Also some countries penalize even written lolicon/shotacon content (which an Ao3 dump is absolutely guaranteed to contain) like actual CP and seeding it would be considered (re)distribution (yes it's stupid, no they don't care). It's not just copyright corposcum that make the clearnet dangerous. Is it likely for one to get hit for that? Probably not until you annoy someone (doxing can get nasty), but still a risk.
If someone is at risk for this, then they shouldn't be seeding it.
In truth, there's no verifying that any such thing exists (and even if they were to exist,
netflow & other network analysis data
useful for deanonymization without cooperation from ISPs is readily commercially available and usually sold as for "threat analysis" or similar things) and obtaining privacy coins has gotten obnoxious with the KYC bullshit (it also represents an undesirable monetary hurdle to anonymity & privacy).
As for
this, look, I'm not stupid. A VPN isn't some magical cure-all. The point isn't anonymity. The point is
privacy. I don't care if someone
maybe knows I downloaded X, Y, or Z. I care about someone being able to prove it. I have VPN's I've paid for in monero, and the email I put in was- well, I'm not going to tell you, but lets say it wasn't a standard gmail address. What does this mean?
Well, they can't trace it back to the bank account. They can't trace it back to an email that they can prove I own.
Theoretically, my VPN shouldn't be keeping logs. So who's to say that I'm really the one who was using that particular shared IP during the times they claim I did? Who's to say that I wasn't hacked? Who's to say someone from russia wasn't bouncing their traffic through my router?
I don't care if they know and I know it. I care about being able to look people in the eye, lift my chin and say "Alright. Prove it."
And privacy coins. It's the exact same thing. I purchase my crypto with cash on a KYC exchange. Why? Because it's easy, and I don't give a damn if they know I bought X, Y, or Z. I don't need complete anonymity. I require
privacy. Who cares if they know I bought X crypto. I care that when I'm done sloshing that crypto around after it was transfered into the throwaway address I keep specifically for KYC contamination for that particular exchange, no one but me and the person I gave crypto to know where it's gone.
Unless you live somewhere where the government is literally going to give you a beating for so much as owning crypto, complete anonymity is a meme, and not really necessary. What you need is a reasonable doubt that means the difference between time in the slammer and life as a free man.
I also never did say that the torrent protocol wasn't
preferable, it is preferable,
just not on the
clearnet.
Look, if you're at the point where a state level agency is looking to track you the way you seem worried they are, then you need an entirely different set of threat models. If you don't have a second burner computer, you've already lost at this point. You just don't know it. Hell, if you're dealing with that kind've threat model where downloading a .txt archive is going to get you hit with CSAM charges, then you probably have no buisiness talking about it here if if you have any intention to download it.
