Is torrenting legal? Millions of internet users around the world rely on torrenting as it is highly effective and reliable for sharing files. The act of torrenting itself is completely legal if the content isn’t copyright protected or owned by someone else. However, some countries have banned torrenting completely, which leaves people of that country in a dilemma.
Countries That Allow Torrenting
In the 18th Century, the term “piracy” started being used for copyright infringements by a handful of companies. People who violated copyright laws were labeled as pirates. Today, the word piracy is commonly related to torrenting because of the nature of the activity.
Some may argue that peer-to-peer sharing rarely carries financial benefits for the parties involved, whereas piracy, in essence, is usually committed for financial gain. Nonetheless, in modern online piracy, the copyright holders bear the losses, which makes torrenting unfair for people who originally own the content.
To torrent safely and anonymously, the best method is through a torrent VPN because it allows p2p file sharing completely privately.
Using a VPN for torrenting, you can select a VPN country that allows torrenting while remaining anonymous to download torrents privately. Most VPNs offer switchable IP GEOs, which can be used to download torrents safely.
Legal Consequences Of Torrenting Where It is Illegal
The laws regarding online piracy and torrenting vary in each country. However, people who break the law are penalized with hefty fines, jail time, or both. Some countries do not have laws that forbid torrenting, therefore, it is technically legal to torrent there, but it is regarded as a grey area because the activity is viewed as piracy.
Nonetheless, in some countries, torrenting is completely legal, as long as you follow the laws.
Countries Where Torrenting Is Legal
Here are the five countries that are safe for torrenting.
- Mexico
- Switzerland
- Canada
- Spain
- Netherlands
1. Mexico
Mexico is hands down one of the safest places to download anything via torrents. Why? Because there are no such laws to forbid torrenting. Even if there are any laws, they are loosely formed. Hence, people do not follow them, and there are no authorities that regulate torrenting.
Therefore, torrenting is widely popular in Mexico, and according to a study, more than 90% of internet users download favorite music via torrents on a daily basis.
Mexico is a torrent-friendly nation; therefore, most of the file-sharing is done via P2P networks, including BitTorrent. To add to that, there are no such documented cases of people being arrested for downloading torrents. Therefore, it is safe to say that Mexico is amongst the safest places where torrenting is legal.
2. Switzerland
Switzerland is another safe place to download torrents because it does not have any laws against downloading torrents for personal use. Switzerland does not have any laws that would forbid you from downloading torrents, as long as it is for personal use only.
However, when it comes to using torrents for gaining financial benefits, that is where the Swiss government will intervene! You are in no case allowed to download torrents to gain any financial benefits.
You can download torrents without any worries of anyone breaching your privacy. As Switzerland upholds personal privacy and free speech with high regard; hence, your data and downloads will not be monitored.
3. Canada
The Canadian government does not forbid file-sharing by means of torrents. You can freely download artwork and music without worrying about any rules and regulations.
However, one is strictly forbidden to maintain any logging data of torrent users. This allows users to enjoy downloading torrents without the worry of their personal data being leaked.
Remember to keep in mind that torrenting is legal in Canada; nevertheless, you are not allowed to download copyrighted files. However, there is a chance of Canada banning torrenting due to an alarming increase in torrent-related crimes worldwide.
4. Spain
In Spain, torrenting is permissible if it is for personal use and the sharer and the downloader are not profiting from the practice. Before 2006, Spain had stringent laws against piracy, but changes were made recently to allow non-commercial torrenting.
Although the chances to the law were controversial and were opposed by some lawmakers makers in the country, it made many internet users happy to have access to free torrents online without the fear of breaking the law.
5. Netherlands
The laws regarding torrenting in the Netherlands are detailed; while some things are allowed, others are completely prohibited.
Peer-to-Peer sharing of literary work, science, and artwork is legal, which allows people to download various types of content. However, torrenting for financial gain is illegal, and so is sharing software files.
Verdict
With the ever-increasing population of torrent users, people across the globe are now discussing whether torrenting should be legalized worldwide or not.
Some people argue that torrenting should be allowed for ordinary file sharing for personal use only. While some people disagree with the fact of allowing torrents as it breaches copyright laws and it will discourage people from buying anything as it is available online for free.
Few countries, including Switzerland, have come forward to claim that torrenting should be legalized. Whereas some countries show no interest in this matter. While some countries are completely against legalizing torrenting worldwide.
All in all, you can never be sure about the safety of torrenting unless you use a trustable Torrent VPN service. As VPNs offer the fastest way to download torrents without getting into trouble.
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Bethany Wilson 
Sarah Durrani 
