I don't live in the US, so my ISP doesn't really seem to care what I torrent, but the megathread vehemently recommends to always use one. Since VPNs aren't cheap and I'm on a strict budget (wouldn't pirate otherwise), is it really that dangerous to torrent without one?
In Belgium, I torrented for a decade when I was younger, and I recently (about a year ago) switched back to torrenting as streaming services get more fragmented and more expensive.
I've never had any letter or email from anyone for torrenting. Some of my friends torrent much more than me and haven't either.
My coworkers from NL and UK are terrified of me even mentioning torrenting.