Is it illigal to download from torrent in europe

What is quite confusing is the way the Dutch authorities defined art. Torrenting in the United States is not technically illegal—unless you are downloading copyrighted materials —but the government is still doing its best to crack down on it. The majority of ISPs throttle any torrent traffic that is detected on their network. In other words, they make downloading very slow, in an attempt to deter people from doing it.

You can get around this by using a good VPN and connecting to servers that are outside the United States. If you take Switzerland as an example, it is safe to say that you are largely free to torrent what you want, whenever you want. However, if you are in any of the other aforementioned countries, your safety could be much lower. In the Netherlands, your safety might become an issue as soon as you share something; in Mexico, your privacy might be affected, and this alone might become an issue.

Switzerland has privacy laws that make it illegal for third parties to spy on the IP addresses of people who download torrents. But not all of us are lucky enough to enjoy such perks.

So here we are again asking ourselves is torrenting illegal or not, and here is the answer we all enjoy so much — it depends.

If you want to remain anonymous and protect your privacy at all times, you should consider investing in the use of a Virtual Private Network for torrenting.

If you do this, you are likely to prevent any intrusion or possible legal action as a result of sharing copyrighted materials. Mikaela is an investigative journalist that likes to cover the ever-changing world of technology. She tries to keep her finger on the pulse of digital trends and share her insights on the most relevant topics, including big tech, security, privacy, and data breaches.

Your email address will not be published. Post Comment. This just goes to show that very few things are by their very nature illegal: it all depends on how you use it! Torrent wisely and keep up-to-date on changing laws. Torrenting is not illegal, Sharing files over a peer-to-peer P2P server is legal. But, when you share a copyrighted content it becomes illegal. Another security aspect with torrents is if you are not careful with your source, you might become prey to malware.

For a small investment, you can have the piece of mind that your online privacy is secure. Most countries ban torrenting but you rarely get in trouble if you download illegal stuff through p2p. The chances are that your case will be dismissed before your ISP manages to reveal your personal details. You should also know that if you respond to the settlement letter, you might reveal your identity which gives greater power to the copyright troll.

Check out a list of attorneys published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation that specialize in cases like these. You should also know that your ISP might take certain actions to discourage you from downloading torrent files. For example, these companies have the power to throttle your Internet connection. In addition, some ISPs might work with copyright trolls and offer your personal information in a timely manner. After all, torrenting usually takes a lot of bandwidth which costs ISPs money.

As you can imagine, the safest way to prevent any legal action from happening is to avoid torrenting.

However, if you absolutely insist on downloading torrent files, there are certain things you should do to keep yourself protected. Finally, you should also know that you need to go for a premium-priced service. Make sure to check out the best VPNs for torrenting. During the last few years, streaming has been on the rise. In many ways, it managed to replace torrenting. This is mostly because streaming can be done in your Web browser or via specialized applications like Kodi.

However, things are much different when it comes to the law. You are still breaking the law if you stream copyrighted content. However, this depends on your country. For example, the UK has very strict laws that prohibit illegal streaming. It is also worth noting that laws are usually lenient toward streaming. On the other hand, it can be very hard to identify individuals who are using those streams.

Thanks to the involvement of third parties, torrenting is associated with IP addresses — which is where legal problems for torrents usually start. Finally, we think it might be helpful if you know a few tips and tricks. If employed properly, these can do a long way. So, make sure to carefully read the following segment:.

Now that we talked about is it illegal to download torrents, we recommend you to check out additional resources. These can expand your knowledge about torrents. There you have it, folks! Hopefully you can find time to reply to my comment. I recently moved to Germany and I do have worries that I may be fined for torrenting. I am also using qbittorrent and I have already connected my VPN to qbittorrent.

I am still a bit worried that I might have missed a step. Lastly, I checked to see if the IP address really is different using the official Nordvpn tutorial and it really does show that my IP address is from the netherlands. I am sorry for any stupid questions asked. I just really wanna be sure and be safe. Good news, it really is that simple. Hi, I accidentally downloaded a. Would I be fined for that? There is nothing illegal about it. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

David Barnes. If surprises you, let me explain: Bittorrent is simply a filesharing technology. But the Abmahnung culture has some major problems: Some law firms are sending copyright notices without actually having rights to the infringed work: In other words, some unethical firms are sending mass Abmahnung letters demanding settlements from filesharers, without the permission of the actual copyright holder!

As a result, many people have paid these settlement demands , even if they never downloaded the file. Follow these 3 steps to help protect yourself from these predatory Abmahnung letters: Only download legal torrents. High profile, copyrighted torrents are the 1 source of Abmahnung demands Protect your privacy online. Is it illegal? Are you likely to be caught? Torrenting is almost completely decentralized save for the trackers that allow users to search and download torrent files and magnet links.

Torrent files and magnet links are used to find other users on the network.