Keeping safe while downloading?

I’ve been downloading games and stuff for a while now. I was caught once using torrents and had my internet shut off, but you get 3 strikes so It wasn’t that bad. Since then I haven’t really bothered with torrents at all. One of my friend who got caught a few times started using these types of sites (as well as pspiso/wiiso) and said they are much safer than torrents. So I’ve been using these for about a year. But every time I download something I get nervous ;p But having backups of everything and cracks so I don’t have to fetch cd’s every time I change games is too good to pass up, as well as psp games that dont require the UMD. I’ve downloaded through web proxies and other tricks but I don’t know if that’s actually keeping me safe.
So how safe is rapidshare/megaupload/ect? And any way to make it more safe?
Answer #1
everything which is http:// is safe. bcuz u download direct from a site instead of from other person
Answer #2
Unless your provider is downloading the same thing you are from RS, how would they know what it is? Torrents are peer to peer, so usually anything transferred is not legal. RS, MU, HF, etc… are all legit file hosting, and could be you are simply downloading things from work/school since both use services like those. They are far safer than torrents.
Answer #3
Well they usually have the file names right up there.
Some posters seem to link you through protected links, and others name them something completely un-obvious.
I figured these were extra precautions that I might want to try using on everything.
Answer #4
Even if it has the file name, who’s to say its not a backup that you uploaded yourself?
Answer #5
true ^^
Answer #6
know who you download from. If an uploader is dependable and trustworthy and timely, keep going back to the “good thing”. It will help put your mind at ease
worries give you wrinkles
Answer #7
Yah I have always followed that philosophy on my downloads. Thats the problem though.. it was someone I had downloaded from tons of times and well trusted on mininova lol. But p2p is different, so RS should be better.