I haveint forgotten @dessalines@lemmy.ml's Favorite apps and services, and in particular his recommendation for torrents VPN (AirVPN, Mullvad, NordVPN, ProtonVPN).
I've never used a VPN, and so far no issues (not really an avid consumer, but I've occasionally done torrenting for ~20 years). I use the pseudo encryption supported, and in particular, I use rtorrent wiht:
protocol.encryption.set = allow_incoming,try_outgoing,enable_retry
For sure that doesn't really mask it, but obfuscates a bit the torrenting from ISP providers, which are not doing a hard work looking for torrenting.
Regarding privacy, my understanding is one should trust no one, :) And it's hard for me to understand why it doesn't apply to VPNs...
At any rate, from those suggestions, as of now, which is the one somehow better at protecting one's identity, privacy and security? That would be my major concern, and if there's a way to keep that with port forwarding. Not interested on fastest, but rather safest...
I'm wondering how on earth I've never had issues, when I always read not using a VPN is sort of nuts.
Just because you don't trust them doesn't mean they can't be of use. Some countries will immediately send an expensive letter if you seed any kind of copyrighted music or movie. VPNs are an effective tool against this, you only have to trust them not to give away your IP to these countries. They deserve that kind of trust, since they didn't do that in the past.