I wrote this post for a friend, I’m sharing it here for anybody it might help. I got asked multiple times how I download cracked music software so I figured it’d be easier to write it down once. It’s meant for people with very low technical skills who just want to start torrenting software without major risks, and it includes a bunch of safety tips that are already known in this community.
If you have feedback, let me know and I’ll update the post.
I can confirm PIA fully works as long as you’re connected to one of the endpoints that supports port forwarding, and it works over wireguard which I prefer. My torrent client runs in a docker container that runs all traffic through it.
Whether or not you trust their claim of not saving any logs (especially after getting bought out a few years ago) is up to you, but there hasn’t been any evidence to suggest they are, and they’ve had reputable audits to suggest they don’t.
Does PIA have a free plan that works? Since the only free option was immediately debunked in these comments.
There is no good free VPN. Proton is the only one with a free tier I’d trust, but again, it won’t help with stuff like this. VPNs are expensive operations to run. If it’s free to use, there’s basically no chance that they aren’t monetizing it in a shady way.
Mullvad is $5/month, you don’t have to subscribe (you can buy a single month), and they accept multiple private payment options. I would highly recommend shelling out the $5 to protect yourself over risking it with a free VPN.
I already have a paid one, but I wrote this for people who don’t care enough to pay for one. Basically the alternative is either a free one or none. If I’m talking to a friend I’d rather they use a shady free VPN than none at all.
I mean, PIA is like 40 bucks for an entire year. You’re not gonna find any prominent streaming service, pro-grade subscription software, or pro-grade software license that’s as cheap as that.
If the goal is to access all desired software and media safely while paying as little as possible, it’s a great choice.
