PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy
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Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy
#2Previous thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21612488
Edit: Sorry, I meant prequel thread as they're related but not the same.
Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy
#3Former PIA user who recently just moved to Mullvad [1]. Very transparent about their operations and they don't require any information from you to open an account. You can even mail them cash or pay with cryptocurrency to avoid having your real identity financially linked to your subscription.
Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy
#4This article and articles like this miscast Kape in an incorrect light. To be clear, in the past the company was known as CrossRider and provided a developer SDK that could be used to integrate with browsers. Unfortunately, CrossRider didn't do enough to prevent malware (like platforms these days and their fake news) and the platform was used by some bad people for bad purposes.
When the new management team of CrossRider took over, they immediately ceased to engage in the previous business and focused on the opposite due to the insights they gained watching nefarious developers abuse their platform. With the focus on security and privacy, they changed their name to Kape and further the new company will be called Private Internet as it will be purely focused on privacy.
The merger between Kape and PIA affords PIA the resources needed to bring privacy to the mainstream. The company can now be decentrally owned by the people, and public reporting requirements are much stronger than those for private companies. Couple this with a new random audit program we are going to launch and its as transparent as it gets, and it's exactly the direction we at PIA want to go, where our users no longer need to just trust us, instead our actions are and will continue to be verified.
Ultimately, the choice of VPN is yours, but transparency is verification and with most VPN companies being incredibly secretive about their operations, who is behind it, and where they are located, what they do with their funds, etc. I stand behind the move to bring more transparency to privacy.
The company has always practiced sustainable karma - wherein we do what's best for the people/what people want, and that allows us to make a living doing what we love; that's not going to change.
Sincerely, Andrew - Co Founder PIA
Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy
#5Geez... This is a worse outcome than even the cynicals predicted.
Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy
#6Previous thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21612488 Edit: Sorry, I meant prequel thread as they're related but not the same.
A quick ctrl-f returns 0 results for "8200", "Israel" while it returns 1 result for "adware".
This article centres around the details pertaining to the company's operations in and around 2016 when it launched the Crossrider malware as well as the founder's former employment with Unit 8200 (Israel's IDF Signal Intelligence operations unit).
Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy
#7Just a general question about VPN services in general. When they advertise that they have hundreds of servers in a dozen or so countries, is it even possible to think that they are able to secure all of that themselves? Surely some State actor with enough know-how is going to be able to hack into some of the servers, right?
Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy
#8This article and articles like this miscast Kape in an incorrect light. To be clear, in the past the company was known as CrossRider and provided a developer SDK that could be used to integrate with browsers. Unfortunately, CrossRider didn't do enough to prevent malware (like platforms these days and their fake news) and the platform was used by some bad people for bad purposes. When the new management team of CrossR…
Sure, nothing has changed yet. That's how it goes with acquisitions. But people (including myself) are more concerned about the future. At some point in the future there will pressure from within Kape to increase revenues. And at that point I don't want my browsing data to be sold to advertisers and marketing agencies.
Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy
#9This article and articles like this miscast Kape in an incorrect light. To be clear, in the past the company was known as CrossRider and provided a developer SDK that could be used to integrate with browsers. Unfortunately, CrossRider didn't do enough to prevent malware (like platforms these days and their fake news) and the platform was used by some bad people for bad purposes. When the new management team of CrossR…
Hi Andrew, you may want to tidy up your HN "about" info if you're speaking on behalf of the company.
Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy
#10Former PIA user who recently just moved to Mullvad [1]. Very transparent about their operations and they don't require any information from you to open an account. You can even mail them cash or pay with cryptocurrency to avoid having your real identity financially linked to your subscription. [1] https://mullvad.net/en/
Their ios support isn’t great.
I’m using ExpressVPN and while they cost more (as much as 3 times as these budget services) they so far seem to offer a fast product.
You can also sign up with crypto currency if you want.