Torrent Downloads: Good Idea?

A torrent may look very good on the surface. After all, a torrent is less likely to be virus-ridden than a LimeWire file or something of that sort, and a torrent means that you just got a free movie, game, or CD. A torrent is easily downloaded and comes from several peers at the same time, making them supposedly safe.

First of all, what is a torrent? A torrent is a file that is “seeded” from several peers. “Seeding” is the taking of a torrent and uploading it to the internet. When several people seed a single torrent, the faster the torrent is downloaded. Instead of downloading one several gigabyte file from start to finish, it divides that file into many pieces and downloads each piece simultaneously, making a 2-3 GB download available for use as quickly as several hours later. A torrent looks great on the surface. However, how safe is a torrent? How legal is a torrent? What are the problems with a torrent?

First of all, a torrent is generally pretty safe for the computer. Since any given torrent is seeded by other computer users, they are generally virus-free. Granted, there are bad apples in every bunch. However, 9 times out of 10, there will be no virus. The torrent download sites are another story. To obtain the torrent file, you must visit a website to download a “tracker.” This is how your torrent program (a program such as BitTorrent) knows where to download the file from. These sites are completely riddled with spyware. Also, they can flood your computer thoroughly with cookies. Granted, these two are generally easy to get rid of, but they can be a problem for some people.

The biggest question on everyone’s mind: Is a torrent download legal? The answer, 99.99999% of the time: No. Any copyrighted material, downloaded for any reason is completely illegal. This means that any movie, game, or song that you download that is copyrighted just puts you in the line of the law. Usually there are a very few people that get caught, but it is illegal and the odds are there.

Are there any outstanding problems with downloading a torrent or using a torrent program? Yes. There are actually several problems. First of all, every torrent download program uses a lot of your processor’s speed. UTorrent is a download program that was designed not to use a lot of processing speed, but it can still tie up a good bit of your computer. Next, a torrent can transmit a virus. The chances are pretty small, but it can still happen. Next, most torrent download programs require you to seed. Seeding keeps you in the upload/download process for longer periods of time, while you are also required to upload during your download. Generally, the longer you are in a download/upload phase, the larger chance you have of getting caught. Yes, it is illegal. Yes, if you get caught, you can get in trouble. The most outstanding problem with a torrent is a “monitor.” You see, if you enter a torrent download, you can see the unique IP address of everyone that is seeding or downloading that torrent. If you are downloading a big name file (right now, something to the effect of a very new movie), the chances are there is a monitor. They will check the IP addresses of everyone in that room and then probably send a “cease and desist” letter. These C and D letters generally say that you must stop downloading, delete the files, and never do it again. Thus ends your pirating career. So, torrent downloads make you pretty vulnerable to the law.

All in all, a torrent download may look good on the surface, as it means free stuff. However, the legislation and fines if you get caught may make it not worth it very fast. Overall, torrent downloads are probably not a good idea to use at all.