How likely are you to get caught downloading torrents?

I've been downloading torrents for over three years now(from private trackers though, and through occasion from semi-private trackers) and I have never gotten a letter from ISP. And I'm not in fear from getting one. I would say you would much more of a chance of getting one if you download from public trackers. But as long as you stick to good private trackers then you have a great chance of being just fine.I would sweat it too much. And if paranoia gets the best of you you can always move to Usenet or one-click file hosters.

The only things illegal I did on torrents was download a PSP game and get TinyXP. Otherwise, I grab legal OSes.

Downloading Ubuntu distros count? Downloading Ubuntu Studio right now, XD

Yes, Ubuntu Editions do count. But that edition is legal, so it won't make a difference if you get caught, downloading Ubuntu studio is legal.

Replying to #104

It's free software, which has nothing to do with laws and stuff, so I wouldn't classify that as a "legal download". Some downloads people label illegal sometimes are made cause you can't find the particular software anywhere in the market.

I don't care if it's illegal stuff or not, original is way too much expensive here, that's a real crime.
If my IP is tracked by some shit-head I change my IP and use my "special tools" and send him/her a "gift"
Or maybe I manage to track his/her mac adress and create a remote desktop and erase some important stuff.
Torrent is safe if you know where from you download stuff.
I've managed to get many cool workable stuff from torrents.

Why would anyone care enough to get in trouble for torrents?
The law is not enforced, even though it exists. So I'm ok with it. :p

phscarface · #106I don't care if it's illegal stuff or not, original is way too much expensive here, that's a real crime.
If my IP is tracked by some shit-head I change my IP and use my "special tools" and send him/her a "gift"
Or maybe I manage to track his/her mac adress and create a remote desktop and erase some important stuff.

OK, so someone catches you committing a civil offence, which you can be fined for, so you retalliate by commiting a criminal offense that could see you doing jail time? that really isnt sensible.

dragneon007I'm pretty new to torrents and I already downloaded like 5 different torrent softwares without knowing what a torrent was or how it worked.Sooo what are the chances of someone like me being Caught that has used torrents without peergaurdien or any protection?

If your really concerned about being caught you should run your downloads through the TOR network or a anonymous VPN (keyword anonymous)

gaynorvaderI laughed my butt off at this!The chances of you being caught using torrents depends on the country you live in and what laws are in place to protect your privacy. In Ireland, ISP's have no more right to give away information on/monitor your internet traffic than a phone company has to do the same with your phone calls. You'd have to be downloading a lot before the police suspected you and got a court order to monitor your internet activities.

True. In the Philippines the chances of someone caring if you downloaded scene release movies, music and games is high (If you consider mobs of people with virus infested flash drives stampeding to copy the file you download). While the chances of having someone from the government care if you are downloading (illegal) files off the net is zero... literally. Which is why almost 8 out of 10 people use P2P downloads (such as torrent) without any thought of whatsoever consequences awaits them.

For all of you that say "Why worry about it?" "No one cares". Yes they do. About 2 years ago i was torrenting and i thought nothing of it, i wasn't going to get caught or at least i didnt think so. One morning I was using the computer when in a split second my internet was off. I was confused i had tried everything to fix it. So i gave the cable company a call and they had said that someone in the household was downloading illegal files. Needless to say they made me delete all my information and the program i was using to aquire it. The cable companies are now left responsible, and will take action if needed. They gave me this warning but next time i don't think they will be so sweet.
-TorrentGeek

torrentgeek: depends on what country you're in.

yh, here i don't even have to download the torrents, someone already did and is selling in a shop. about 1 in every 2 km :P
any movie/game/anime series 2000 LBP :P(about a dollar ^^

I don't know if this is still the case (since Frontier took over Verizon territory), but one time just out of curiosity I asked what the max data usage was. It was 40 gb a day. So what I gather from it is that you shouldn't download huge amounts of data at a time, and space out your downloads. I personally use bittorrent moderately, but most of my stuff is older games or ebooks. So its a good idea to keep data usage down, and download older content.

Replying to #114

That's why I implement a transfer cap on Utorrent. I usually cap about 200 GB (DL + UL) per month. 40 GB a day would be near infinite for me.

I actually did get caught from piratebay.org lol downloading some pc game, basically they contact your internet service provider, and they give you a warning saying to stop seeding the game and downloading or my internet was going to be terminated, think I got lucky, but i took this as a serious warning and i dont mess with torrents anymore lol

Just saw this thread, though I'd join and ask.
I've had my internet shut down several times due to this, but from what I'm reading into, they can't pinpoint the exact computer, but rather target the IP of the router.
I live with 9 people and there is more than 20 devices connected.
Also, they apparently hold the person who is in contract with the ISP responsible if anything were to happen.

Replying to #117

even if there's only once device connected the burden of proof is on them to prove it was you using the machine at the time the material was downloaded, which is nigh on impossible.