Originally Posted by
DanielleD87
*shrugs* i get around 20 to 40 megbit/s download and around 1.5 to 2megbit/s upload and i'm proxied.
Your anonymity can be compromised in at least three different ways when you use a proxy:
1) A proxy only works on your outgoing connections. Unless you have firewalled your computer AGAINST incoming bittorrent connections, other people can (and will) connect directly to you. If you do firewall your computer against incoming connections, your performance (speed) will be lower than optimal (although this is a reasonable tradeoff).
2) The proxy operator can turn his log files over to the authorities, either voluntarily or through legal compulsion. You need to make sure you are using a proxy based in a country where P2P is legal, and where they give you some kind of assurance that your anonymity won't be compromised. Still, your anonymity is in their hands.
3) Unless you are connected to the proxy by SSL, your torrents are traversing the network in unencrypted form. This means your ISP can see them, and could (theoretically) detect that you are sharing files and report you. I don't think this is a problem today (except when it comes to companies like Comcast throttling torrents), but it certainly could become a problem in the future as more laws are passed in order to protect the fat cat corporations' profits.
A VPN eliminates two out of three of these concerns. An anonymizing (and encrypting) transport layer like I2P or TOR eliminates all of them.
Bookmarks