Yes, a hosted seedbox paid with crypto and self managed keys is the way to go for torrenting
If you are worried about VPN’s, why are you not worried about seedbox providers?
As he said, paid with crypto and managed with his own keys. I don’t see how the seedbox provider can trace you if you do that, so there’s not that much to worry about
You’re going to connect to the seedbox at some point, which ties your IP to the traffic. If you are worried about a VPN attaching your IP to traffic, this is no different, no?
I am not worried about my torrenting traffic. I am worried about installing their software on my machine and giving them wide access including port mirroring.
What evidence do you have that no-log VPNs are compromised by the NSA? What about VPNs based in other countries like Canada?
the US has so much geopolitical reach that companies in canada or elsewhere would just hand over the question if it was high enough profile.
That’s an interesting point, but I think the “if it’s high profile enough” is key. People torrenting files is probably low on their priorities. On the other hand, somebody organizing a terrorist cell is probably much higher.
Companies might have an interest in finding pirates, but it would not be as easy for them to get other companies to comply with their subpoenas.
You might have heard about Edward Snowden? Have you looked into anything that he leaked?
The existence of the NSA and their activities is not proof that they have backdoors in VPNs. That’s bogeyman conspiracy theory shit—“they could be anywhere, therefore they’re everywhere!”
You still haven’t answered the question, and I’m beginning to think you are making shit up based on paranoia.
Is your home machine, your phone, better protected than the VPN servers? I bet you’re not as good at IT security as the IT security staff VPN companies hire
If your threat model includes nation state actors, you’re best off not using networked computers
