I’ve read on reddit I think that if you are torrenting using a private tracker you’re gonna be fine even without VPN. The question is: isn’t the tracker is just a server that leads my torrent client to the pieces of the file on the seeders? And the connection between me and the seeders is p2p, isn’t that type of connection is what makes your ISP snitch you? So what is different about private trackers? And where to find them?
Having your own internet connection costs money too. If being absolutely free is a requirement, go without a VPN on the McD’s free wifi.
You could also just do the pirate streaming options with a free tier VPN like proton.