1. Do your Research !
Find out the policies and reputation of your isp (google it). For example verizon has an excellent privacy policy and motto vs comcast which has been the cause of many isp warnings.
2. Encrypt your Connection
The majority of torrent applications have built in encryption ability. See this link to find out how to encrypt your torrents for the majour torrent utilities. "http://torrentfreak.com/how-to-encrypt-bittorrent-traffic/"
3.Download peer guardian.
Peer Guardian is designed by pheonix labs, it blacklists isps of known anti p2p persons, agents, companie, etc. It's in no way fullproof but it's in good hands and a great preventative step. See this link: "http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/"
4. Proxy your IP!
Enlist the services of a good, high quality proxy. One that I have located with many varous plans to meet any budget and only the finest quality (paypal enabled). I prefer pay because u dont want to sacrafice quality when it comes to safety.
i). Secure Tunnel- Pay proxy server with plenty of features. Effective for personal use,
when your Internet activities are not involved in web site development,
mass form submitting, etc. The best solution for most of Internet
users. Ultimate protection of privacy - nobody can find out where you
are engaged in surfing. Blocks all methods of tracking. Provides an
encrypted connection for all forms of web browsing, including http,
news, mail, and the especially vulnerable IRC and ICQ. Comes with
special totally preconfigured software.
"https://www.secure-tunnel.com/index.cfm?linkID=RM597279&CFID=942832&CFTOKEN=53937046"
ii). Proxy Way Pro - multifunctional anonymous proxy surfing software which you can use
together with a wide variety of web applications (web browsers, Instant
Messengers, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), etc.) to ensure your anonymity.
ProxyWay Pro provides an extended proxy management system that enables
you to search for, check proxy (multithreaded proxies checking),
analyze, validate proxy servers for speed, anonymity, type
(HTTP/HTTPS/SOCKS), geographical location, create proxy chains. Allows
update proxy list automatically using scheduler. ProxyWay Pro lets you
clear history, block ads and popups, change User-Agent and Referrer
fields, block harm code and much more. Also it can be used as a simple
local proxy server.
"http://www.proxyway.org/"
5. Encrypt your downloads !
And and all sensitives or legally questionable data should be encrypted (you can never be to safe). Truecrypt is a free encryption service that is tried, tested and true. You can encrypt a file or a whole hard drive/partition. You can encrypt with up to 3 of the worlds top encryption algorithems used by FBI, CIA, etc. You can use them all together in a cascade of protection and even create a hidden file, or emcrypt your operating system. To see more copy and paste the following link: "http://www.truecrypt.org/"
Other Advice
Be AWARE and PROACTIVE.
When it comes to torrent downloading know the laws of your province/state/country, and know them well. Know how they apply to you and how much sequrity you will need (a hardware encrypter might be neccesairy) .
a) Surf on ssl encrypted websites like isohunt
b) Use a router with a built in firewall
c) Know your network and know your settings, make sure ports are forwarded properly
d) Get a firewall with packet encryption
It seems to me that allot of people leech is because uploading comes at a higher risk, take any one of these precations, or all of them and feel secure uploading. Torrents survive on the prospect of sharing, if we fail to do or part to share then we are dooming that system which we love to destruction. I upload at up to 95 kB/s and thats my max. Do your part and do as much as you can, but take these precations first and be a seeder!
