Are direct download sites safer than torrenting and what can i do to make things as safe as possible without having to use something like a vpn? becasue there are a few movies and retro games im having a hard time finding so what can i do to be safe while trying to find the media i want?

Im not even sure if the pirates life is for me…

  • undated9198@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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    1 year ago

    It all depends on the jurisdiction of your residence:

    • Direct downloads can be a breach of law as you illegally „copy“ (by downloading) protected IP (intellectual property).
    • Torrenting is „worse“ though, as you both „copy“ and „distribute“ (by uploading) protected IP. The distribution part usually gets you into trouble if you can be identified.

    For an overview see: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_aspects_of_file_sharing

    For example in Germany:

    German laws concerning file-sharing are pretty strict and clearly condemn any kind of file sharing activity related to copyrighted content. While both download and upload are condemned by law, it’s in reality the uploading part of the process that will be rewarded with a warning letter. Using services like torrent clients makes you automatically share the file you are downloading. This is why torrent and other P2P clients users receive a lot of letters from German lawyers.

    Source: https://www.settle-in-berlin.com/illegal-file-sharing-germany-letter-cease-desist-warning/

    Just stating facts, not my opinion.

    • cnnrduncan@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      As an aside, it is technically possible to disable uploading/sharing when using torrents though it is generally frowned upon. There are also service such as debrid websites and torrent boxes that can download a torrent for you to then directly download over HTTPS from their servers.

      • –Phase–@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        As an aside, it is technically possible to disable uploading/sharing when using torrents though it is generally frowned upon.

        Disabling uploading on a torrent application makes no difference. The moment you add a torrent to your client and start it, you connect to the swarm, and copyright trolls send letters to the ISPs of every IP they find on the swarm, so it doesn’t matter if you were or weren’t uploading at the time that they detected your IP.

        Not to mention that some trackers and torrent clients ban or refuse to connect to clients that don’t upload.

  • upsiderue@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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    1 year ago

    No need to use a vpn for ddl. If you want the best of both worlds use a debrid service like real-debrid. It allows faster downloads from file sharing sites and ability to download torrents without you having to seed it.

    • RomanRoy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      What does real-debrid really do? It is mentioned often on Stremio and I get it that you download things faster for it, but I couldn’t find any explanation about what it really offers as a service.

      Is its purpose to download things for you in their server and then you download from them faster? Does it have a limit of how much data you can store?

      I dunno, I’m having some trouble with the use case and how it would work for me.

      • mikemikemikemike@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Is its purpose to download things for you in their server and then you download from them faster?

        Yeah. I’m not aware of any limits too.

        When used with stremio orkodi addons it lets you stream videos directly from their servers, without the need to download the file

        • RomanRoy@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I see. It has no files available to me “out of the box”, on sign up, right? I must point a torrent to it, it will download it and then I will download it later? Can I also upload local files?

          I’m sorry, I must sound dumb, but I always had a hard time really understanding WHAT are real debrid benefits.

          • mikemikemikemike@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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            1 year ago

            You cannot upload. So no use as personal cloud. Popular torrents are already cached on their servers so no need to wait. Other plus is you probably max out your line speeds. Traffic is SSL encrypted, no need for vpn

    • ShySpark@lemmy.fmhy.mlOP
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      1 year ago

      do i need to use real debrid or can i use a browser like tor and what sites might i use?

      is there a free way to get started by chance?

      • Daftling@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Real debrid is not necessary unless you’re downloading from hosts that require a paid account for unlimited access. You can download from archive.org and other HTTP sites without worry. You don’t need tor, a vpn, real debrid, a seed box, or any other paid service people are suggesting here. Just stay away from torrents and you’ll be fine.

      • upsiderue@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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        1 year ago

        You dont have to use Real-debrid but it is recommend. Real debrid is a ddl service and Tor is a browser like chrome for those who really want privacy and anonmity, two different things. Plus tor is really slow when downloading. Regarding free to use, there are leech websites that leech off debrid services but do not allow torrenting or you can look for a trial version of a different debrid service or try a service like debrid-file.com that allow a lifetime subscription.