this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023
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I have read some stuff about how if you are logged into like your google account while on your VPN you have pretty much given yourself away.

So first, is that accurate?

I just got a mullvad vpn and am using their browser. Created a new lemmy account. And I shut down my other browsers before connecting to the vpn to be on the safe side. Is that necessary? Anything else I need to do to sail the high seas anonymously and safely. I am looking to start finding all the movies that never seem to be on my many streaming services, but want to be safe about it. Thanks

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’ve used Transmission + PIA for several years now. In that time frame, I’ve had three separate ISPs (due to moving a few times). I received a total of one DMCA notice in the last ~10 years, due to unknowingly running Transmission with the VPN off. Since then, I keep the advanced kill switch turned on.

My Google account is always logged in. I only use Facebook for their Marketplace, which is seldom.

I have no issues, at all. Keep in mind, you’re small potatoes.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Not sure that transmission supports it, but other torrent clients (qbitorrent, deluge) allow binding the torrent client to your VPN interface. That way, you literally can't torrent on anything but your VPN connection (even if a killswitch fails/the VPN isn't running)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I’ll look into it, thanks!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Any suggestions on where to learn how to do this? I’m sailing on a Linux machine if it makes a difference.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It's usually in the network settings of the torrent client. Usually listed with "IP interface binding" or some such.

Qbittorrent has it as a dropdown menu with a list of available IP's to use, as well as an option to set it manually.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Not sure that transmission supports it

Yes transmission does support it, however if you're running in Linux you can also just restrict it to run on the VPN IP or interface. Read more here: https://lemmy.world/comment/5269089

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

If you're running Transmission on Linux know that I can be set to only use the VPN IP, there's also another good way to implement a kill switch: https://lemmy.world/comment/5269089

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Very interesting! I’m running on Mac and I have a dedicated IP with my VPN, I bet I could do something similar. Thank you!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

In you case setting bind-address-ipv4 and bind-address-ipv6 to your VPN IPs should work. According to this under macOS settings are stored in $HOME/Library/Preferences/org.m0k.transmission.plist. Not sure if the format is the same tho and don't forget that editing a plist on macOS isn't just always just editing a text file, it might be encoded and cached by the system, do your research.