Why torrenting is not illegal

If you take Switzerland as an example, it is safe to say that you are largely free to torrent what you want, whenever you want. However, if you are in any of the other aforementioned countries, your safety could be much lower. In the Netherlands, your safety might become an issue as soon as you share something; in Mexico, your privacy might be affected, and this alone might become an issue. Switzerland has privacy laws that make it illegal for third parties to spy on the IP addresses of people who download torrents.

But not all of us are lucky enough to enjoy such perks. So here we are again asking ourselves is torrenting illegal or not, and here is the answer we all enjoy so much — it depends. If you want to remain anonymous and protect your privacy at all times, you should consider investing in the use of a Virtual Private Network for torrenting.

If you do this, you are likely to prevent any intrusion or possible legal action as a result of sharing copyrighted materials. Mikaela is an investigative journalist that likes to cover the ever-changing world of technology. She tries to keep her finger on the pulse of digital trends and share her insights on the most relevant topics, including big tech, security, privacy, and data breaches.

Your email address will not be published. Post Comment. This just goes to show that very few things are by their very nature illegal: it all depends on how you use it! Torrent wisely and keep up-to-date on changing laws. Torrenting is not illegal, Sharing files over a peer-to-peer P2P server is legal. But, when you share a copyrighted content it becomes illegal. Another security aspect with torrents is if you are not careful with your source, you might become prey to malware.

For a small investment, you can have the piece of mind that your online privacy is secure. Most countries ban torrenting but you rarely get in trouble if you download illegal stuff through p2p. Thanks for the excellent guide. I can now rest assured that torrenting does not equate to piracy. It does, however, provide a very convenient way to do it! The torrent protocol is just a clever transmission method for users to download files more easily. The key point to takeaway is that you are not a criminal if you are using torrent sites for downloading something legal.

As all countries have different perspectives on using torrents you should think about VPN services for torrenting. It seems as a really good alternative to remain anonymous and protect your privacy all the way while using torrents and of course, it will make this process as safe as possible! Simply click the button below — the coupon will be activated immediately! Table of Contents. Is torrenting illegal? How to torrent safely Privacy has almost become a luxury and not something that you should take lightly.

It should not log your activity and also be fast enough to handle these downloads. Surfshark VPN. Top VPN providers. NordVPN 9. Military grade encryption. Friendly support. Leeching and seeding illegal torrent files technically fall under separate categories of illegality. As another somewhat gross oversimplification, prosecuting leechers is similar to charging someone with illegal drug possession. Seeders, on the other hand, are charged similarly to individuals found guilty of illegal drug distribution in addition to mere possession.

Not only will the best VPN protect your online privacy in general, but it will also make it virtually impossible for you to be issued a settlement letter by masking your IP address.

During her college years, she chased the dual-major of Cyber Security and Journalism while simultaneously offering freelance services online. Today, she continues sharing her technical knowledge via investigative writing on topics like VPNs, programming, data breaches, artificial intelligence, and other infosec concepts.

Terms of Service Contact Us. Compare Netflix VPNs. Compare Mac VPNs. Compare Torrenting VPNs. In most countries, copyright infringement for purely personal use such as most torrenting is a civil offense. This means that copyright owners can take offenders to court in order to obtain civil damages against them for loss of income. This can be ruinously expensive for those unfortunate enough to be made an example of in this way but does not result in a criminal conviction.

In some places notably the UK , copyright infringement is a criminal offense. This means that, in addition to being ordered to pay civil damages, offenders may face criminal prosecution.

Outside of Europe and North America, most copyright laws are in line with international norms i. But there is often little political will to uphold such laws, resulting in copyright holders concentrating their enforcement efforts on more lucrative markets where often very expensive legal action is likely to be successful and to be profitable for the copyright holder.

In the US, torrenting for personal use is not a criminal act, although offenders are subject to a lawsuit. The danger of this should not be underestimated, however, as US citizens are more likely to find themselves sued over copyright offenses than just about anywhere else in the world. In recent years, the United States has seen an alarming rise in the practice of speculative invoicing also known as copyright trolling , where copyright holders transfer intellectual property rights to sketchy legal firms.

Successive British governments have been among the world's most enthusiastic supporters of copyright holder rights. Copyright pirates who share infringing material can now be jailed for up to ten years. A person who infringes copyright in a work by communicating the work to the public commits an offense if the person knows or has reason to believe that they are infringing copyright in the work, and knows or has reason to believe that communicating the work to the public will cause loss to the owner of the copyright, or will expose the owner of the copyright to a risk of loss.

The government claims that only large-scale commercial pirates will be targeted, and no-one has yet got into trouble for torrenting for personal use. But the fact it has refused to set a threshold on how the law can be applied remains deeply worrying and means that, according to the letter of the law, you can be jailed for ten years for torrenting a single movie.

Under government instructions, UK ISPs are among the most fervent blockers of torrent sites in the world. And it is thanks to these blocks on copyright grounds that UK citizens are subject to some of the most extensive internet censorship performed by any country.

For many years the Netherlands was a renowned hotbed of copyright piracy thanks to the fact that downloading copyrighted material was legal in the country. In theory, there were strict limits to this freedom — only movies and music could be downloaded not computer software , and only if you already owned it. In practice, copyright laws were not enforced, resulting in something of a pirate free-for-all.

This all changed in , however, when the EU Court of justice declared the local legislation unlawful,. If Member States were free to adopt legislation permitting, inter alia, reproductions for private use to be made from an unlawful source, the result of that would clearly be detrimental to the proper functioning of the internal market.

In practice, both ISPs and the government have been unenthusiastic about enforcing the new rules. Much like in the Netherlands, Switzerland has traditionally had a very relaxed attitude to downloading and copyright piracy. Indeed, a Supreme Court ruling making surveillance of peer-to-peer internet users by the authorities illegal effectively scuppered any chance of prosecuting infringers, and ushered in a period of rampant consequence-free copyright piracy.

Although not a member of the EU, the pressure to reform Switzerland's laws increased after the CJEU ruling against the Netherlands in , and was further ratcheted-up in when the United States added Switzerland to its Special Report Watch List of countries with insufficient copyright protections. Switzerland responded by tightening up its copyright laws. Downloading music and video content but not computer programs and sharing it among a small group of friends and family remains legal in Switzerland.

But uploading content to the internet is not. And because of its P2P sharing element, this includes torrenting. So far, the strongest consequence of being caught torrenting in Switzerland has been receiving a letter from your ISP, but this could change at any time.

And as with elsewhere, historical evidence could be used against you. Russia is a signatory to the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works since , and by law states that downloading and uploading copyrighted content can lead to fines of up to , RUB approx. In reality, though, copyright piracy is rife, with little real attempt made to stop it. Some ISPs do implement somewhat piecemeal blocks on torrent sites, and the hugely popular social network VK once a hotbed for file swapping has begun blocking access to movies and music on its platform.

It is possible that the apparent lack of official action over copyright infringement is simply due to the secretive nature of the Russian legal system, and that cases exist which have not become public knowledge.

Given the harshness of penalties stipulated by law, it seems prudent to protect your torrent sessions with a VPN. As home to the infamous The Pirate Bay, Sweden in the Noughties achieved notoriety for being pirate heaven. Things have changed since TPB's inception, however, with all founding members receiving jail time and Sweden transposing the EU directive on intellectual property rights enforcement IPRED into local law in A legal challenge on human rights grounds did crop up but was ultimately quashed by the European Court of Justice in