Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is informatory and I do not support illegal piracy of any kind of intellectual property.

Well, it seems that more and more countries tend to change the laws regarding copyrighted material in the favor of the copyrighter.
This issue is two-fold.

First, there is the obvious implication: when someone releases any piece of software, movie, music, or anything of general interest that, let's call it "product", can and probably will end up in the hands of people that want it for free. So, passing a law that protects such copyrighted material is, in this regard, a good thing for the creator.

Of course, there are a lot of points of view regarding the subject, but it always revolves around the following:

• the creator wants to make as much money as possible, and by doing so he/they might keep the product updated and/or create new products
• the user doesn't have the money to pay for it or thinks the product doesn't deserve to be paid for

Now, the problem that has arisen from all of this is HOW the user finally gets the product and how he can be stopped.

I won't get into details about this, first of all because it's illegal, and second because I've already strayed from the point.

Suffice to say that the word torrent doesn't really mean "great flood of water" for computer-savvy or most computer-users.

The issue is that there are people out there that are more paranoid than usual folk when it comes to privacy. While this issue doesn't mean much to some, the Constitution of most countries actually states that a persons privacy can not be denied.

Well, this is the main issue of this article: how to shield our identity from those that would want to spy on us.

Whatever the reason for you wanting to do this, you should know by now that when it comes to the Internet, your identity is your IP.

This IP helps to identify your computer (even if not the exact person) that is connected to the Internet. Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) is the one giving you acces and most likely keeps logs of what you do and when you did it.

As long as the connection is encrypted, there shouldn't be any problems when it comes to sensitive data. But what happens when data encryption isn't possible? (You can't choose to encrypt it most of the time due to the fact that the target computer isn't able to decrypt it)

Also, even if the data is encrypted, if someone is to get their hands on the information, they can see with what IP you communicated. Based on this, the data might be decrypted.

Still, the main problem is that YOUR IP is sent to everyone and that the data sent is NOT encrypted.

As always, nothing man-made is fool-proof.

Still, let's not despair.

There is a service available at the moment (old idea, but new implementation): VPN IP hiding.

What actually happens is the following:

1. You connect to the VPN provided by someone (usually for a monthly fee)
2. Your connection software tells the server what it wants to do
3. The server connects and does that particular action
4. The information retrieved by the server is sent back to your software for decryption (if available)
   
5. You receive it.

Your IP will only be known to the guys providing you with this service. Your ISP will just show you exchanging information with a single or multiple IP address(es).

While this is generally known, what is not known is the fact that the provider usually keeps tabs on the server's operation and transfers. So, if they were to be asked to reveal that information by say... the police, they would have to (or they would be the ones in trouble if you pirate copyrighted material).

Also, when you choose such a service, make sure that the data that is transmitted from them to you is somehow protected.
Also, you might want to make sure you trust them before giving them your credit card number (for payment of course).

If the data is encrypted, there's little chance of anyone finding out what you are really doing.

A new service is going to be launched, namely IPREDATOR. It is still in its beta stages.
What's new with this service is the fact that they promise absolutely no logs will be kept, so if they were asked to reveal them, there won't be any.
Of course this is partially impossible, because if there are no logs, they can't charge you for their service.

However, no data of your online activity will be kept. Or so they say.

This is possible because the law in a specific country doesn't make it illegal. Yet. When it happens, the users will probably be notified (hopefully).

Conclusion:
Privacy is important to all, even us lowly mortals. We need to understand how things work, but we shouldn't get paranoid about it. There are options, like the one above, when it comes to online privacy.

This service is not to be used for illegal purposes, but there are those among us that are more paranoid than others and think the government has nothing better to do than spy on that particular individual.
At any end, this will probably make a user sleep better knowing his online personal identity is protected... for the moment.