If Mozilla cares about privacy then why does this exist: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Beacon_API
Mozilla VPN
121–130 of 531 posts
Re: Mozilla VPN
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
It goes w/o saying but most if not all the cloud providers map IP to account, so using a VPS may have get your account sanctioned or revoked. Defiantly don't spin up these VPN/VPSs on an account you don't mind losing.
Have received DMCA emails from DigitalOcean for torrenting on their boxes. Can confirm.
If you're going to do that kind of stuff, make sure the provider is based in another country. That gives you a pretty strong layer of protection against these kinds of things. Of course, nothing is entirely foolproof...
Re: Mozilla VPN
#123> At Mozilla, we are working hard to build products to help you control of your privacy and stay safe online. > We know that we are on the right path to building a VPN that makes your online experience safer Commercial VPNs are good for censorship circumvention or location spoofing. It is irresponsible to market VPNs as something which “protects” you online. In reality, they do nothing to improve security, and very l…
I see this take a lot. Serious question: doesn't the U.S. government surveillance program focus on collecting communication metadata for U.S. citizens? While it isn't clear what that metadata includes, we do have examples of past programs that have leaked (and the legal theory used to justify them) to guide us. Given what we publicly know about these surveillance programs I could see FISC approving bulk metadata coll…
If I were a government trying to gather metadata about web usage, the first thing I'd do is set up or acquire my own VPN company (and make it look convincing, of course).
Re: Mozilla VPN
#124I won't be switching to this. I've been paying €4.99 monthly for Blokada VPN on Android. It's pretty reliable and offers ad blocking as well. Also supports up to 5 devices.
Nice, witch shady Marketing-Firm are you working for?
Any point's for 'Blokada' being more trustworthy than AT&T ;)
Re: Mozilla VPN
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see this take a lot. Serious question: doesn't the U.S. government surveillance program focus on collecting communication metadata for U.S. citizens? While it isn't clear what that metadata includes, we do have examples of past programs that have leaked (and the legal theory used to justify them) to guide us. Given what we publicly know about these surveillance programs I could see FISC approving bulk metadata coll…
This is a good question and I would like to discuss it. If the government is able to passively collect metadata from your ISP, couldn’t they do the same thing with a VPN company?
The original form of the Presidential Surveillance Program didn't compel service providers to share this metadata. The providers willingly shared it. There is a reference to a service provider backing out of the agreement several years after it started stating they would feel more comfortable continuing to share their data if the government compelled them.
This may have changed since 2013.
Re: Mozilla VPN
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ask yourself why you want a VPN. Is it to avoid your ISP collecting browsing data off you and selling it? Perhaps using 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1 as your DNS might be good enough. Is it to watch geo region blocked videos? Then pretty much any service will work for you. Except that video streaming sites have caught on and blocked hosting provider IP blocks. So that might require you to shop around. Do you want the most priva…
> Is it to avoid your ISP collecting browsing data off you and selling it? Perhaps using 8.8.8.8 or 1.1.1.1 as your DNS might be good enough. Wouldn't your ISP still see what IP's you are visiting? Then, your ISP could just reverse DNS that IP to get the domain name, right?
This time when I changed internet service providers from Cox to AT&t fiber, I was shocked to find that I could not change my DNS to point to the OpenDNS servers!
Re: Mozilla VPN
#127Every time someone mentions a VPN provider in my techie social circles, the "A VPN doesn't protect you" crowd piles in, usually with links to something like: https://gist.github.com/joepie91/5a9909939e6ce7d09e29 I don't understand this argument, but would like to. I run https://everytwoyears.org , a political non-profit focused on ending the warrantless metadata collection of U.S. citizens' communications. From every…
I think you are correct that VPNs are a sort of half-solution.
There are a lot of people that think anything less than 100% isn't worth your time, so they suggest TOR - but TOR has all sorts of annoying limitations that preclude daily usage. Absolute solutions are seldom worth the 10x extra effort they frequently require.
Another set of half-solutions can be seen here which will make you more secure...
https://www.cloudflare.com/ssl/encrypted-sni/
ESNI, DoH, DNSSEC, and TLS1.3 are fairly easy to setup - and worth your time .
Using Firefox with uBlock Origin & PrivacyBadger plus the above gets me to a good enough place.
Illegal stuff on the other hand -> TOR.
The problem with doing illegal stuff with only half-protections is that the authorities don't need to use the metadata to prove your guilt. After they raid your house they'll have all the parallel construction they need to make it stick. ...then again if you're just buying personal use amounts of drugs - no one at the FBI cares.
Re: Mozilla VPN
#128Every time someone mentions a VPN provider in my techie social circles, the "A VPN doesn't protect you" crowd piles in, usually with links to something like: https://gist.github.com/joepie91/5a9909939e6ce7d09e29 I don't understand this argument, but would like to. I run https://everytwoyears.org , a political non-profit focused on ending the warrantless metadata collection of U.S. citizens' communications. From every…
I doubt it, unless you run the VPN. Governments have the same ability to leverage things like trackers, etc.
A public VPN service is good for localized privacy. Even a cheap Ubiquity setup will be able to tell about your habits. It's probably good enough to avoid the attention of a civil or informal inquiry (DMCA, employer, etc).
Re: Mozilla VPN
#129Every time someone mentions a VPN provider in my techie social circles, the "A VPN doesn't protect you" crowd piles in, usually with links to something like: https://gist.github.com/joepie91/5a9909939e6ce7d09e29 I don't understand this argument, but would like to. I run https://everytwoyears.org , a political non-profit focused on ending the warrantless metadata collection of U.S. citizens' communications. From every…
Yeah I've heard this one before.
I use Mullvad, paid using BTC that came straight from a tumbler. I don't use it for any nefarious reasons, just wanted to see how such a setup would work. It was surprisingly painless. I think it took 15 minutes in total from moving my btc to the tumbler and having the tumbler move the btc to my Mullvad account.
Am I 100% secure? No, they know what IP I'm connecting from. Is my name attached to the VPN? No, not even close. I suppose if I wanted to further improve my security I wouldn't use my own home network, but public wifi's nearby.
But again, I didn't do it to stay "safe" or anonymous. Just wanted to see how the process would actually be.
Re: Mozilla VPN
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Want to do something illegal? Don't expect a VPN to save you. I'm not condoning piracy, but VPNs are generally a foolproof way to avoid DMCA letters from your ISP. Privacy means something different to every individual, everyone's threat model is different. And many models can benefit from a VPN; journalists, activists, and many others might find benefit from using a VPN.
I used to work at an ISP, and once a month I would stuff envelopes with DMCA letters. I can assure you, that the only thing your ISP is doing with this letters is laughing at whatever porn you downloaded. They're just a scare tactic, and if you get one, you can almost certainly ignore it.
Didn't Cox recently lose a big lawsuit for not actually doing anything to punish repeat DMCA offenders? I'd be cautious about assuming those letters are still harmless today.