BitTorrent Downloading Using a Proxy

[Wilhelm]

A simple how-to guide that will show you another way to mask your IP address and safeguard your BitTorrent downloading habits from the prying eyes of copyright holders.

As copyright holders continue to target BitTorrent users for illegally sharing copyrighted material, file-sharers need to mask their IP addresses in order to maintain their anonymity and avoid being targeted for infringement.

VPNs and Tor routers are some of the more common methods people use, though the latter is intended for web browsing – not P2P – since the high data consumption rates slow down connection speeds for others.

Another method you can use is manually routing your connection through one of the many proxy servers out there.

So how does it work? It’s fairly easy.

1. Find a Proxy Server Address

There’s a great list of free public proxy servers that can be found here and here.

2. Open Your BitTorrent Application

In this case I’m using uTorrent. Go to options > preferences > connection.

3. Enter the Proxy Server Address

Under “Proxy Server” select “HTTP” from the drop down menu box, and then enter the IP address of the the proxy server you’ve chosen where it says “Proxy.” The last four digits after the semicolon correspond to the port which should be entered in the “Port” option. Also be sure to check “use proxy server for peer-to-peer connections.”

Example: The proxy server address I selected was 112.65.135.54:8080.

4. Select “Ok”

Simple select the “Ok” button at the bottom and that’s it.

See the example below after loading a torrent tracker for the show “Pioneer One.”

That’s it. It’s that easy. You’re done!