EU is making a new law which makes your IP the same as (something similar to) your social security number and they say piracy is going to receive a huge blow. Obviously I have no intention of stopping but now I'll have to start using a VPN, if I want to continue my way. However, I do not trust VPNs a lot and I do not like the idea of paying for them (I could just pay for the movie in the first place)

I looked into using Tor network to torrent but it seems like it'd be a hindrance to the network itself, which is going to be a huge inconvenience for other users. Additionally I know that even if I found a way to throttle my bandwidth to remove this problem, Tor isn't exactly made for this sort of thing anyways.

Now, obviously it doesn't have to be torrenting, but I would gladly hear any suggestions on how to avoid paying and getting movies and shows without being caught doing it. Truthfully I was only streaming from websites for many years, so I do not know a lot about torrenting vs direct downloading either. Thanks in advance for any responses.

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[–] lime@feddit.nu 110 points 6 days ago (12 children)

EU is making a new law which makes your IP the same as (something similar to) your social security number

no they're not.

the EU ruled that IP addresses are personally identifiable information (PII) for the purposes of GDPR compliance EIGHT YEARS AGO. this means that internet services cannot store your IP address without your consent and explicitly telling you why they need it, they have to delete it when they're done with it, and if they are to be stored in any way for aggregate data then it needs to be anonymised so that it can no longer be associated with you.

any change to associate IPs with you would break the GDPR.

[–] gnygnygny@lemm.ee 1 points 4 days ago

They are actually working on a simplified GDPR version. Nothing good into the pipe.

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[–] AlexisFR@jlai.lu 12 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Where have you heard about this nonsense law?

[–] Banana_man@reddthat.com 1 points 3 days ago

I corrected it in my replies, maybe I should have corrected the post itself too, the law is in effect in my country, Greece. There are multiple articles about it and everyone is discussing it here in the country. Apologies for any confusion.

[–] drspod@lemmy.ml 31 points 6 days ago (2 children)

EU is making a new law which makes your IP the same as (something similar to) your social security number and they say piracy is going to receive a huge blow.

Sounds like an April Fools joke.

[–] Tm12@lemmy.ca 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Unfortunately needing a VPN is not.

[–] black0ut@pawb.social 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I torrent without VPN in the EU. I've been doing so for years. Still no letters as of writing this comment.

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[–] Nuxleio@lemmy.ml 26 points 6 days ago (10 children)

You need to pay for a VPN. It's like a condom for the internet. Frankly, stop trying to avoid something that you should already be using.

Mullvad is a good start. Go purchase it.

[–] Fiery@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Didn't mullvad stop port forwarding? That ain't great for seeding.

[–] Ilandar@lemm.ee 7 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Yes, Proton VPN is a better option if you require that feature.

[–] Kumikommunism@hexbear.net 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Or AirVPN.

[–] Ilandar@lemm.ee 3 points 6 days ago (4 children)

I believe Private Internet Access also offers this feature if people need a cheaper alternative, although it comes with tradeoffs regarding trust and ethics.

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[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 18 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Do you have some source for this IP thing in the EU? I wasn't aware of any new privacy laws.

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[–] oldfart@lemm.ee 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It's a lifestyle, not a way to save money. I pay for piracy related tech more than a netflix subscription costs.

[–] Lyra_Lycan@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This. I don't do much but I have spent $1,200 on HDDs alone. Then there's the true saviors of the internet with hundreds of TB, even PB of backed up, virus-free content

[–] jatone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 5 days ago

I don’t do much but I have spent $1,200 on HDDs alone.

this might interest you when its ready in a couple months. this is exactly the issue its working toward resolving.

[–] marauding_gibberish142@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 6 days ago

Seedboxes go from €2 to €100+ a month depending on how much you will torrent and how much space you need on the box alongside other factors. My personal choices are Gigarapid and Ultra but there are others

[–] N0x0n@lemmy.ml 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

EU is making a new law which makes your IP the same as (something similar to) your social security number.

If that's true, then even VPNs won't help. Not sure how they will implement such a thing, but it's obviously to protect the children !

There's also the I2P network, which is similar to TOR but with torrenting in mind and other nice tools and utilities ! However, it's slower, has less traffic/seeder and don't even bother to try and find some older movies/music or hidden gems.

It's getting better and some applications, like qbittorrent, are adding the i2p network. In the near future, when they have protected the children, I2P will be the place to be for a free and open Internet. However, you will probably be tagged as criminal...

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[–] BlastboomStrice@mander.xyz 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Yo, 2 things:

I too heard that about Greece, but I couldnt find any article about it, only stuff I heard from others which they probably read them on FB. Do you have any (reputable) article coverthing this? I just considered those roumors it as fearmongering and moved on.
Yo, since I haven't seen you around, just to know, we have a sonewhat active greek community at https://fedia.io/m/Greece

[–] Banana_man@reddthat.com 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Hey, thanks for the heads up on the Greek community, I'll be giving that a visit for sure. Also yes, I can find articles that are trustworthy but they are all in Greek, sadly xD. I might look again sometime though, will let you know!

[–] BlastboomStrice@mander.xyz 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

but they are all in Greek

Haha sure, send me the greek ones, μπορω να τα διαβασω:)

[–] Banana_man@reddthat.com 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

https://www.athinorama.gr/cinema/3042948/ti-isxuei-me-to-neo-nomo-kata-tis-peirateias-kai-pos-mas-epireazei/

[–] BlastboomStrice@mander.xyz 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

[Btw, I'm not a lawer, just because my comment is long don't consider it correct:)]

Tl;dr: From what I understand, they're gonna ask the internet providers (though it might also include vpn providers, streaming services etc.) any info about you that they consider necessary (so you could assume anything they have about you). So my opinion is, if you have a proper vpn that follows the zero-trust model, it should probably protect you. The main new thing here is that it has become illegal to consume pirated media (instead of only sharing them).

In the article you posted, there's the governmental announcement too:

https://search.et.gr/el/fek/?fekId=777704

From the article you posted:

Όπως διαβάζουμε στο σχετικό νόμο: "Αρμόδιες για τον έλεγχο της εφαρμογής των διατάξεων του παρόντος νόμου και την επιβολή των προβλεπόμενων κυρώσεων είναι η Ανεξάρτητη Αρχή Δημοσίων Εσόδων, η Γενική Διεύθυνση του Σώματος Δίωξης Οικονομικού Εγκλήματος, η Διυπηρεσιακή Μονάδα Ελέγχου Αγοράς, οι Αστυνομικές, Λιμενικές και Τελωνειακές Αρχές, οι οποίες μετά τη διαπίστωση της παράβασης, ενημερώνουν τους δικαιούχους μέσω του Οργανισμού Πνευματικής Ιδιοκτησίας. Για τη διαπίστωση των διοικητικών παραβάσεων της παρ. 2Β και την επιβολή των διοικητικών προστίμων επιτρέπεται από τις αρμόδιες δικαστικές αρχές η διαβίβαση προς τις αρχές του πρώτου εδαφίου, των αναγκαίων στοιχείων για την ταυτοποίηση των παραβατών, τα οποία συνελέγησαν και περιέχονται σε ποινική δικογραφία που σχηματίσθηκε κατόπιν άσκησης ποινικής δίωξης για τα εγκλήματα του άρθρου 66. Αντίστοιχα, οι αρχές του πρώτου εδαφίου δύνανται, με σκοπό τη διαπίστωση των διοικητικών παραβάσεων της παρ. 2Β και την επιβολή των αντίστοιχων κυρώσεων, να ζητούν από τους παρόχους της παρ. 10Α του άρθρου 66Ε, οποιοδήποτε απαραίτητο στοιχείο για την ταυτοποίηση των προσώπων που παραβιάζουν τα δικαιώματα της παρ. 2Β".

I couldnt find what is defined as providers in Paragraph 10A from article 66E (this should be stated in pages 583-585)

From what I understand, they're gonna ask the internet providers (though it might also include vpn providers, streaming services etc.) any info about you that they consider necessary (so you could assume anything they have about you). So my opinion is, if you have a proper vpn that follows the zero-trust model, it should probably protect you. The main new thing here is that it has become illegal to consume pirated media (instead of only sharing them).

[–] Banana_man@reddthat.com 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Hey, I understand this already but your input on the proper VPN is very much appreciated! This law seems sketchy to me, especially after another user on this thread pointed out that it violated gdpr. Honestly I know I really need to take my whole privacy into consideration and not just this tidbit but I have little time at the moment to properly set something decent up. That might also mean getting a VPN, lol. It is comforting to at least know that a proper VPN should cover me.

[–] BlastboomStrice@mander.xyz 2 points 3 days ago

Yeah, there are vpns that say that they dont keep logs and allow portforwarding. Check out a recent post in this community about vpns: https://lemmy.zip/post/34924276

[–] stupid_asshole69@hexbear.net 5 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Free vpns sell your data. It’s why they’re free. Processor cycles and bandwidth cost money so if you want someone to use their processor cycles and their bandwidth to encrypt and route your traffic through their servers without clandestinely peeking, and using lawyers and advanced security techniques to ward off the police, you gotta pay them.

In order to seed torrents you need to have a port on your vpn endpoint that is accessible to the internet and gets passed to the computer running your BitTorrent client. This is called port forwarding. There are only so many ports, so a vpn provider that offers port forwarding will probably charge more and you might not be able to get certified hood classics like :42069 because someone is already using it.

I use airvpn for torrents but depending on your European country you might not be able to. There are other port forwarding vpns. The cost is cheap, most come out to less than $5 a month.

Most let you run multiple devices at the same time so you might have your computer at home torrenting through the vpn while you’re away at work browsing porno on the toilet connected to the vpn which lets you get past the work content blockers.

So… just pay for a port forwarding vpn.

[–] antipiratgruppen@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I use airvpn for torrents but depending on your European country you might not be able to.

Why would it not be an option in some countries? Are you saying it's illegal or impossible to encrypt any traffic through a VPN while being in some of the countries, or what's the matter?

[–] stupid_asshole69@hexbear.net 1 points 5 days ago

I remember a while back the European country air is incorporated in passed an anti vpn law to prevent people from using them to stream soccer games (?). In compliance with the law, air said it wouldn’t offer services to people in that country.

So depending on what country the op is in and how the company is complying with the law, airvpn might not be an option.

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[–] DieserTypMatthias@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 days ago

Try Tailscale.

[–] 0x0@programming.dev 2 points 6 days ago

I use Tor to get magnet links and feed them to my clearnet torrenting client, no issues so far and the ISP would have to breach my privacy to provide my IP.

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