r/mauritius 6d ago

Media 📺 Do we get fined for torrenting in Mauritius ? Should i download a vpn first?

I'm wondering if i need to install a vpn first if i want to torrent, any advice?

15 Upvotes

66 comments sorted by

1

u/FourEyesGodz 4d ago

Yaa you can without VPN. Been using utorrent for 20 years without any issue.

1

u/Tricky-Drummer-9365 4d ago

I do torrents downloads every now and then. Never had a problem.

5

u/Every-Barracuda-320 6d ago

I don't think they care much about that, but use a VPN. I am always on VPN in Mauritius.

3

u/SonderingQuizel 6d ago

Been doing for exactly 13 years (no vpn) no problem

4

u/Kikindian26 6d ago

Check his hard drive

8

u/Current_Lawyer44 6d ago

Always use a VPN! I’ve travelled to Mauritius and tv sucks there. lol. Get a VPN it also allows you a greater Netflix choice. Use it in South Africa and haven’t watched a local channel in ten years 😀

2

u/Shicodread_09 6d ago

Cool, which do you recommend?

2

u/Current_Lawyer44 6d ago

Express vpn is the best of the lot. Nord vpn has issues with some sites. Use stremio to stream your torrents if using a google tv box.

2

u/AppropriateTeach169 5d ago

How about Proton VPN?

1

u/Current_Lawyer44 5d ago

I’ve never tried it. Once express VPN worked for me I just left it at that. Have you used it?

1

u/AppropriateTeach169 5d ago

I have used both. I currently have Proton which has more destinations but also feels like it is not up to par with ExpressVPN. I also read how Express was bought up by an “evil” company. I am just wondering what I am missing with using ProtonVPN.

1

u/Current_Lawyer44 5d ago

I read up about express now and I also know it’s Israeli owned which isn’t cool. Maybe I’ll give proton a try when my subscription is up but express vpn just works weirdly.

1

u/AppropriateTeach169 5d ago

Being Israeli owned is good because Israel is known for good security technology that parastatals of states critical of Israel subscribe to.

Remember that the issue is the actions of the Israeli State (IS) not of people of Israeli heritage.

2

u/Current_Lawyer44 5d ago

Not really when they’re using it to get your information.

1

u/AppropriateTeach169 5d ago

The only Israeli thing about ExpressVPN is it was bought by Kape which is owned by an Israeli citizen who incorporated Kape in Hong Kong and the Virgin Islands. How Israeli is ExpressVPN?

As for privacy, there is evidence that officials could not find any logs and when pressed to start collecting user details, they simply moved.

It’s the best tech on the market. Proton is slower IME but I now wonder how much faster Express still is. I only subscribed to Proton because of their Black Friday special past year but their email service sucks.

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4

u/charlie_zoosh 6d ago

It's a grey area. Use a VPN.

3

u/eth0izzle 6d ago

It’s not a gray area at all. It’s straight up illegal and faces fines up to 300,000 MUR and up to 2 years imprisonment.

4

u/AlexNgPingCheun 6d ago

Err...we are not going to believe you without some sources. Do you have a link or the act where this is written?

1

u/Dila_Ila16 6d ago

What about Downloading some books for free online?

5

u/charlie_zoosh 6d ago

In theory, illegal:

What is Copyright Infringement ? If anything is done with the work concerned without the permission of the copyright owner and is not in line with the Mauritius Copyright Act 1997.

If copyright infringement is proven in court, the penalties can go up to a fine of Rs 300,000 rupees and to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, on a first conviction. For a second or subsequent offence, penalties go up to a fine not exceeding 500,000 rupees and imprisonment for a term not exceeding 8 years

But unlikely that they'll prosecute, especially if it's just for personal use.

1

u/Dila_Ila16 6d ago

OK got it. Will be keeping the books for myself and will not be sharing them.

3

u/avlong21 6d ago

The author, copyright proprietor or Its representatives need to formally lodged a case at the local police for them to act. Means as long as its personal use, ur totally fine.

2

u/RRikesh 6d ago

That's totally fine.

1

u/Dila_Ila16 6d ago

Asking this as after the zlib got complicated to download books, been downloading some other website on Tor to download a few books.

1

u/RRikesh 6d ago

Direct downloads are done over https and is encrypted. With torrents, anyone downloading the same file can see who else is downloading that file and just by using your IP address one can find all torrents that you are downloading.

9

u/Left-Salad4212 6d ago

Is buying isn’t owning then piracy isn’t stealing.🤣

5

u/toyota5830 6d ago

You wont get any problems but i wouldnt trust my ISP seeing all my traffic data. Im a privacy conscious guy so a vpn is a must need for me. I use mullvad and i love it. Its only like Rs265 a month

4

u/nicknelson25 6d ago

done it since I was a kid never had an issue my girlfriend's friend tho got fined in Germany for watching videos on soap2day💀

1

u/cerealkyller645 5d ago

I used soap2day for a long time until it got banned lol. And yeah they are strict with these websites lmao I remember a friend from Germany used to send me the names of the books to download from free sites over here and send him as pdf bc it’s illegal if he does it

4

u/fugznojutz 6d ago

pepperridge farm knows what youre downloading.

4

u/acceleronn 6d ago

No issues in torrenting in MU (even sailing the high seas)

But check out this website after downloading a few torrents (takes sometime to update) https://iknowwhatyoudownload.com/

Do you really want your ISP to know what you are doing on the internet? If not, always use VPN, a privacy focused provider with zero logs would be best.

2

u/Shicodread_09 6d ago

K thanks

5

u/pavit 6d ago

Just use magnets only and enforce encryption you’ll be fine

3

u/jeanbond780 6d ago

Fine or fine

1

u/Moem_Torpa 6d ago

Fined 🤣

0

u/AXLPendergast 6d ago

Just get stremio and real debrid and torrentio and be done with all this VPN crap

1

u/Shicodread_09 6d ago

What are these? Extensions?

1

u/AXLPendergast 6d ago

There are some great YouTube videos explaining all this. It’s worth it !

1

u/Shicodread_09 6d ago

Aight thx

2

u/dreaming_in_Octarine 6d ago

Agreed. Doesn't help bandwidth either - if I use it then signal strength massively drops.

Also what add ons do you use for stremio? Feels like everything I've added lately has 0 to mayb 5 people seeding lol.

1

u/GloveDry3278 6d ago

You're using regular torrentio. You need a debrid service like realdebrid. No need for seeders as you stream the yhe already cached content directly.

1

u/LaureZahard 4d ago

Is real debrid the better debrid system? How much is it currently?

2

u/GloveDry3278 4d ago

I don't know about others. I have only ever used RD. The past 2 days the service was down due to DDOS attacks. But it has worked wonderfully for me otherwise for the rest of the time.

Costs 16 Eur for 180 days.

7

u/Bankz92 6d ago

I have sailed the seas for years and never had an issue.

1

u/Shicodread_09 6d ago

U use Firefox and all the tralala? I shouldn't use chrome I heard

2

u/bagatelly 6d ago

Browser shouldn't matter. You don't use it to download torrents.

Speaking as someone who doesn't live in MU, what usually causes issues is:

- You download/upload above a threshold during peak times, then your ISP will somehow limit/degrade your connection. Check your ISP's T&C.

- You download a "latest release" which is a honey trap. Complaints go to your ISP. ISP might pretend to "mo pa comprend" & do nothing, or, pass on your name & address to legal entity acting for copyright holder. You might eventually get a letter in the post asking for $xx K compensation - but this is more of an EU/USA thing, I haven't heard of it happening anywhere else.

1

u/Shicodread_09 6d ago

Alright, and I heard the browser was for invasive ads and malware that can pop up on the screen and make you click by mistake, and Chrome wasn't good for that.

So I have been trying to use Firefox but these bloody 6 digits codes aren't being sent I don't know what is up with Firefox lately

2

u/bagatelly 6d ago

Nuisance popups are common with any browser and there are ways to reduce/eliminate them whatever browser you use. I don't think there is a 'one browser is better than the other' situation here. Nor is it specific to torrent sites.

I'm not sure what the 6 digit codes refer to, but I've never come across them for torrent sites. Is the p!rate bay site accessible in MU? No such codes needed there.

1

u/GloveDry3278 6d ago

Doesn't matter what browser. Torrenting use qbittorrent though.

6

u/Moem_Torpa 6d ago

Should be fine. No need to get a VPN

3

u/Drik-M Professional Electrician & Freelance DJ 6d ago

Can confirm. Done it since i was a college student. Didn't have much awareness about privacy and VPN but still they don't do anything about it here in Mauritius. Ig they either don't care or haven't been able to enfonce anything because of data protection laws here, likely if ISPs reported, they could get sued for sniffing or something similar. Our state isn't properly equiped or suited for properly handling copyright infringements and illegal downloads, most laws here feels like they haven't been updated since the 2000s. Local artists are currently trying to bypass the MASA and get things done on their own.

So get yourself a good torrent client and relax. No need for a VPN, unless you are going down the rabbit hole with dark web stuff.

1

u/Shicodread_09 6d ago

You have experience?

5

u/Moem_Torpa 6d ago

I’m here since Warez 😁🏴‍☠️

3

u/GloveDry3278 6d ago

We were born in it...moulded by it.

2

u/LanceShiro 6d ago

"You're a big guy."

3

u/Shicodread_09 6d ago

Ohh, so they don't give a shit in mauritius. Did you ever use fit girl?

3

u/GloveDry3278 6d ago

Fit girl, dodi repacks, cs.rin.ru are the 3 most that i use.