Internet users and movie lovers have heard of internet piracy and copyright infringement… if you’re not too familiar with it, you’ve at least seen the FBI Anti-Piracy Warning Seal that’s displayed before a movie comes on. Piracy and copyright infringement is due to torrenting. This is probably making you wonder if torrenting was the cause behind piracy and copyright infringement, is it illegal? The answer to that question would be: not necessarily.
Over the years torrenting has gotten a bad reputation but torrenting is simply a type of file sharing but that doesn’t make it illegal. There are actually some great torrent sites to use to share files. In fact, some of the best torrent sites allow you to install your favorite movies, TV shows, and games to your favorite streaming device, without legal worries floating through your mind. Businesses are even creating data channels through torrents to share files for conferences and other various meetings.
So before you enter the world of torrenting, take a look at some key aspect to it to make sure you have a full understanding of it.
The Workings of Torrenting
The easiest way to explain torrenting is to give you an example. So you’ve been on the internet before, right? Of course. While you’re on the internet, you’ve seen some things on there that you’ve downloaded… Once you click that download button, that file will magically appear on your computer. Well, torrenting is completely different from that. With regular downloads, you’d take a single file from a single server. With a torrent, that single file is broken up into micro pieces and shared to a network of computers that are also downloading different variations of that same file you are.
Because those network of computers is downloading and uploading, this can cause your network load to run much slower than it would if you were downloading from a single server. The key thing would be to make sure you have a fast internet connection… not having one will definitely have you frustrated.
The Risks Associated With Torrenting
Anytime you download anything from the internet, you’re putting your device at risk for viruses but the process of torrenting is way less risky because you’re downloading it from a network of peers… You’re actually more likely to catch a virus with downloading from single files than torrenting, interestingly enough. One thing that will help you out is to read the comments from other torrenters… they’ll typically leave comments letting future torrenters know whether it’s a good or bad download.
Although torrenting is safer than single downloads, you still need to be on the lookout for people out there trying to share files that contain viruses. A good tip is to stay away from torrents that don’t look familiar and torrents that don’t have any comments from the torrenting community… those are two big red flags to look out for.
According to proprivacy.com, research was conducted and revealed that shared files for popular TV shows like Game of Thrones and Stranger Things were where people would experience the most threats to their devices. In fact, it revealed that torrents for Game of Thrones had around 30,000 viruses. So when sharing, be sure to download a good antivirus… It will scan whatever files you download and let you know if the materials you downloaded pose any threat to your device.
Torrenting and Its Connection With Copyright Infringement
A lot of things you find on torrents sites contain copyrighted content and materials and downloading any of it is against the law. You can actually get sued over downloading copyrighted material. It has even been said that copyright infringement costs the US over $200 billion each year.
Getting sued over copyright infringement is definitely a reality but most of these cases barely result with a “slap on the wrist” but that’s no reason to go on and test out that theory… stick t the trusted torrent sites. If you’re one who doesn’t want to risk being sued for copyright infringement, then you should consider putting a VPN in place so that you won’t leave a digital footprint.
