TorrentFreak

As BitTorrent Inc. convinces the world that they offer a great distribution platform, they’re also going the extra mile to state that it doesn’t pair well with a VPN or proxy advertiser. The company behind the popular file-sharing client uTorrent is rejecting ads from VPN provider TorGuard, stating that the service is considered “high risk”. In a rather ironic plot twist, the VPN provider would be welcomed as long as it changes its name and logo, and remove all references to “BitTorrent,” “torrent” and uTorrent from its website.

Many privacy concerned BitTorrent users are using VPN services to hide their IP-addresses from the rest of the Internet. This works well, until the VPN disconnects. Luckily there are some tips and tricks that can prevent one’s IP-address from being broadcasted over the Internet when this happens. Vuze is the only client that has this functionality built in, but for others there are alternatives available.

As citizens around the world endure Internet censorship of all types, a Japanese university has stepped in to level the playing field. Whether you’re in Iran or China and blocked from YouTube, Twitter or Facebook, or in the UK desperate to get back on The Pirate Bay, KAT or H33T, a new tool from researchers gives instant access to dozens of VPN services. Not only is the system simple to use, but it’s also completely free.

The launch of the six strikes anti-piracy scheme in the United States has boosted demand for VPN services and BitTorrent proxies. Data from Google reveals a big surge in searches for terms such as “BitTorrent VPN” and “BitTorrent proxy” over the past two weeks. Some VPN providers see the scheme as a clear invasion of privacy and are encouraging people to protect themselves.

More than a year ago TorrentFreak took a look at a selection of the web’s VPN providers to see which ones really take privacy seriously. During the months that followed we received dozens of emails begging us to carry out an update and today here it is. The first installment in our list of VPN providers that due to their setup cannot link user activity to external IP addresses and activities.

The collaboration between The Pirate Bay and the Cybernorms research group at Sweden’s Lund University has resulted in their first academic publication. The researchers surveyed 75,000 people from all over the world and found that close to 70 percent of all Pirate Bay users are interested in hiding their IP-addresses, or hiding it already. According to the researchers the high interest in anonymizing services among file-sharers is a direct response to anti-piracy initiatives.

Academic researchers have published information on the individuals and groups who upload torrent files to The Pirate Bay. The data reveals that most torrent files are first seeded from U.S. connections, with Comcast and Road Runner being the top Internet providers. The researchers also reveal the top 100 uploaders to The Pirate Bay along with their alleged whereabouts.