This popular VPN service just banned torrenting - heres what happened

Date:
Mon, 14 Mar 2022 14:09:53 +0000

Description:
VPN provider TorGuard has settled a lawsuit with dozens of film studios.

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VPN provider TorGuard has banned customers from using torrenting protocol BitTorrent after reaching a court settlement with more than two dozen film studios.

The plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit in October 2021, claimed that TorGuards marketing material actively encouraged the breach of copyright laws and that its customers frequently used BitTorrent clients for precisely this purpose.

In a settlement document filed in early March, however, TorGuard promised to use commercially reasonable efforts to block BitTorrent traffic on its
servers in the United States using firewall technology.

TechRadar Pro is awaiting clarification over what the ban means for
customers based outside the US and whether it applies to servers located in other geographies. TechRadar needs you!

We're looking at how our readers use VPNs with different devices so we can improve our content and offer better advice. This survey shouldn't take more than 60 seconds of your time, and entrants from the UK and US will have the chance to enter a draw for a 100 Amazon gift card (or equivalent in USD). Thank you for taking part.

Click here to start the survey in a new window << No more torrenting

BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol that underpins torrenting activity online. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest the
protocol is used predominantly to facilitate online piracy, supported by an admittedly outdated study that found more than 95% of BitTorrent traffic is connected with illegal activity.

The prefix of the brand name TorGuard itself refers to the practice of torrenting, and an FAQ on the companys website makes clear that the name gestures towards guarding ones privacy when using BitTorrent.

The movie studios claimed this is evidence enough that TorGuard was aware
that its customers would use its service to breach copyright and even took steps to encourage such breaches.

The studios asserted that traffic passing through unencrypted SOCKS5 proxy services provided by TorGuard, with the assistance of hosting provider QuadraNet, demonstrates the extent of the piracy problem. Read more

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The studios say they sent almost 100,000 copyright infringement notices to QuadraNet, many of which related to activity over IP addresses supplied to TorGuard. The VPN company, for its part, says it was not made aware of these complaints.

TorGuard values intellectual property rights of others, as stated in TorGuard's publicly posted policies. Had QuadraNet sent these notices to our DMCA agent, TorGuard's ordinary business practices would have been to immediately take steps to stop further piracy, TorGuard stated, in the settlement document.

TorGuard has not yet acknowledged the settlement on its website, nor
published a statement in the aftermath of the lawsuit. TechRadar Pro is awaiting a response to a request for comment. Also check out our list of the best business VPN services

Via BleepingComputer



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/this-popular-vpn-service-just-banned-torrenting -heres-what-happened/


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