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NordVPN disables features when you turn off auto-renew

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Re: NordVPN disables features when you turn off auto-renew

#151

Post by gambiting »

LordHeini wrote: post #7

Why are these VPNs even a thing? The only reason i would use one is to get cheaper steam keys from brasil and for that i can get a free one. From a security standpoint it is awful because you increase the number of providers you have to trust. Apart from your ISP and the server you connect to, you got a third party involved for no reason. And VPNs can not that trustworhty as shown by the leaks of logs and what not. M…

In the UK your ISP has to store your entire browsing history for a year. Multiple agencies have access to this data without a warrant.

So my usecase is simply preventing my ISP from knowing what I browse and from keeping this record. I'd much rather take my chances with a VPN company than my ISP and the British government.

Re: NordVPN disables features when you turn off auto-renew

#152

Post by isoprophlex »

uzakov wrote: post #36
isoprophlex wrote: post #4

By now these VPN providers are like toothpaste, diapers or soft drinks: completely undifferentiated between competitors, and so only able to maintain their market share by spending loads on marketing. Of course the company with most egregious dark patterns and aggressive churn dampening wins. Thankfully a tube of toothpaste doesn't allow implementing dark patterns like this... yet.

I would strongly disagree for the following reasons: You can and should differentiate VPN providers. Ways to differentiate them: Have they shared logs in the past, where companies are headquartered, reputation.

Fair point, agreed.

I have noticed personally, however, that all people i know that have purchased a vpn subscription don't do this. They simply buy into the FUD. N=1 of course...

Maybe the market size has become so large that less savvy users propel the unscrupulous companies to the top?

Re: NordVPN disables features when you turn off auto-renew

#153

Post by vmception »

boring_twenties wrote: post #141
vmception wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do they take bitcoin? I’ve seen various invoicing systems that completely break in Tor+JS and in all noJS environments. If they shoehorned bitpay in, its probably not tapping into the utility of having bitcoin payment options. I like paying invoices with Monero over Tor, while the merchant receives bitcoin that a third party pushed to them. I’ve been doing that for at least half a decade. But if I can’t access th…

I used to use Mullvad but got sick of having to pay them via Bitcoin (or Bitcoin Cash, lol). I emailed them about accepting Monero directly and they said something like "we would like to but it's too much work." Ended up switching to IVPN, which actually costs more but is worth it for me not to have to deal with those shitcoins.

But you could always pay them with Monero

You can pay any bitcoin invoice with Monero and people have been doing that for 6 years

Re: NordVPN disables features when you turn off auto-renew

#154

Post by rafram »

VectorLock wrote: post #94
hatsunearu wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>However, I don't fully understand the privacy argument. Yes, it's crap, and any techbro worth their salary should know this. It's also incredibly annoying when VPN this and VPN that pops up on youtube.

I personally like the irony of VPN companies getting around adblockers by getting paid youtuber sponsorships.

SponsorBlock!

https://sponsor.ajay.app/

Re: NordVPN disables features when you turn off auto-renew

#155

Post by rafram »

LiberatedLlama wrote: post #65
tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1) people believing long-outdated guidance about not using open WiFi networks without a VPN 2) protecting your browsing traffic from being observed by your ISP (where you may not have much choice), at the risk of it being observed by the VPN company (which you trust). 3) Torrenting without having to worry about fines, nastygrams and other annoyances 4) Bypassing geoblocking 1 + 2 is what the VPNs advertise, but I thi…

> 1) Open wifi networks still exist. When last I was at my public library (a year ago... covid) they still had an open wifi network for public use. I think for them it's a matter of principle, since it means nobody has to ask permission to use it.

But HTTPS has become (nearly) universal. There's little risk of someone on your network snooping on your traffic, because it's just not possible anymore.

Re: NordVPN disables features when you turn off auto-renew

#156

Post by kbrosnan »

tedunangst wrote: post #139
notRobot wrote: post #5

Honestly, nothing holds up to Mullvad [1]. They don't even take an email address while creating accounts, and you can pay easily with Bitcoin or even with cash mailed to them. I'm not affiliated, just a very happy customer. Mullvad is also who Mozilla trusts for the Mozilla VPN [2]. You can sign up with that if you'd like Mozilla to get a cut. [1]: https://mullvad.net/ [2]: https://vpn.mozilla.org/

So Mozilla VPN is wireguard, but won't let me use my own wireguard client?

The Mozilla VPN uses an auth key generated from the Firefox Account. There is at least one 3rd party app https://github.com/NilsIrl/MozWire/ Though the official client support the major operating systems [Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS, and Android] https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/mozilla-vpn-client

Re: NordVPN disables features when you turn off auto-renew

#157

Post by IG_Semmelweiss »

question for those privacy conscious peeps:

When you use multiple browsers, with 1 (FF) used for general browsing setup to blocks fingerprintin, all cookies, js, etc... will the other (Brave, Opera) browsers leak info to web sites, when using FF ?

Re: NordVPN disables features when you turn off auto-renew

#158

Post by tw04 »

tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #54
LordHeini wrote: post #7

Why are these VPNs even a thing? The only reason i would use one is to get cheaper steam keys from brasil and for that i can get a free one. From a security standpoint it is awful because you increase the number of providers you have to trust. Apart from your ISP and the server you connect to, you got a third party involved for no reason. And VPNs can not that trustworhty as shown by the leaks of logs and what not. M…

1) people believing long-outdated guidance about not using open WiFi networks without a VPN 2) protecting your browsing traffic from being observed by your ISP (where you may not have much choice), at the risk of it being observed by the VPN company (which you trust). 3) Torrenting without having to worry about fines, nastygrams and other annoyances 4) Bypassing geoblocking 1 + 2 is what the VPNs advertise, but I thi…

>1) people believing long-outdated guidance about not using open WiFi networks without a VPN

Long-outdated? It's more important today than it was 10 years ago. That public wifi you're on is tracking your every move and correlating your devices back to you if you happened to purchase anything in the store with a credit card.

Re: NordVPN disables features when you turn off auto-renew

#159

Post by Fnoord »

grishka wrote: post #128
notRobot wrote: post #5

Honestly, nothing holds up to Mullvad [1]. They don't even take an email address while creating accounts, and you can pay easily with Bitcoin or even with cash mailed to them. I'm not affiliated, just a very happy customer. Mullvad is also who Mozilla trusts for the Mozilla VPN [2]. You can sign up with that if you'd like Mozilla to get a cut. [1]: https://mullvad.net/ [2]: https://vpn.mozilla.org/

You can't use any commercial VPN service and expect privacy. Those are only good for bypassing geographical restrictions. If you want privacy, buy a VDS and host your own VPN server. It'll cost about the same, and you can use it for other things at no additional cost.

If I use a public WLAN, a VPN like Mullvad is going to gain me privacy and security. Furthermore, I would get (for good or bad) "mixed" with the rest of the users (although in my case this does not apply as I use WireGuard to my home connection). If I use mobile, a VPN makes MITM more difficult.

If I pirate using a VPN in a country hostile to mine, the local RIAA/MPAA can't do anything. They probably already can't when VPN is in same country. A VPN doesn't stop a determined adversary, but if you worry about these you should probably use Tor or something like that, possibly without going back to clearnet.

While your stance is a good wake-up call, and perhaps a decent rule of thumb the above are reasonable exempts.

Re: NordVPN disables features when you turn off auto-renew

#160

Post by seppin »

rasguanabana wrote: post #108
LordHeini wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well https takes care of that. The hotel might be able to see that you visited a certain website but thats about it.

Well, http(s) isn’t the only traffic going through network.

It is for 95% of websites most people use.
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