If you share files or download torrents online, you should be using a VPN to hide your IP address. This kind of anonymous surfing software can protect you from IP tracking devices that can be used to log what you download, when, how often, and potentially get you into trouble with your government or other private agencies. The topic of Internet piracy, media file sharing, and copyright infringement is a hot topic, and a very gray area of the law in many counties.

Even if it is clear that it is legal or illegal at this time, this may change at any time, and all the same, are you 100% sure you can trust when your favorite hacker blog gives you the "all clear"? Remember, that's just some guy with a blog, and when a lawyer comes knocking on your door telling you you're getting you computer confiscated and ave to pay 100,000 dollars for copyright infringement he's not going get your back.

Before I go on, I should make it clear that VPN services are not to be used for doing anything illegal. As we saw with the recent 'lulzsec' incident, if you hack or do anything that clearly violates the law of the country of your VPN provider (*Your VPN provider, not YOU), then they have ways of finding your real IP address.

However, most VPN services will not keep logs of your activity online (for anonymity purposes), so it keeps stuff nice and vague. For example, if I access Facebook in China (where Facebook is banned), and the Chinese government requests that my VPN provider cough up information regarding my IP address and physical location, you can bet your bottom dollar that they won't give it up. However, if I run a terrorist organization and it's discovered that I'm using a certain VPN provider to send secret terror messages to my buds, then you're probably going to get found.

Like I said, there's a way to find you no matter what service you use. Most services, though they don't log your activity, they do make records of when you log in and out (to find abusive users and improve their services).

However, when you're downloading torrents with a VPN service, you're pretty safe. For example, if you're in New Zealand, where there are very strict laws about file sharing, and you sign into a server in Germany or Hong Kong, where you can download anything you want, who's going to find you? Germany and Hong Kong aren't going to complain because it's not illegal in their country, and New Zealand won't know the difference because they won't see you on a New Zealand ISP network. This is the reason that some many users are using VPNs for anonymous surfing software while they share files on the Internet.