Originally Posted by
Colamisu
Peer Guardian just prevents you from connecting to known "dangerous" IPs. It's not hard for a government agency to get their IP changed. And there are plenty of members, even on trusted trackers, that are simply accounts for governments or private companies that wish to log the list of IPs attached to a torrent. Even if you're doing something like using a proxy so your real IP won't be listed on torrents, nothing is 100% secure.
Furthermore, the peer-dependent speeds from torrents can increase the amount of time you're required to be connected, increasing the chances of someone catching the transfer-in-progress.
The biggest reason that torrents are technically more dangerous than direct downloads is the fact that you are almost always forced to seed to some extent. By seeding, you are distributing copyrighted works, and therefore are committing criminal copyright infringement, rather than civil copyright infringement (downloading for personal use).
But really, it's all irrelevant. Your main concern should be your ISP. If your ISP outs you, you're screwed no matter what method you use.