Free HTTP proxies are very popular and at first sight, they seem to be a practical option for torrents. However, they are not the ideal technology to enjoy a safe and efficient torrenting experience. Since many people use them, they can be painfully slow but that is not the only problem with them. The truth is that free proxies don’t offer security and in fact, they can put your identity and privacy at risk. Free proxies are often unreliable both in terms of safety and performance.
It is difficult to know who is behind one of these services meaning that you are leaving your privacy in the hands of a complete stranger. In addition, the majority of free proxy servers don’t work well with BitTorrent. If you are thinking about using a free proxy while torrenting, we advise you to think again. In this article, we will go through the reasons why torrent users are better off avoiding free proxy servers. We will go through the limitations of HTTP proxies to help you to understand why they are not a secure or effective solution.
Introduction to free proxies
There are many websites that feature lists of free proxy servers and they are usually organized by country, although they can also be categorized by uptime. Some examples include gatherproxy.com. free-proxy-list.net and freeproxylists.net. These public proxy servers can be accessed by anyone as long as they know the port number and address. This information can be found on the websites previously mentioned or similar options.
What is a proxy?
When you use a proxy, a tunnel is established to route the data from your computer to a third-party proxy server before it reaches the internet. In the same way, all the data transferred from the internet to your computer passes through the proxy server and the proxy acts like the intermediary. If used correctly, the proxy can keep your identity hidden from anyone who may try to monitor your connection and even from the party at the other end of your connection.
In general, a proxy is set up to work with a specific application and not with your entire internet traffic. It doesn’t protect your whole connection, but usually it is configured to work with programs like BitTorrent client or with your web browser to enable you to bypass geographical restrictions and access websites without hassle. With BitTorrent client, a proxy can help you to hide your true IP address from your torrent peers to enable you to download media without exposing your real location or identity.
Types of Proxy servers
It should be noted that there are different types of proxy servers and not all of them are suitable for torrenting. HTTP proxies can help you to access torrent sites that are blocked in your region and to disguise your IP address when you visit them. However, they only handle HTTP (web) traffic, meaning that they won’t protect your torrent traffic. If you decide to use a proxy for torrents, it should be a SOCKS5 proxy to make sure that it handles your torrent traffic effectively. It is unlikely that a free proxy server offers the speed and efficiency that you need for torrents. In addition, if you want to enjoy a good level of protection for your privacy and anonymity, it is important to choose a proxy server that doesn’t keep any logs. This is a feature that you can’t expect from free proxy servers.
Why a free proxy is not the best choice?
Although proxies don’t offer the strong security and versatility that you can get from a VPN, they are preferred by many users due to the fact that they tend to be faster. However, this is an advantage that you don’t get when you choose a free proxy server. As previously mentioned, many people use them, which makes them very slow. If you are looking for a fast way to download torrents, a free proxy will disappoint you. Furthermore, if you are concerned about security, you should keep in mind that it is possible that some of these free proxies are managed by the same agencies and monitoring companies that you are trying to evade.
Even if that is not the case, there is still a chance that you have to put up with many ads or that they find a way to exploit your information. After all, there is no such thing as a completely free service and you always have to question how are they subsisting. A paid VPN is the best choice if you want to enjoy a high level of security for your data since it applies encryption to your connection. However, if you want to use a proxy, just make sure that you opt for a paid service that doesn’t keep logs. This will save you a lot of headaches and will give you the fast, safe and secure performance that you can’t get from a free proxy server.