It's just weird I download a TB of computer games without a VPN and nobody says nothing but as soon as I download Yoshi's crafted world and astrochain via torrent they gave me a DMCA letter within 8 hours.. That's why I dont do free vpn anymore.
It could also happen to paid VPN.
it depends the VPN provider's policy, and whether they log user's activity and forward received DMCA notices or not.
It also depends whether your VPN share the same IP among different users or not.
If the VPN is only providing you another unique IP from another country, it's usually to bypass country dependent accesses (like Azoreseuropa and PlutoTV filtering service!)
these kind of VPN are not really anonymizing you, just providing you another IP.
paid or free VPN servers can always know who access what, and either send logs to companies to contact your ISP to contact you, or forward received notice to you if VPN requires you to create an account/mail/etc.
If you want privacy for piracy, there are specific VPN with shared IP/port forwarding/no logs.
Multiple users will have the same IP, so if a company send a DMCA letter to the VPN service stating "that client with that IP connected to that server at that time" wouldn't know which user it was as lot of users had the same IP, and they don't keep logs to know which client accessed that server at that time.
If you want privacy/piracy, be sure to learn about the VPN policy and features first.
If you want to bypass IP filters, any VPN is fine
in both cases, remember that the VPN has access to all your non encrypted data! (http, passwords, chats messages, etc. if you use IRC and talk or send sensitive info someone will have plain access to that!), and that it's putting your device in a LAN like network, be sure to verify what you are sharing (folders, network, etc.)
Do not mistaken Private with secure !
Private VPN means it's connecting private computers together (your work office with your personal computer for example, or your computer at your dad's with the one at your mom's) to share the same network.
Private VPN main use is to put two computers on the same network as if they were in LAN while they are on WAN (remote/internet) and share their files and folders!
ask yourself if you are not putting your own security at risk instead of being more secure. you might to the contrary to what you think you use VPN for.
be sure to use public VPN to not allow access from other users using the same network and you don't use local network sharing option.
Also, don't assume VPN are encrypting your connection, some are not.
