After the Mullvad fiasco I decided to stop using VPNs all together, since port forwarding is always going to be a problem on all of them, if you read the reasons why Mullvad had to shut down that service.

There is a better way using i2p which conceals your IP and makes it impossible for anyone to know what or if you’re downloading at all! No DMCA notices, no problem.

I wrote this small guide to another comment and figured I’d share it in its own post since I’m seeing so many people ask for VPN recommendations.

So there are 2 main implementations of i2p. First is the main Dev’s Java client here https://geti2p.net/en/download

The other is i2pd, which is C++.

I use the Java one personally but both would work. Someone posted back on reddit a guide on /r/i2p for qbittorrent, which is what I use now for this too. The guide was shared as a public torrent you can download with this info hash: 3f1d51095f9b116739172c1bced149acf2b10692

Use that hash with any of the various public trackers and you should be able to download that guide.

But if you just want a basic setup, that Java client comes with i2psnark, which is a Bittorrent client already setup.

The only other thing you want to do is go and search the biggest tracker for stuff, which is called PaTracker, Postman’s tracker. http://tracker2.postman.i2p, only accessible from i2p itself, which you’ll need to have setup and running first to view.

This tracker needs more seeders and uploaders in general, and by improving those things service for everyone is better. So the more the merrier.

Thanks! Feel free to ask any questions, there also might be other people who use i2p now for torrenting. I’m sure they’ll help too.

  • karce@wizanons.devOP
    4·
    1 year ago

    I’ll admit I2P is harder to setup than a VPN, but I just kept getting frustrated by having to pay and expose data to various VPN services. I can share tips about running I2P in Linux too.

      • karce@wizanons.devOP
        6·
        1 year ago

        So it looks like setup on ubuntu should be pretty straightforward. Follow these steps to install the java client as a package: https://geti2p.net/en/download/debian

        Then under their Post-install work on the bottom of that page follow this:

        as a service that automatically runs when your system boots, even before logging in. The service can be enabled with “dpkg-reconfigure i2p” as root or using sudo. This is the recommended means of operation.

        That will cause i2p to automatically run at startup. You can use the other methods there if you don’t want that behavior. Lastly, you’ll need to configure a browser to use i2p. https://geti2p.net/en/about/browser-config

        Firefox is a good one to use for it but you can use librewolf or another one.

        And I think that’s it as far as setup for ubuntu. Let me know if you have more questions : )

        • swab148@lemmy.world
          1·
          1 year ago

          Thanks! Great way to spread the word, btw, this thread has been the most informative thing I’ve seen on lemmy so far lol

          • karce@wizanons.devOP
            1·
            1 year ago

            Glad to hear it! I just felt an opportunity to share knowledge of what I was working with recently since qBittorrent added support for it. If you’re interested in staying connected you can subscribe to one of the communities on my lemmy instance, wizanons.dev. !general@wizanons.dev and !magic@wizanons.dev Keep in mind we’re very small still but I like keeping up with people and being friendly : )