Using a VPN is the only safe way of having any contact with torrents, period. Fines, and possible disconnection await repeat infringers. Your ISP is contacted, and they may be forced to pass on the details of the customer associated with an IP at a specific date and time, or asked to take action themselves. Your IP address is cross-checked against a known list of ISPs. Companies are paid to monitor specific torrents by the copyright owners, which they do by downloading it themselves, checking the swarm, and keeping a record of every IP address they see. It should therefore be obvious that anti-p2p organizations could do the same thing to figure out who is downloading a specific file.

Even if you've set your client to never upload, you'll still be on the list as a peer.

The very nature of peer-to-peer torrent technology means that everyone who attempts to download a file is given a list of everyone else doing the same: you become both the downloader, and uploader. When users stream media, the app downloads a torrent file, joins the swarm, and immediately seeds the file back out to everyone else. The truth is that the app itself (and all the clones) is based entirely on torrents. It looks just like a streaming service, with nice DVD covers and a great looking interface.Įven users who were aware that the files were obviously of dubious legal origin weren't necessarily also aware of the underlying technology, believing it to work like any other streaming internet movie site. There is, after all, no indication in the app itself that you're doing anything illegal (though newer clones added warnings). However, some users are completely ignorant of where the content actually comes from.

The original project was shut down rather quickly, but with the code being open source numerous clones were developed. It offered a Netflix-like experience, but one key difference: all the movies and TV shows you could possibly want. Popcorn Time set the internet alight when it was first released. The Truth About Popcorn Time and Its Clones Not sure what torrents are? Read our free guide to torrents.

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