What if they gave you the files, with an easy download button ( with rate limits on downloads per user to avoid mass abuse )? Then, Netflix is basically providing a debrid service, which many people who pirate already pay more than 5$ for. Your VPN for torrenting is likely more than 5$. It’s already trivially easy to rip a movie off a website ( even with DRM ), so this is not a real content control loss for them.
Activists should not be using email for activism at all. I agree on mullvad for the VPN. This video does a good job explaining the issues with email for people who need privacy from groups like governments : https://youtu.be/iH626CXyNtE
I also question recommending signal over one of the decentralized alternatives like matrix or simplex, though really that’s probably fine.