on one hand i think the rules are in favor of the users privacy but on the other hand if someone caught torrenting they get fined, so it’s confusing if a user’s activity are private or not.
A VPN is like a condom. You take the chance without.
as someone who lives in germany, yes, i always use a VPN, das internet ist neuland 
torrenting they get fined, so it’s confusing if a user’s activity are private or not.
thats Private vs Corporate traffic.
Mullvad and other VPN simply can say "it was a user , but as we dont log user identifiable data we cant tell you who it was "
as Private user its easy " Oh ip 123 downloaded Hardcore wood party 5 thats john doe lets fine him easy money"
Absolutely use it. Germany is an extremely litigation friendly country which means everybody is out to sue you - you’ll know this from paying your haftpflichtversicherung every month! Get a VPN = nobody can inevitably sue you for copyright infringement.
The short answer is if you’re going to torrent pirated materials from public trackers then yes you absolutely need one. You will eventually get into legal trouble if you don’t.
What is stored in Germany by ISPs is metadata when establishing a connection. For regular internet traffic, this is basically just the IP adress assigned to your phone/router but not which IPs you connected to.
Thus litigation is only possible, when a rights holder can link your IP to criminal activity, e.g. due to monitoring a torrent + the IP is tracable to you. So any form of VPN or proxy that does not store your IP & hands it over to some law firm will protect you from that.
Besides the IP-ownership issues of torrenting, Germany leads the EU in Orwellian thought-crime prosecution. VPN your way out of there using a good, no-log VPN service like Mullvad or VyprVPN. Beware the freebie services.
definitely for any form of piracy.
on one hand i think the rules are in favor of the users privacy but on the other hand if someone caught torrenting they get fined, so it’s confusing if a user’s activity are private or not.
I think you pretty much summed it up. you have privacy for as long as you don’t violate the law, and when you do they come after you hard.
It won’t harm you, better safe than sorry
No, you don’t need a VPN.
The whole point of a VPN is meant to disguise your online activity. In this case, make sure you use a vpn service that is not under the 5 or 9 eyes like mullvad or proton as they are established in Switzerland and don’t have to comply with other allied jurisdictions. These services to have a no-log system, so they don’t track what you have communicated with them by installing pirated material.
You can certainly use other vpn services like nordvpn or express, but it is really only ever useful for escaping regional restrictions like content and hiding your real ip from the script kiddies that try to dox you.
Considering the free speech limitations in your country, 100% you should use a reputable VPN.
In Germany it is EXTREMELY dangerous to not use a VPN at all times. It is one of the most oppressive countries outside of actual official dictatorships.
Also have to be extremely careful what you post online, what you like and share with your online accounts and so on.
Best explanation of why VPN is good, ever!
Do you use it for everyday activities as well, or only for sailing certain seas? In a week I’ll be going to Germany and stay for a while…
The fines are also quite high, ~1000€ if I remember correctly.
thanks! i’ve hooked up my pfsense with mullvad to route my traffic through it.
I genuinely can say England is the leading country in that sense. Since they asked apple to disable ADP I.E end to end encryption for data at rest.
You are so right. Germany became such a shithole