After the Mullvad fiasco I decided to stop using VPNs all together, since port forwarding is always going to be a problem on all of them, if you read the reasons why Mullvad had to shut down that service.

There is a better way using i2p which conceals your IP and makes it impossible for anyone to know what or if you're downloading at all! No DMCA notices, no problem.

I wrote this small guide to another comment and figured I'd share it in its own post since I'm seeing so many people ask for VPN recommendations.

So there are 2 main implementations of i2p. First is the main Dev’s Java client here https://geti2p.net/en/download

The other is i2pd, which is C++.

I use the Java one personally but both would work. Someone posted back on reddit a guide on /r/i2p for qbittorrent, which is what I use now for this too. The guide was shared as a public torrent you can download with this info hash: 3f1d51095f9b116739172c1bced149acf2b10692

Use that hash with any of the various public trackers and you should be able to download that guide.

But if you just want a basic setup, that Java client comes with i2psnark, which is a Bittorrent client already setup.

The only other thing you want to do is go and search the biggest tracker for stuff, which is called PaTracker, Postman’s tracker. http://tracker2.postman.i2p, only accessible from i2p itself, which you’ll need to have setup and running first to view.

This tracker needs more seeders and uploaders in general, and by improving those things service for everyone is better. So the more the merrier.

Thanks! Feel free to ask any questions, there also might be other people who use i2p now for torrenting. I'm sure they'll help too.

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[–] BrotherCod@kbin.social 51 points 2 years ago (22 children)

I2p is not a substitution for a proxy. I2p is an end-to-end encryption Network and unless it's changed over the past couple of years it's incredibly slow for any multimedia transfer. Coupled on top of that you have to have the knowledge to be able to set up your full system to route all traffic through it. So using it as a a security step for most people is already out of the question. It's not like a VPN where you can just plug and play. Having your entire network communicate through l2p is going to make everything substantially slower.

[–] karce@wizanons.dev 18 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (21 children)

You don't need to route all traffic, just the traffic from your bittorrent client.

Download speeds have improved significantly as there are more people on there seeding than ever.

i2p is significantly better than a proxy, you jump through multiple hosts/tunnels before reaching the service.

Also it isn't all network traffic at all, just services connecting through i2p like a web browser you have setup to use it.

[–] elghoto@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (7 children)

Can you only seed to people on i2p?

[–] karce@wizanons.dev 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

You can cross-seed with people over clearnet using qBittorrent or BiglyBT, but that also exposes your IP to clearnet people. So you could get DMCA notices if it is copywrited content.

Otherwise typically no you will only be downloading and seeding with people on I2P if you haven't chosen to cross-seed.

[–] elghoto@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Then this is no replacement for VPN..

Thanks.

[–] karce@wizanons.dev 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It's worked well enough for me. Keep in mind this is just for public trackers. Private trackers shouldn't be used with a VPN anyway and you don't need to use i2p for them.

[–] TheButtonJustSpins 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Why would you not use a VPN with private trackers? VPN all the things!

[–] karce@wizanons.dev 2 points 2 years ago

Typically it is just unnecessary. And believe it or not VPNs will slow you down too.

[–] dustojnikhummer@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

but that also exposes your IP to clearnet people. So you could get DMCA notices if it is copywrited content.

So, for pretty much everyone this is the same as torrenting without a VPN at all.

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