Torrent sites can be blocked by ISPs, but on the pirate bay, you can find a current and working list of torrent sites. However, is it possible to bypass these blockages? Yes, it is possible to arrange it so that your ISP will not know that you are visiting a blocked site or using a blocked messenger. To do this, you need special intermediaries: they can help you create encrypted communication channels with servers located abroad and redirect your Internet traffic through them.
What kind of intermediaries are these? These can be special sites or servers, browser extensions or browsers with built-in web-blocking features, or programs that connect your device to secure networks. Some of these are completely free, while others require a fee.
And if I Regularly Want to Visit Blocked Sites?
Then it is better to use special browser extensions like Browsec or Zenmate for Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Or you can install Opera – a browser with a built-in secure proxy server. Note that blocking can be bypassed only by the browser for which you install the extension. Other applications (such as torrent clients or messengers) will not be able to bypass blocking.
If the authors of such extensions do not cooperate with the authorities, they will have to play “cat and mouse”, constantly changing the IP address. But for users, it will look like a simple automatic update of the extensions.
Are There Any Universal Tools?
EVPN. They let all your Internet traffic through their servers and allow you to bypass blocking for any application, such as a messenger, or cope with slow downloading torrents. You can connect stationary computers and laptops, mobile devices, and even some home routers to such a network. It all depends on your particular provider. You can try free services Opera Free VPN (only mobile devices) or CyberGhost VPN.
If the owners of VPN services agree to cooperate with the authorities, then you’ll need not one but two law-abiding VPN providers to bypass blockades. The first will allow you to pretend to be a foreigner, so the second will not apply to your blocking from the blacklist. In addition, blocking will be officially allowed to bypass the corporate VPN, which is used by company employees.
How to Protect Yourself and Identify Fake Torrents
Use the search engine DuckDuckGo if you’re having trouble finding a torrent tracker. It is much more private than Google and is less likely to hide URLs due to DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) requests, which aim to block services that circumvent copyright measures.
Beware of fake torrent trackers. Multiple windows, registration requests, and questionable-looking URLs are signs of malicious sites. Fake sites often imitate real torrent trackers when they are shut down and may contain malware as well. Use a trusted torrent client such as uTorrent to download files after you have found a trustworthy site.
Check the security of each torrent before you download it. Check the history of the author of the giveaway to see if he or she publishes quality and popular torrents. I avoid new authors and only download verified torrents – unverified torrents can easily install malware on your device. To increase the likelihood of downloading a reliable torrent, pay attention to the ratio of sitters to listers. It is also helpful to read comments on torrent pages to be aware of potentially dangerous downloads beforehand. Remember that your anti-virus program may sometimes work falsely for safe files.
Use quality security software to scan RAR, TAR, and ZIP files for malware, and pay special attention to EXE files. These are the files that most often initiate malicious processes. Avoid outdated WMA and WMV file formats. Download a secure VPN and a trusted malware scanner to protect your personal information and device while downloading torrents. You can also connect a quality ad-blocking service before you start visiting torrent trackers.