And apparently lots of people getting caught up in this.  And it isn't cheap either - the average settlement letter from the attorneys at the US copyright group (Dunlap, Grubb and Weaver) is around $2900 per infringement.  so one does not want to get caught downloading or uploading software, movies or music.  So how does one get by these copyright lawyers and download stuff without getting caught?

Well, first you have to understand how they catch the pirates.  Most pirates even today still download from open source Bittorent clients and other freeware.  The problem with this is that your IP address is accessible to anyone and everyone that is dissipating in the download or upload.  you can see this yourself when you're downloading or uploading an item you cannot she go to the traffic and see actually who is participating whether they be an uploader or downloader (seeder or leecher) and all their respective ip addresses.

There are companies out there employed by the various copyright attorneys that will scan this information for them.  The attorneys then take this information and file an initial John Doe type lawsuit against a group of these ip addresses.  Out of this they will subpoena the actual IP address owner's personal information from the ISP provider (ex: AT&T, Time Warner Cable, etc...). Then armed with that information they will send a settlement letter to the owner.

Now there is a way to get around this.  This is by using what is called a VPN or virtual private network.  A VPN basically creates a tunnel between your computer and the end computer (the computer you are communicating with).  No one can see in or intercept any information that flows between your computer or the end computer.

It used to be that you had to be a large company to be able to afford a virtual private network.  In the past these were provided by companies like Cisco and they were used to keep important information from prying eyes like corporate secrets, etc...  Recently a few companies like Torrent Privacy have made this virtual private network available to the masses with subscription prices so cheap one would be a fool not to use them.

Torrent Privacy actually took it a step further by bundling their VPN with a anonymous bittorrent client so that this way the user is completely invisible.  No one knows you're there or anything about you.  This is the best protection one can get while downloading or uploading torrents online.  No matter what you download from movies to music and software no one can see what you are doing or who you are.  

Torrent Privacy also has made it so that their VPN system is the easiest to set up and use by far.  Most other VPN services are all steps to set up and to run every time you want to use it.  All it takes for you to forget one of those steps and you no longer have your production.  you can't do this with Torrent Privacy - this is why I like Torrent Privacy so much.  You just run it and you are set to go - no worries about anyone seeing what you are doing ever!