Simple, trust no one. Get a no-reported-logs VPN, don't download anything that has a strange file size or extension, look at comments, look at the number of seeders if it's a torrent. If you can, join something like a private tracker where there's moderation too. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it's probably not the movie you were looking for and there might be a Trojan army inside waiting for you to let the duck enter your computer... That metaphor may have fallen apart on me...

[–] cheezoid@retrolemmy.com 32 points 2 years ago (1 children)

[–] kumatomic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 2 years ago

I know they're an army in this metaphor but I still want to hug them.

[–] lukas@lemmy.haigner.me 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

VPN providers don't protect you from malware.

[–] phorq@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 years ago

I was trying to give general advice, since it didn't sound like they had a trusted private tracker already it's a good idea to have a VPN to mask your IP. I agree, it probably won't help against malware.

[+] nicman24@kbin.social -23 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Get a no-reported-logs VPN

lol there is no such thing. use tor

[–] twena@lemm.ee 23 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Piracy using TOR is extremely slow and not really anonymous

[+] nicman24@kbin.social -9 points 2 years ago (3 children)

maybe 5 years ago

[–] twena@lemm.ee 9 points 2 years ago

Slowness and bandwith limitations are still an issue and it's likely that they will always be. It's already too slow to torrent large files over Tor and it also takes away the bandwith of other users. Tor also still doesn't support UDP connections, which may cause data leaks.

[–] averyminya@beehaw.org 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Don't torrent over tor, its nodes should be used for more important things than piracy

[–] nicman24@kbin.social 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

you do not have to use exit nodes. you can p2p with other tor users. piracy imo is important due to the censorship that countries can have on legitimate content.

[–] averyminya@beehaw.org 2 points 2 years ago

Regarding your last point, I agree, however it is not as important and it does take up resources that could otherwise be used for the people who need it (journalists utilizing tor, victims trying to get away from abusers etc).

Especially given that there are still alternatives to piracy without tor, whereas there are far fewer alternatives for these people.

That said, you're still right, it's minimal. Overall though, options for piracy without tor are accessible and should still be used when possible. From my understanding, few circumstances arise where pirating over tor is a better method for you and for others

Basically, use tor for legitimate content to help make tor safer for others using it.

[–] supervent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

For p2p it is better to use i2p, not tor

[–] nicman24@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago

yeah completely agree although it is even more niche

[–] phorq@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I added the word "reported" because I don't trust VPN providers to not keep logs, but ideally they should report that they don't keep logs and have an established history of not providing logs. Tor is really not ideal if you're trying to download anything large and you're still vulnerable depending on who controls the exit nodes.

[–] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 years ago

Mullvad I think is very good for this. They have an extensive description of their no-logs policy on their site, and have also been raided by the police before, who apparently were unable to find any customer information.

Shenanigans are always possible of course so you shouldn't 100% blindly trust anyone, but all the available evidence seems to point to them being pretty legit IMO.

[–] lukas@lemmy.haigner.me -3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

You can't trust VPN providers to store no logs. It's impossible to verify. I don't get why people downvote this comment.

[–] captain_samuel_brady@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

From what are you protecting yourself? Piracy? Then go with a VPN that has been tested in court and didn’t turn over any logs. The second one of these providers turns over their logs in court they are out of business because no one will ever trust them again. That’s all you really need for the seven seas.

Can the NSA see what you’re doing? Who cares. If they can, they aren’t revealing that to help anyone in a civil case.

[–] lukas@lemmy.haigner.me 0 points 2 years ago

You conflate VPN providers have an incentive to store no logs with it's impossible to verify whether VPN providers store logs. It's like trusting your friend to keep a secret. They promise not to write down what you say, but you can't be sure. You accept that risk in your threat model, and that's fine. But newcomers should judge that risk themselves. I feel like “Don't worry bro, they don't keep logs.” is an inappropriate response to people that're about to commit a crime that can land them in jail.

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 31 points 2 years ago

[–] xilliah@beehaw.org 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'd avoid any websites containing the string google.

[–] Sterben@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

Yes, true that. :)

[–] Sterben@lemmy.ml 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Surface the Web with VPN, Ad blocker, Anti-Tracker, use Linux. In 5 years, I have never encountered a virus or a trojan. Following these 4 "rules" and you'll be fine on any website.

[–] chriscz@iusearchlinux.fyi 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you want to go one step further, isolate/sandbox your media player, browser and torrenting apps in firejail.

[–] Sterben@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

Really extreme, but good to know. 😉

[–] rockhandle@lemm.ee 10 points 2 years ago

Depends on what you want. For games, find a trustworthy repacker (fitgirl and dodi are good in my experience) and only download from them. For software, again, it depends. For adobe products, M0nkrus is pretty good, but I'm unsure about other software. Movies and music are typically quite safe as long as you practice due diligence (basically dont open a file called song.mp3.exe).

[–] julianarestrepo@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

cs.rin.ru they use the ban hammer for malware distributing hard