using, torrent client, and how much of the file they’ve downloaded already.Įven scarier, there are literally dozens of companies and organizations that monitor and harvest IP data from massive numbers of torrent swarms. Peers sharing a linux torrent in QBittorent (IP addresses blurred for privacy) Here’s how easy it is to view the IP’s of anyone sharing a torrent with you: If you don’t take steps to hide your torrent IP address, your real, traceable IP will be visible to anyone. In order for peers to connect to each other, the tracker provides a list off all IP addresses seeding/downloading that particular torrent. This is the most dangerous leak, and the greatest threat to your privacy when downloading torrents.
Leak #1: IP Address is visible to everyone