A new investigation by the French anti-piracy agency Arcom reveals how file sharers are sneaking around the blocks and that many are using VPNs to protect their privacy.
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Blocking has increased usage
TorrentFreak has also looked at the piracy figures, and reveals that file sharing has increased in the EU area, even though more piracy sites are blocked. This is where VPN services come in. Arcom reveals that a full 81 percent of internet users and that 50 percent understand what a VPN can do. Changing DNS records manually, of course, is a lesser-known trick, but also scores highly at 49 percent.
The figures, which are based on French citizens, also reveal that 24 per cent of internet users in the country pirated at least one item. illegal content in 2023. Looking at VPN activity, 29 percent of France’s citizens use a VPN, while 20 percent have changed their DNS settings manually. Over 35 percent used one or both techniques last year.
57 percent of those surveyed said the use of VPN was because they were doing something illegal, and 46 percent because they wanted to strengthen privacy.
Over half (56 percent) of VPN users who activate the connection before a specific action want to remain anonymous. Close to half (46 percent) say the reason is to access websites that are not available in France, while only 14 percent say accessing illegal websites blocked by ISPs in France. Hundreds of websites are blocked in the country.
TorrentFreak
Tags: pirates
