PIA Running Traffic Through Second VPN to Avoid BitTorrent Ban

After a number of large datacentres are now banning heavy BitTorrent traffic on their networks, popular VPN provider Private Internet Access (PIA) has started routing its traffic through another VPN which, while slowing connection speeds, ensures its customers are not prevented from downloading torrents.

Many BitTorrent users implement VPN services to keep their downloading private and prevent their IP address from being tracked by ISPs or third-party copyright infringement enforcers. Since it is one of the few VPNs to not keep logs on its users, meaning there is no data to hand off if served with a warrant, PIA is a favourite amongst torrenters.

“Certain regimes/regions and data centers have strict discriminatory policies towards the BitTorrent protocol. In order to provide a free and open internet to everyone, we were forced to create a technical fix,” a PIA spokesperson told TorrentFreak.

PIA believes that its “double VPN” solution is the best compromise for its customers, as it does not require invasive techniques, such as DPI.

“Due to the fact that packets were routed in an unidentifiable manner and double hop is a known and accepted technology by privacy advocates, we believe this technical solution adheres to the strongest of privacy ideals,” the spokesperson said.

“We want to make clear, that privacy is in fact our single policy. However, in order to help our users who are censored in certain regions, we needed to find a way to provide close servers while still being able to provide users with true and free/open internet access,” they added. “This was our solution and we still think that using technology to create a solution is better than waiting for politicians to fix this problem.”

PIA has posted a full statement on the matter to its website.

Image courtesy of FreedomHacker.