Public + VPN or Private + Seedbox or Usenet + SSL

[maxwolfie]

Hi guys,

I am currently a member of a (very well known) general purpose private torrent site, which is the only site I need. Most of the content that I acquire is media that is played on my TV via a WDTV Live via Network Shares.

There have been a spate of crackdowns in recent times (especially here in Australia) so I am looking for ways to increase my privacy/anonymity while hopefully adding some functionality/benefit as well.

Rather than typing a wall of text I will just put Pro's and Con's of what I think, roughly in the order of importance (note: key word is "think" and I may be completely wrong).

Public + VPN
Pro's

• Cheap - cost of VPN only
• No seeding *required*

Con's

• Scanned by content copywrite holders
• Slower downloads
• More malware

Summary: Possibly a good/cheap option, provided that I am GUARANTEED to be 100% anonymous with a VPN? Can use something like showrss.info with public trackers.


Private + Seedbox
Pro's

• Continue as I am, on the same site - perhaps look at other sites if the need arises.
• One more layer of security for copywrite holders (I.e. private site needs invite/donation to join) - also is SSL and HTTPS enabled/compatible.
• Some Seedboxes seem to offer Plex Media Server support which will be a big plus, provided it actually works well with HD content.

Con's

• Have to manage Seedbox - not sure how you typically access them, and if having a middle man slows the whole process down considerably?
• Most expensive option
• Can't use VPN to access Private site?
• More malware

Summary: Continue as I am, just with a Seedbox. Probably the safest option? But also the most expensive most likely.


Usenet + SSL
Pro's

• Downloads likely to max out link every time (though they do with torrents generally anyways)
• More secure (using SSL) than torrents?

Con's

• I am very much concerned about the availability of older content (read - anything from the latest to 30-40 year old content)
• I have no idea about Usenet and I have tried to set it up before, only to become frustrated and eventually giving up on it.

Summary: My major concern with Usenet is content availability. Can anyone chime in with their experiences on this - particularly older content?

[lightshow]

Public + VPN
Pro's

• Cheap - cost of VPN only
• No seeding *required*

Con's

• Scanned by content copywrite holders
• Slower downloads
• More malware

• Scanned by content copywrite holder -
  
  • When they detect your VPN based public IP in the swarm, that IP is the one that gets a WHOIS for the letters. Depends on the VPN host if they will give out your information when it's traced back to them
  
  
• Slower Downloads - All your traffic has to be routed across their VPN endpoint and go back to you. Also the payload is larger since it is encrypted. You're going to be limited by your incoming speed and the overhead of the VPN encryption on the payload (making the filesize transfer higher)
• More malware - As long as you use a legit VPN provider, your malware risk not related to using VPN or not; that pertains more to what you download/browse/etc

Summary: Possibly a good/cheap option, provided that I am GUARANTEED to be 100% anonymous with a VPN? Can use something like showrss.info with public trackers.

There is no anonymous, there is only more likely to not have your information given out (which is what you pay for, and is relative to how much you pay for it)

Private + Seedbox
Pro's

• Continue as I am, on the same site - perhaps look at other sites if the need arises.
• One more layer of security for copywrite holders (I.e. private site needs invite/donation to join) - also is SSL and HTTPS enabled/compatible.
• Some Seedboxes seem to offer Plex Media Server support which will be a big plus, provided it actually works well with HD content.

Con's

• Have to manage Seedbox - not sure how you typically access them, and if having a middle man slows the whole process down considerably?
• Most expensive option
• Can't use VPN to access Private site?
• More malware

If you can join a private site, then so can any subcontracted company who is paid to identify and litigate copyright offenders. $15 does not dissuade them.
HTTPS and SSL your referring to doesn't help your case. You join the swarm, exchange information with the swarm then upload/download from the swarm members. So, that means you know all the peers and they know you. If the rest of the communication is SSL (force outgoing encryption options, etc.) who cares? This only helps if the ISP is doing packet inspection, not an outside peer from the swarm snooping on you.

A seedbox is used since it has higher bandwidth than you (depends on your locale ) and it's always on and you don't have to mess with all the stuff running on your personal computer.

A seedbox has its own block of IP addresses based on the hosting company that's providing you a seedbox. You don't have full root on that box so you can't add an additional tunnel (some may allow full root to do that kind of stuff).

Malware is again irrelevant.

A seedbox may be on a subnet that's blacklisted on peerguaridan, etc. which could impact your ability to connect to peers/seeders/swarm. Do your research.

Summary: Continue as I am, just with a Seedbox. Probably the safest option? But also the most expensive most likely.


Usenet + SSL
Pro's

• Downloads likely to max out link every time (though they do with torrents generally anyways)
• More secure (using SSL) than torrents?

Con's

• I am very much concerned about the availability of older content (read - anything from the latest to 30-40 year old content)
• I have no idea about Usenet and I have tried to set it up before, only to become frustrated and eventually giving up on it.

Usenet full point to point SSL encryption. ISP can't do packet inspection to see contents, only filesizes. You can do a seedbox like setup with usenet, just use the seedbox to connect to newsgroups, then you'll have all that fancy stuff like exposing TCP listener ports over unauthenticated protocols for streaming content to Plex/XBMC/Kodi over a public facing IP address across the whole wide internet WAN.

Yes, full end to end encryption which torrents can't offer. Also you pay the endpoint for service (newsgroups) so they are less likey to give up your information.

Search for the content you want today. If they don't have it, mix the two or just go to Redbox?