this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2026
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Possible reasons why my VPN can't connect to Piratebay or Extratorrents anymore? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 1 day ago by FartsUnited@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
10 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The whole point of me getting a VPN was to bypass the blocking of torrent sites.

I'm currently using PIA and am usually connected to the internet via their local servers ( either in Australia or New Zealand).

I'm suddenly having difficulty connecting to some of the more prominent torrent sites/hosts.

Although I manage to perform the security verification on (say) ext.to I'll encounter a 'Web server is returning an unknown host error' message.

Error code 520

If I connect to a Hong Kong server, though, I don't encounter this error and manage to get through. I initially thought both sites were down but it is as if some local VPN blocking might be now going on.

Is that likely or possible?

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[–] NotFrenchJack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

It's probably the cloud host of the sites themselves marking the addresses of the specific servers you use as questionable because it saw problematic traffic from them before (i.e. other subscribers from your VPN service), not what the other users theorized.

It's one of the reasons why VPN services move to new server addresses all the time. The goal is not beating deliberate VPN blockers per se (which would be futile, since acquiring updated lists of all public VPN server addresses is trivial, and literally everyone can do it), but to reset the reputation of the servers (measured dynamically by automated systems) because that reputation always goes to shit over time.

[–] bad1080@piefed.social 6 points 1 day ago

per say

*per se

[–] quickenparalysespunk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

this matches what i observe in my usage, but I've been having trouble convincing my family member this is the case.

do you happen to know any references/articles that discuss this in more detail, which i can use to improve my explanation?