How to Protect Torrent IP in Germany to Avoid Copyright Notice (Abmahnung)

How to Protect Torrent IP in Germany to Avoid Copyright Notice (Abmahnung)

In places like Switzerland, you can pretty much download whatever you want without having to worry about copyright notices in the mail (as long as you aren’t distributing or selling copyright protected content). However, in other places like the US, copyright laws are mainly ignored but still enforced enough to make internet savvy users rely on VPNs. In Germany, it’s starting to look like VPNs are becoming more and more mandatory to protect users from heavy fines and trouble with the aggressive anti-piracy campaign.

How is Germany Sending Fines for Torrenting?

So how is this happening? Well, Germany’s big movie studios have hired various companies to hunt down pirates in an attempt to stamp out the illegal process of torrenting movies, videos, and music. A tracking company would monitor a torrent file, join the swarm, and then collect IP addresses from users not using a proxy or VPN.

Is Torrenting in Germany Wrong?

So why is this a problem? Isn’t pirating illegal? The problem is that torrenting and piracy are often such a grey area users can find themselves against the law without even knowing it. It’s common for a child, teenager, or someone else living within the house to torrent without the main bill holder knowing.

If a IP is registered as downloading a file, means that the main bill holder in the house connected to the internet service provider, paying for the internet could end up with thousands in fines without even knowing why. We don’t advocate pirating illegal content but we believe that P2P technology is important, and that your IP address should be protected as a personal right and not collected by third party companies with greedy agendas looking to extort fines from internet users.

How are Copyright Notices Being Sent in Germany?

How to Protect Torrent IP in Germany to Avoid Copyright Notice (Abmahnung)

So how can you protect yourself from these German movie studios so you don’t end up with a letter with thousands owed in fines?

Well, users who use torrent websites and illegal movie streaming websites like Popcorn Time which stream torrent files are at risk. Sometimes in Germany, it can only take days for a letter to show up after you’ve downloaded or streamed the wrong file. A large portion of the time, these letters, like in the US, are used as scare tactics to get users to pony up their cash.

Most of these cases don’t go to court, but you probably don’t want to risk being the lucky one to be paraded as an example of what not to do.

How to Protect Torrent IP / Torrent Activity in Germany

The most important thing you need to do to protect yourself from copyright protection companies in Germany is to hide your IP address. If your IP address is hidden, these aggressive companies can’t locate your real world location by going through your internet service provider. Now, you might think that this sounds hard, but it’s actually super easy. You  can either hide your IP in Germany through a proxy or a VPN.

What’s the difference?

Well a VPN is the more complete option, whereas proxies are for lazy people who just want to hide their IP. VPNs encrypt ALL of your outgoing traffic so your ISP for example can’t even see you are using P2P programs. They are super secure, whereas proxies just scramble your IP address so you can’t be located. However, your internet activity can still be monitored and looked at by your ISP.

So once you connect to a VPN or proxy, you can hide your IP address and encrypt your internet traffic to stay hidden while downloading files.

The question is,what is the best VPN to use in Germany for torrenting?

Well, my top rated VPNs all deserve a place for one reason or another. The top 3 recommended VPNs for German torrenting are:

  1. TorGuard
  2. IPVanish
  3. Private Internet Access

With this table, you can see a bit of a breakdown on how they compare.

How to Protect Torrent IP in Germany to Avoid Copyright Notice (Abmahnung) How to Protect Torrent IP in Germany to Avoid Copyright Notice (Abmahnung)
Multi-platform Compatible
256-AES Encryption
PRICE $5 for 1 month with code "best10VPN" $6.95 a month
Website Rating 9.9 8.8
24/7 Live Chat
Residential / Dedicated IP for permanent streaming access
Has Mobile App + PC / Mac Support
Stealth VPN / Advanced Obfuscation techniques
Visit VPN Provider Visit TorGuard Visit PIA

Once you pick a VPN, sign up for a subscription, and then download their app. Pick a Germany server, or if your favorite torrent website like ThePirateBay is blocked, pick a country like the US that isn’t blocked which will unblock ThePirateBay in Germany for you.

Spark has a simple mission to help you chose the best VPN without any bias. Which VPN do I use? See it here!

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