DIGITAL PIRACY 101
Pinning this since I genuinely think Piracy is a great skill to have and I want to share it with anyone who'd like to see it
Okay so! You need to download something!
Be it a movie, a game, a software, a book. Where do you even start? You know people catch viruses or fines pirating, so how to do it, and do it safely? This is going to be a bit verbose, so coloured text has the most important info. THIS WILL BE LONG but you can just skim it! (P.S. there are some goodies for artists in the end so do take a peek there if you do art and would like courses or procreate brushes) By the end of this you should be able to download or stream almost anything.
(Disclaimer: I'm not super knowledgeable on the technical side of things, just a moderately seasoned pirate. Will explain stuff to the best of my abilities, but there will be wild semplifications. If there's any issue, or precisations you'd like to make, or just need a hand with something, feel free to reach out to me directly on here!)
Putting a cut here so I don't spam your dashes <3 - now, here we go:
All this is pretty dang accurate. Nice.
However, when it comes to adblocking and safe browsing, use NoScript. It’s an extension compatible with chromium browsers and Firefox that prevents sites from running scripts on your machine without express permission. It requires a little babysitting, but it’ll save your ass. If you want something less involved but also less secure, stick with an Adblock-enabled Firefox, arc, or brave (brave isn’t that bad, but not the best). I don’t know enough about the sites @clorofolle mentioned to vouch for their security (or lack thereof), but if you’re on sites looking for magnet links for illegal downloads, I’d be extra careful with your security.
Additionally, while (some) VPNs are great at masking your traffic and not keeping your data (so they claim, anyway), another extra step of security is to use another network besides your home network to do your illegal business. Generally, if you’re doing things against the rules, don’t shit where you eat. Go to a coffee shop or a library with unsecured wireless and download things there. It might tank their bandwidth a bit though, so be considerate and maybe throttle your connection speed.
The only thing @clorofolle writes that I take issue with is their brief discussion of port forwarding. Giving a vpn an open port can open you up to certain attacks depending on how their security is configured. Please, DO NOT just open ports without understanding the risks. If it isn’t configured correctly, you could end up compromising your own security. To give an analogy, think of the downloading process like eating food. It’s faster to eat if you keep your mouth already open, just like it’s faster to download from seeders if you have the right port opened. However, it’s not a good idea to keep your mouth open in a room full of flies, because they might fly in and that’s gross. Now imagine the flies are hackers. If you keep a port open, it can provide a convenient attack surface for any potential threats that take a look at your computer on the network. Only open ports if you know the risks and if you know who can access it.
