How do VPN companies get away with DMCA? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 month ago by haroldfinch@lemmy.ml to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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I've noticed many people promote VPNs for torrenting to evade legal troubles in some places. But I wonder how do VPN companies get away with legal complaints? Especially if their servers are located in Germany or Japan, where piracy is heavily penalized.

p.s. I have never used a VPN for piracy, and I have never received any DMCA emails.

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[-] bastionntb@lemmy.ml 42 points 1 month ago

Its simple really. If you have an IP address on a torrent network, contact its owner. The owner of the IP will then be forced to contact the user... But if the owner doesn't keep logs... Then they don't know who the user is... And the claim can't progress any further. But not all VPNs are created equal. Some keep logs. And that's not good for privacy.

For you not getting DMCA, you may use private trackers only. If not, maybe you got lucky, or you just ignored the emails from your provider or your provider doesn't follow up with complaints.

[-] salad@lemmynsfw.com 4 points 1 month ago

How come private trackers are considered secure, wouldn’t the same approach to IP logging work once you obtained access to a tracker?

[-] Omgboom@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The barrier to entry into private trackers is high enough that it's not worth it. Soon after they started sending DMCA letters the admins would be alerted and it would take about 5 minutes to identify the preparator and ban them, and whoever invited them, and their whole invite tree. People complain about it being difficult to join private trackers, but it's really a security feature.

[-] prole@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Private trackers are no more "secure" than public aside from the barriers to entry... However, it's not like someone working for the MPAA couldn't pass an interview or whatever it is they do these days...

I'd still use a VPN if I were still on private trackers.

That said, I use a VPN always, so... 🤷🏻