That isn't great privacy wise as it's still privacy by policy. The best way to torrent is to use i2p which - unlike Tor - encourages that activity. (Short tuto: the default Java i2p bundle already comes with I2PSnark, a torrent client. To download a torrent, search through known i2p trackers such as the Postman Tracker: http://tracker2.postman.i2p )
The content owner could still request your information from the VPN provider and the VPN provider might provide it (even if they say they won't). I think the main benefit is that there are so many individuals torrenting copyrighted material that aren't using VPNs that it means you aren't the "low hanging fruit" so you're considered not worth the effort by the content owners.
Yes, but there is a big difference between "this provider might be lying about not storing traffic, and they also might give the data to someone" and "this ISP is 100% storing traffic and routinely gives that data to others."
Why base your privacy on wishful thinking ("provider is probably not lying") instead of using privacy by design solutions? (e.g. i2p for torrenting)
Because privacy by policy is good enough for almost everyone.
> Because privacy by policy is good enough for almost everyone.
Source? And why would it be good enough when it has been shown time and time again that it's ineffective (example: DNT header)?
If you want to torrent, turn one of the low end boxes into a seedbox rather than a VPN server.
Even then, setting up your torrent client to use a proxy is just as simple and effective.