If you’re a technology geek, it’s quite impossible that you haven’t heard about the very term TORRENT!! You may have heard someone saying “Is torrenting legal and safe?”. Today I’m going to quench your thirst about torrents, what is it? Is it illegal? How can you securely access it from your smartphone? etc. So, read along.
Torrents are basically files categorized as media files (audio, video, image), applications, games, e-books, etc. These files are shared on torrent websites via BitTorrent protocol, i.e. peer-to-peer file sharing. The uploaders upload torrents and make them available for other users worldwide to download. But before we go to the depth, we need to know some terminologies related to it.
Torrent Terminologies
- Seeds/Seeders:- These are the users who have downloaded the specific torrent and uploading it for other users.
- Leechers:- These are the users who are still downloading the torrent.
- Peers:- These are users who are downloading and uploading downloaded parts of the torrent simultaneously.
Well, now it’s pretty much clear that the more seeders a torrent has, the faster it’ll download. Similarly, the more peers or leechers it has with fewer seeds, the more time it’ll take to download.
Why are Torrents so Popular?
Torrent files are maintained by torrent users. They upload(seed), download (or both simultaneously) their favorite data files, and keep them alive. Hence, there is a whole virtual community of torrent users involved in deciding the health of a particular torrent file. That is why torrents are reliable, fast, and an effective way to download files from the internet.
Is Torrenting Legal and Safe?
The question can naturally arise in your mind. Basically, premium adult videos from paid websites, proprietary applications (cracked or pirated), copyrighted e-books, or other materials are widely shared on torrent websites. So clearly, these deeds aren’t legitimate at all. That’s why many countries like North Korea, UAE, etc. have completely banned torrents/torrenting.
Security Threats in Torrenting
As you can get many premium contents for FREE, naturally, it’s not fully secure to access torrents without knowing the security threats and taking necessary steps to ensure safety. Moreover, hackers can steal your personal data while browsing torrents if you haven’t taken proper safety measures as they’re very much active on those websites. Also, they can track your IP address, thereby your location. Moreover, Phishing attacks are more prominent on those sites. So, beware before torrenting!!
Read more: What Are the Risks Involved in Torrenting?
However, you can browse torrents anonymously by using VPNs (Virtual Private Networks). You can hide your actual IP address too by using VPNs. And as a safety measure, torrent websites shouldn’t be surfed without using VPNs.
Read more: What are VPNs, its advantages, how to have a VPN connection?
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