Never use public trackers (unless you're downloading Linux ISOs of course).
... if you live in a country where the police don't have better things to do.
There are plenty of countries where literally nothing happen no matter how much you download/upload, even when using public trackers. Police there tend to focus on people do the initial uploading, if anything.
I've probably downloaded/uploaded 10s of TBs at this point, in the two European countries I lived in since like two decades ago, and never received a single letter or had to pay anything. I'm sure there are more countries like these two.
They tried that in Australia and struck out three times in evey level of the Court system.
ISP's owned by media interests might pass that stuff on, ISP's don't have to and many don't.