Using a VPN while torrenting is one of the simplest ways to conceal your IP address, and ensure your privacy. However, only a limited number of VPN Services allow you to use BitTorrent. If want to torrent files without being monitored, it is essential that the VPN you use does not track your online connections. The VPNs listed below welcome torrenting and do not log your online activities, thereby preserving your privacy.
You may also want encrypt your torrent transfers. Torrent clients that support encrypted transfers are Deluge and uTorrent. Alternatively, you can use completely private torrent applications like Retroshare or OneSwarm.
These our picks for the best VPN for torrents:
Private Internet Access
Private Internet Access lives up to its name — they do not retain user logs of any kind. This service is highly regarded by privacy advocates. The company operates out of the United States with gigabit gateways in the U.S., Canada, UK, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.
I’ve been testing their VPN service for about 9 months, and so far the service has been fast and reliable. I use it continuously now, and I haven’t noticed a lag when browsing the web, or downloading files.
Their VPN client has handy features like DNS leakage blocking and an “internet kill switch” (a feature that shuts off your internet connection if your VPN connection goes down). The client runs OpenVPN, which out recommended VPN protocol.
In regards to logging user activity, the company says:
We absolutely do not maintain any VPN logs of any kind. We utilize shared IP addresses rather than dynamic or static IPs, so it is not possible to match a user to an external IP. These are some of the many solutions we have implemented to enable the strongest levels of anonymity amongst VPN services. Further, we would like to encourage our users to use an anonymous e-mail and pay with Bitcoins to ensure even higher levels of anonymity should it be required. We will not share any information with third parties without a valid court order. With that said, it is impossible to match a user to any activity on our system since we utilize shared IPs and maintain absolutely no logs.
The service costs $6.95 per month. For payment they accept credit cards, Paypal, Bitcoin, and Liberty Reserve. For extra anonymity, consider paying with Bitcoin while on the Tor network.
Link: Private Internet Access
BTGuard
BTGuard is a VPN provider based in Canada. As you can tell by their name, this company specializes in creating anonymous internet connections for Bittorrent users. The service works on Windows, Mac and Linux. Besides using the pre-configured client, users can also set up their own client to work with BTGuard (any client that supports “Socks V5″ proxies including uTorrent and Vuze). In addition, BTGuard also includes encryption tunnel software for security purists.
In regards to logging user activity, the company says:
The jurisdiction is Canada. Since we do not have log files, we have no information to share. We do not communicate with any third parties. The only event we would even communicate with a third party is if we received a court order. We would then be forced to notify them we have no information. This has not happened yet.
On the negative side, I’ve seen some user complaints about BTGuard’s servers being slow, and that their VPN connection often disconnects. We’ve also heard that their email support is quite unresponsive.
The price for the BTGuard VPN is $9.95 per month, or $6.95 a month for their Bittorrent Proxy service.
Link: BTGuard
BolehVPN
BolehVPN was founded 2007 in Malaysia, and it is now one of the largest VPN providers in South East Asia. BolehVPN does not log internet activity and they support P2P transfers. The company is known for their personalized customer support, and they have active community of customers. Aside from VPN services, they also provide game server hosting and Mumble hosting for customers in the South-East Asian region.
The have 25 servers in 9 different countries, including one located in Hong Kong.
For payment they accept Bitcoin, PayPal, Liberty Reserve, WebCash, online banking transfer (Malaysian customers only) or even cash deposits (Malaysian customers only).The cost of the service is $10.50 per month or $85.90 per year.Link: BolehVPN
Updates
We will also be reviewing: PrivatVPN and TorrentPrivacy soon.
What do you think of Cloudnymous for P2P?
Cloudnymous looks to be a reasonable VPN service. In regards to P2P they say:
However, they do log your connections start and end times and the traffic amount, which means they may respond to DMCA requests.
Are DMCA requests valid outside US?
I’m asking because it seems they don’t offer P2P on US servers exactly because of this reason.
I know DCMA is much harder to enforce when the material in question was downloaded from a server outside the US, I’m not sure of the exact laws.