Torrents

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Here is the rule of thumb, if its free to the public, its legal to download as a torrent. If its a program, movies, music, ebooks etc etc... and it is available to the public to buy either in a store or online, its illegal to download. Now there is always the question, will you get caught? Most likely not depending on your downloading tendencies. As far as downloading a torrent to watch a live game, I wouldn't do that at all. You can go to places like first row sports and watch streams. Never download a torrent that promises a live stream, just my opinion.

Simply put, either stay away from most torrents or be extremely careful when downloading.

When I download a torrent I look at the following:
1. Is the uploader legit? Click their name and look at their rep on the torrent site you are on. Check for other uploads as well. If he has a ton of uploads with a ton of downloads, typically this person is ok to download from. If its someone with no rep, not many downloads, no comments etc etc... run, fast.

2. Are there a lot of comments and ratings on that torrent? As another rule, I never download something without at least 3-4 comments saying this torrent is good, no virus etc etc.

3. After downloading a torrent, DO NOT OPEN IT! Go to the file location and scan it with all virus/malware/spyware products software you have. If any of them scream at you, deleted it and all other data/folders etc associated with that file.

My go to torrent software is uTorrent. I typically only download from places like piratebay and kickass torrents.

To be sure, its not ok to download torrents that usually cost you money in any other circumstances. Be careful, because some torrents are also setup as traps (from companies who sell the software/movies/music etc).

Also, I wanted to add this and hopefully I don't sound like an A-hole, but its just an observation. We aren't here to tell people to go google it themselves or send them a link of what they can look at to research their problem themselves. We are here because its most likely that the OP has already tried to find an answer to their question and they couldn't or they aren't savvy enough to find and fix things alone. Just my two cents.

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Superluigi6 said:

Gator said:

Here is the rule of thumb, if its free to the public, its legal to download as a torrent. If its a program, movies, music, ebooks etc etc... and it is available to the public to buy either in a store or online, its illegal to download. Now there is always the question, will you get caught? Most likely not depending on your downloading tendencies. As far as downloading a torrent to watch a live game, I wouldn't do that at all. You can go to places like first row sports and watch streams. Never download a torrent that promises a live stream, just my opinion.

Simply put, either stay away from most torrents or be extremely careful when downloading.

When I download a torrent I look at the following:
1. Is the uploader legit? Click their name and look at their rep on the torrent site you are on. Check for other uploads as well. If he has a ton of uploads with a ton of downloads, typically this person is ok to download from. If its someone with no rep, not many downloads, no comments etc etc... run, fast.

2. Are there a lot of comments and ratings on that torrent? As another rule, I never download something without at least 3-4 comments saying this torrent is good, no virus etc etc.

3. After downloading a torrent, DO NOT OPEN IT! Go to the file location and scan it with all virus/malware/spyware products software you have. If any of them scream at you, deleted it and all other data/folders etc associated with that file.

My go to torrent software is uTorrent. I typically only download from places like piratebay and kickass torrents.

To be sure, its not ok to download torrents that usually cost you money in any other circumstances. Be careful, because some torrents are also setup as traps (from companies who sell the software/movies/music etc).

Also, I wanted to add this and hopefully I don't sound like an A-hole, but its just an observation. We aren't here to tell people to go google it themselves or send them a link of what they can look at to research their problem themselves. We are here because its most likely that the OP has already tried to find an answer to their question and they couldn't or they aren't savvy enough to find and fix things alone. Just my two cents.

I have actually tried looking it up on Google and DuckDuckGo (fav search engine!), but nothing really helped me.

So, if you are telling me to not download stuff like live streams for events, copyrighted tv shows, etc for free from an external website, then what else can you use it for? It's sounding like watching full tv show episodes and live streams for games or whatever, is completely illegal, correct?

There are plenty of things to download. Open source software which may be distributed free via torrents is just one example. A great example would be downloading Linux distro torrents which are generally free. You can also download full software but do it responsibly and only use the trial instead of finding a torrent with cracked software (illegal). Or download Office and use a product key you own to activate it.

I'm not saying its impossible to download these shows or streams.. I'm saying downloading pirated software and movies is risky but its rare for normal people who download a torrent or two every once in a while to actually get caught or in trouble. You can use them at your own risk its just good to know the consequences first.

One should remember if you are using a torrent of any kind; it's one of the best ways of getting infected. One has no idea what is coming from where. People are seeding from all over the world.

My opinion is simple.
If one needs a torrent to download something then you don't want it. Find a proper site and download from there.

Layback Bear said:

One should remember if you are using a torrent of any kind; it's one of the best ways of getting infected. One has no idea what is coming from where. People are seeding from all over the world.

My opinion is simple.
If one needs a torrent to download something then you don't want it. Find a proper site and download from there.

The only way for a torrent to be infected with malware is if the original file is infected to start with. A random individual seeding the file among hundreds cannot infect the file. Torrents are constantly using checksums matching against the original file. This is no different then "finding a proper site and download from there" as you put it. The same risk is applicable to both. Download from trusted sources.

But I'll state it again, Torrents are not one of the best ways of getting infected. The risk of downloading from a torrent, of from a web site is the same. It makes no difference.