After the Mullvad fiasco I decided to stop using VPNs all together, since port forwarding is always going to be a problem on all of them, if you read the reasons why Mullvad had to shut down that service.
There is a better way using i2p which conceals your IP and makes it impossible for anyone to know what or if you're downloading at all! No DMCA notices, no problem.
I wrote this small guide to another comment and figured I'd share it in its own post since I'm seeing so many people ask for VPN recommendations.
So there are 2 main implementations of i2p. First is the main Dev’s Java client here https://geti2p.net/en/download
The other is i2pd, which is C++.
I use the Java one personally but both would work. Someone posted back on reddit a guide on /r/i2p for qbittorrent, which is what I use now for this too. The guide was shared as a public torrent you can download with this info hash: 3f1d51095f9b116739172c1bced149acf2b10692
Use that hash with any of the various public trackers and you should be able to download that guide.
But if you just want a basic setup, that Java client comes with i2psnark, which is a Bittorrent client already setup.
The only other thing you want to do is go and search the biggest tracker for stuff, which is called PaTracker, Postman’s tracker. http://tracker2.postman.i2p, only accessible from i2p itself, which you’ll need to have setup and running first to view.
This tracker needs more seeders and uploaders in general, and by improving those things service for everyone is better. So the more the merrier.
Thanks! Feel free to ask any questions, there also might be other people who use i2p now for torrenting. I'm sure they'll help too.
I2P is a darknet similar to Tor in some ways, but it is perfectly legal and safe to use depending on what you're doing on it, of course.
It is used for regular browsing and running services on. People setup hidden services like websites or mail servers or anything on it really. Lemmy could theoretically be hosted over I2P as well, it just wouldn't federate properly with these ones on the clearnet.
Any other info you would want included? I2P can get pretty in depth but that's my basic understanding of what I use it for.
You said "but is legal" insinuating that Tor is illegal and unsafe. Do you have anything to support this claim? I get in some places in the world it's illegal, but as for safety that's up to the user to decide how careful they are.
Ah sorry. I didn't mean that. Tor is also legal and safe depending on what you're doing on there of course.
In the US, for instance, both Tor and I2P are legal. Interacting with websites doing illegal shit is where things get sticky. Also I don't really consider either more unsafe than the traditional internet, which can also be pretty unsafe if you don't have some amount of computer experience. I haven't seen any bad actors on I2P yet though, everyone is super nice and friendly.
TOR is completely legal and safe to use depending on what you are doing as well. Let's not demonize the service due to a few bad actors.