I don’t live in the US, so my ISP doesn’t really seem to care what I torrent, but the megathread vehemently recommends to always use one. Since VPNs aren’t cheap and I’m on a strict budget (wouldn’t pirate otherwise), is it really that dangerous to torrent without one?

  • Totally doesn’t take “terabytes of data”. I’m in the US, and one time I got a notice from my ISP (Comcast) for a file that took all of 7 seconds to download. It was an episode of an HBO show so no mouse affiliation, and also pretty sure I was using a private tracker (can’t remember exactly, though, since it’s probably been 10 years, and I’ve been using a VPN ever since).