Wait, so the idea is basically, don't trust ur ISP? Have you tried Craig from Bosnia?
Haha! Made my day.
FreePN: Open-source peer-to-peer VPN service
71–80 of 136 posts
Re: FreePN: Open-source peer-to-peer VPN service
#72What's the catch?
No catch! We're genuinely trying to build a product that will help protect user privacy online :)
Why not build your own VPN protocol similar to VyperVPN, but make it so ISPs in repressive regimes can’t tell the user is using a VPN?
What’s the advantage of a p2p model instead of a better / stealthy VPN protocol that can’t be blocked, which you can also commercialise?
Re: FreePN: Open-source peer-to-peer VPN service
#73If anyone of the FreePN guys is still lurking around:
What is your business model?
I understand that you don't need servers, because your users supply that part, but who pays for development, support, and all that stuff?
Re: FreePN: Open-source peer-to-peer VPN service
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
No catch! We're genuinely trying to build a product that will help protect user privacy online :)
Why not build your own VPN protocol similar to VyperVPN, but make it so ISPs in repressive regimes can’t tell the user is using a VPN? What’s the advantage of a p2p model instead of a better / stealthy VPN protocol that can’t be blocked, which you can also commercialise?
The reasoning behind a p2p model is largely so that we don't have the massive overhead of traditional VPN companies & are able to offer the service entirely for free. Not having the overhead allows us to explore different potential methods of monetization that might not be feasible otherwise.
Re: FreePN: Open-source peer-to-peer VPN service
#75If anyone of the FreePN guys is still lurking around: What is your business model? I understand that you don't need servers, because your users supply that part, but who pays for development, support, and all that stuff?
Someone else asked the same question, following up there:
Re: FreePN: Open-source peer-to-peer VPN service
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi Ian, What’s the long term business model then?
Hi edf13 - We're still exploring different methods of monetization, but leaning towards an Adblock-Plus style model at the moment (but would want to keep any ads we served entirely local / we'd never send any data off device & would want to be as transparent about everything as possible). Personally, I think it keeps our interests best aligned with those of our users & helps keep the focus on preserving user privacy!
This sounds even more legally questionable, where you are replacing others' ads with your own.
Re: FreePN: Open-source peer-to-peer VPN service
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi Ian, What’s the long term business model then?
Hi edf13 - We're still exploring different methods of monetization, but leaning towards an Adblock-Plus style model at the moment (but would want to keep any ads we served entirely local / we'd never send any data off device & would want to be as transparent about everything as possible). Personally, I think it keeps our interests best aligned with those of our users & helps keep the focus on preserving user privacy!
So, if I understand correctly, this means that in the long-term you are going to nerf your (future) adblock feature and actually go a similar route the the Brave browser is going with their ad system?
The privacy community did not react positively _at all_ to this. This also has gotten them quite a lot of negative media coverage.
Also, how are you funded short-term? Like, right now?
Re: FreePN: Open-source peer-to-peer VPN service
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi edf13 - We're still exploring different methods of monetization, but leaning towards an Adblock-Plus style model at the moment (but would want to keep any ads we served entirely local / we'd never send any data off device & would want to be as transparent about everything as possible). Personally, I think it keeps our interests best aligned with those of our users & helps keep the focus on preserving user privacy!
This sounds even more legally questionable, where you are replacing others' ads with your own.
I think this is meant to be more like Brave does it.
Re: FreePN: Open-source peer-to-peer VPN service
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
- How are you planning on monetising this? - What happens if someone downloads CP through my home connection? - How do you plan to block ads with both Chrome and Firefox moving to DNS over HTTPS?
Hi coddle-hark - - Right now we're still undecided / exploring different ways of monetizing the product! (something similar to Adblock-Plus though is our leading idea). - We're working on a way to disallow users from acting as exits for certain kinds of traffic - so you'll be able to categorically block certain kinds of sites through the UI in the near future. - Even with DoH on by default in the browser, we can stil…
Thanks!
> We're working on a way to disallow users from acting as exits for certain kinds of traffic - so you'll be able to categorically block certain kinds of sites through the UI in the near future.
How does this stop someone posting ISIS propaganda to Twitter? Or uploading CP to Google Drive?
> Even with DoH on by default in the browser, we can still override / specify a DNS server.
Can you? Browsers don’t respect the system’s DNS settings even with plain old DNS over UDP so I don’t think that’s the case. I might be missing something though!
Re: FreePN: Open-source peer-to-peer VPN service
#80Hmm. Dont see any white paper or design docs on their website. Did i miss it. At a glance sounds like a reinvention of Tor, but less secure.
It is Tor - if my teenage self had designed it in the late 90's