Tor or I2P - what to choose? Darknet torrenting. Speed or safety.

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Tor or I2P - what to choose?
Darknet torrenting. Speed or safety.

Downloading torrent files from a clearnet can be quite dangerous in some cases, since your IP address will be visible to other people. In addition, your ISP can track your traffic and know where you are going and what you are downloading. But don’t worry, torrent files can also be downloaded from Darknet. There are 2 main options. The first is Tor, and the second is I2P. Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages, which we will talk about today.

Tor
Tor has several torrent sites. For example, The Pirate Bay has a backup of .onion - uj3wazyk5u4hnvtk.onion , however, keep in mind that Tor was not created for torrenting. If your goal is to remain anonymous, then through Tor it is simply impossible, since Tor was not originally intended for this. And downloading files larger than 36 GB will already be from the fiction section, because all traffic routing will go through you, provided that the speed is limited.

Currently, approximately 700 exit nodes serve 3 million people. If a large number of people will use the torrent, the network will load fully. When you want to download a torrent file, and your node is clogged, then your BitTorrent client will have to publicly announce your IP address to the torrent tracker, because besides you, another 200,000 people are sitting on the same node so that the feasts can find you.

After the client “anonymously” sends your real IP address to the tracker, using Tor will not be of any use. In addition, torrenting through the Tor network is very painfully slow, but it is still faster than I2P.

Tor is useful if you use it to download .torrent files. The user may remain anonymous when downloading the file. The problem only occurs when users configure the BitTorrent client routing through Tor instead of Clearnet from connecting to peers.

I2P

I2P - Another large anonymizing network that is similar to Tor, but has some distinctive features. I2P has a Postman Tracker and an I2PSnark tracker - this is essentially The Pirate Bay, while I2PSnark is almost the same as uTorrent. Unlike Tor, I2P has no problems with user flows. In fact, torrenting through i2p improves overall anonymity by providing more traffic to make it harder to track you. In addition, torrenting through I2P is much more anonymous and secure, and also better than any VPN, because the protocol was originally designed to ensure privacy.

There are many high quality torrents on the tracker. Unlike what the public thinks, there are not as many child pornography and extremist content as you might think. Instead, there are a lot of books that are quickly deleted on ClearNet, including huge databases of programming and science fiction art. The Pirate Bay also has backup in I2P. Porn, forbidden books, films, music, and backups of government documents are also plentifully provided in I2P.

Do not misunderstand: I2P users value freedom of speech, freedom of information, transparency and the power of technology in society . Unlike a regular user of The Pirate Bay or RuTracker, this community really cares that the Internet is anonymous and not censored.

The main disadvantage of I2P is speed. It has an average download speed of 30-100 Kbit / s, which is unrealistically slow compared to the usual clearnet 50-100 Mbit / s. But there is one thing to keep in mind: the more time you spend downloading torrent via I2P, the less time you have to spend on lawyers. This is a compromise, and you will have to choose what you value more: speed or safety. Usually torrents on I2P are downloaded at night, and you will be sure of your anonymity.

A small list of trackers in I2P:
PaTracker 1.7 aka Tracker I2P Postman , or just a postman. The main torrent tracker I2P. For many years, very active and reliable. A lot of good things http: //tracker2.postman.i2p
DifTracker - a large amount of French content http: //diftracker.i2p
ExoTrack.i2p - Deserted, but functional. http: //exotrack.i2p
Myttk - Russian torrent site. http: //myttk.i2p

Output
If your primary goal is anonymity, then I2P will be your favorite. Although you may have to suffer a little slow download speeds, I2P offers a lot more actual anonymity than Tor or any other protocol because of its decentralized nature. I2P also has its own BitTorrent client: I2pSnark. However, it has fewer users than Tor, and this can be a problem when connecting to peers to share files. This again directly affects the download speed, which in Tor will be disproportionately higher.

If your goal is to simply download the .torrent file, then Tor is the best option. Tor allows users to quickly download .torrent files, but is not suitable for connecting to peers due to low bandwidth.

In any case, it is extremely difficult for public torrent trackers in Tor or I2p to support themselves due to a decrease in advertising revenue. In addition, Dark Net torrents will have less competition due to the complex methods required to access them.

In general, regardless of the option you have chosen - successful torrenting!