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Ask HN: Which VPN?

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Re: Ask HN: Which VPN?

#61

Post by willstrafach »

fwdpropaganda wrote: post #41
ej12n wrote: post #21

IVPN (Gribaltar), Mullvad (Sweden) or PIA (U.S.) are the best bet for most users IMO. They are all fast, no logging, and have good apps. IVPN, Mullvad are not in U.S. jurisdiction if you are concerned about that. Most people are not and just want a VPN to hide shit from ISP, etc... Although PIA is U.S. based, they keep no logs and then they have their famous "FBI" case which they did not provide anything to them. I m…

> Although PIA is U.S. based, they keep no logs and then they have their famous "FBI" case which they did not provide anything to them. You know the NSA just puts a gag order and connects directly to the targets infrastructure. Doesn't matter that PIA doesn't keep logs, NSA's prism is logging everything.

I do not know this and many others probably do not. Would be great to see a source with proof that this has happened with PIA.

Re: Ask HN: Which VPN?

#62

Post by rlpb »

aphextron wrote: post #47

There's no reason for anyone even moderately saavy to use a commercial private VPN. It's really insecure and expensive. Just use Streisand on a DigitalOcean droplet, AWS, etc. https://github.com/StreisandEffect/streisand

Tunnelling through a hosting provider doesn't provide any additional privacy. It just moves your exposure.

Perhaps I am unusual, but I trust my ISP with my privacy more than I trust the typical hosting provider.

I understand that this doesn't apply to most of the US because of your monopolistic ISP problem. In other places though, I don't think a blanket "just tunnel through a hosting provider" recommendation is appropriate.

Re: Ask HN: Which VPN?

#63

Post by zhte415 »

blacksmith_tb wrote: post #5

I have a Streisand[1] server running at DO, it's been good. People also like Algo[2] but I haven't tried it. 1: https://github.com/StreisandEffect/streisand 2: https://github.com/trailofbits/algo

Streisand at DO using Wireguard.

Re: Ask HN: Which VPN?

#65

Post by some_account »

willstrafach wrote: post #61
fwdpropaganda wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Although PIA is U.S. based, they keep no logs and then they have their famous "FBI" case which they did not provide anything to them. You know the NSA just puts a gag order and connects directly to the targets infrastructure. Doesn't matter that PIA doesn't keep logs, NSA's prism is logging everything.

I do not know this and many others probably do not. Would be great to see a source with proof that this has happened with PIA.

Just stay away from USA. They can do anything they like with their dumb laws.

Re: Ask HN: Which VPN?

#66

Post by aphextron »

rlpb wrote: post #62
aphextron wrote: post #47

There's no reason for anyone even moderately saavy to use a commercial private VPN. It's really insecure and expensive. Just use Streisand on a DigitalOcean droplet, AWS, etc. https://github.com/StreisandEffect/streisand

Tunnelling through a hosting provider doesn't provide any additional privacy. It just moves your exposure. Perhaps I am unusual, but I trust my ISP with my privacy more than I trust the typical hosting provider. I understand that this doesn't apply to most of the US because of your monopolistic ISP problem. In other places though, I don't think a blanket "just tunnel through a hosting provider" recommendation is appr…

>Perhaps I am unusual, but I trust my ISP with my privacy more than I trust the typical hosting provider.

You're lucky in this regard. Having no choice but Comcast, the number one threat to my privacy is my ISP. So that makes tunneling to an outside VPN very useful. I trust DigitalOcean far more. Although in a different situation I think you're absolutely right.

Re: Ask HN: Which VPN?

#67

Post by ej12n »

fwdpropaganda wrote: post #41
ej12n wrote: post #21

IVPN (Gribaltar), Mullvad (Sweden) or PIA (U.S.) are the best bet for most users IMO. They are all fast, no logging, and have good apps. IVPN, Mullvad are not in U.S. jurisdiction if you are concerned about that. Most people are not and just want a VPN to hide shit from ISP, etc... Although PIA is U.S. based, they keep no logs and then they have their famous "FBI" case which they did not provide anything to them. I m…

> Although PIA is U.S. based, they keep no logs and then they have their famous "FBI" case which they did not provide anything to them. You know the NSA just puts a gag order and connects directly to the targets infrastructure. Doesn't matter that PIA doesn't keep logs, NSA's prism is logging everything.

Yup I know about gag orders, etc... I completely agree with the statement that if you care about privacy better go with something else not in U.S. or anywhere in the 14 eyes countries if you are really paranoid.

Re: Ask HN: Which VPN?

#68

Post by rl3 »

krageon wrote: post #56
ej12n wrote: post #21

IVPN (Gribaltar), Mullvad (Sweden) or PIA (U.S.) are the best bet for most users IMO. They are all fast, no logging, and have good apps. IVPN, Mullvad are not in U.S. jurisdiction if you are concerned about that. Most people are not and just want a VPN to hide shit from ISP, etc... Although PIA is U.S. based, they keep no logs and then they have their famous "FBI" case which they did not provide anything to them. I m…

If you actually care about privacy touching the US in any way, shape or form is very, very dumb.

If you're a US citizen, perhaps not. NSA has open season for anything that isn't in the U.S. They can bring their full offensive capability to bear on foreign targets and largely do whatever the hell they want.

Domestic? Not as much. It becomes more of a legal/NSL game then. Granted, I'm sure GCHQ can (and does) compromise U.S. VPN providers.

Obviously it's far more complex than that, but if you're a U.S. citizen using a US-based service, there are some protections afforded.

On the other hand, I tend to believe Russ Tice when he says NSA conducts full-take domestic collection, so the aforementioned protections are largely data minimization practices, and thus they already have all your data.

Of course, Obama significantly weakened those protections prior to leaving office, as well as increasing the scope of NSA's sharing to include a disturbing amount of federal law enforcement agencies.

Re: Ask HN: Which VPN?

#69

Post by Medtelleo »

Depends on what you need from a VPN. If you just want a browser extension you may try Surfshark VPN -- I heard it is rapid and supports unlimited devices. If you want to watch Netflix, you may want to try NordVPN, many servers to choose from and secure. Again, what do you want from a VPN?
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