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We are removing the option to create new subscriptions

mullvad.net

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Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions

#221

Post by anonporridge »

rglover wrote: post #27

Wow. Hadn't heard of Mullvad before reading this, figured I'd give it a try. That is hands down the BEST onboarding experience for an app (let alone a VPN) I've had in I don't know how long. Took me maybe 2 minutes to go from no account to a working VPN connection. I love that everything is anonymous (down to the account credentials just being a randomly generated token).

You can also easily pay with better anonymity with the Strike app, https://strike.me, which abstracts bitcoin mainnet and lightning network payments behind USD, so you don't have to worry about actually holding bitcoin or managing tax implications. You just use bitcoin as a globally agnostic payment rail, masked with your local fiat, so the price volatility doesn't affect you.

Mullvad even gives you a 10% discount for bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and monero payments.

I am a bit disappointed that they haven't yet integrated bitcoin lightning network. That would be a huge improvement for reduced transaction fees given the low value of transactions they deal with, as well as instant confirmation rather than 6 block (~1 hour) confirmations. You could even theoretically stream nanopayments for each minute of use with lightning, rather than pay for a whole month.

Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions

#222

Post by wfhordie »

spupe wrote: post #92
wfhordie wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your threat model includes nation state intervention, a 5 Euro VPN isn't going to help you. In fact, no VPN is going to help you. The best you can get is probably Tor + Tails, but even then you better be looking over your shoulder.

That's not necessarily true. A lot of state surveillance comes through having backdoor or legal access to lots of services. Many VPNs have been tested in court on whether they actually have information on you to disclose, and some even have independent audits to verify that such information is not even kept.

At best, you can hope to make surveilling you more expensive or more inconvenient. But if Snowden taught us anything, it's that whatever you needed to do to get yourself tangled up in the 5/14 eyes trip-wire, you've already done, long ago, and continue to do.

VPNs don't mean shit. You're leaking data everywhere you go. Browser fingerprinting, WiFi/BT signals, cell tower signals, GPS. If you own a smart phone and a credit card you're already fucked.

Let's not confuse things for people by making them think if they plop a 5 Euro VPN between them and their yahoo! email account that this does anything at all to deter state level actors.

VPNs are good for a few things:

(1) Evading state-sponsored censorship (which uses technology minted in good old Silicon Valley) -- where the state doesn't really care unless you're really bothering them

(2) Marginally disrupting the pan-opticon that is surveillance capitalism by mixing the signals a bit, where your ISP can't sell you out to data brokers. But even then... DNS leaks, etc still happen and still fuck with the plan.

(3) Maybe not getting scooped up as badly in the state dragnet, and maybe not being accused of something you actually didn't have anything to do with.

But brother, if you think you're gonna be the next Ross Ulbrich with your Mullvad VPN, then you better be memorizing your recipe for toilet wine because you're gonna land in a fed pen.

Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions

#224

Post by xipho »

sixhobbits wrote: post #195
xipho wrote: post #192

Is it me (likely), or are a huge range of comments here exactly what you'd expect from a company anticipating blow-back based on their changes? I mean it could really be that good, but this feels a little too clean. I.e. are there shill posters here? I suppose someone could look at all the users who posted, get their karma, and created on dates, and build some estimation calculation. Probably could be greatly improve…

"Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, bots, brigading, foreign agents and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data."

A completely rational guideline. My mistake, apologies.

Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions

#225

Post by Barrin92 »

dcow wrote: post #116

Why are VPNs what people flock to when they think they want privacy? Moreover they kinda break the internet so it's not a scalable solution. It's cool to see a good one selling a privacy message and doing it at level 11, but it seems kinda disingenuous to me to tell users that they're more private because they use a VPN. Private from your current ISP, sure, but not from Mullvad (they're your new ISP, you're just movi…

>Private from your current ISP, sure, but not from Mullvad

being private from your local ISP is what 99% of people care about because they use VPNs to send copyright infringement claims to /dev/null and watch netflix, not to smuggle nuclear secrets to Iran. It's privacy in a practical sense that's useful to people. If I go from an untrustworthy ISP to a trustworthy one I've gained privacy, there's no need to be overly academic about the term.

Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions

#226

Post by anderspitman »

dcow wrote: post #116

Why are VPNs what people flock to when they think they want privacy? Moreover they kinda break the internet so it's not a scalable solution. It's cool to see a good one selling a privacy message and doing it at level 11, but it seems kinda disingenuous to me to tell users that they're more private because they use a VPN. Private from your current ISP, sure, but not from Mullvad (they're your new ISP, you're just movi…

One primary benefit I see vs trusting ISPs is there's lots of competition in the VPN space.

Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions

#228

Post by [deleted] »

dcow wrote: post #163
GekkePrutser wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just one of the many layers of good opsec of you care about privacy. You shouldn't rely on this alone. And breaking the internet? I think centralisation by parties like Amazon, Google, CloudFlare does that a lot more. And if you want you can even send them cash in an envelope. Or monero or whatever.

I don't disagree that centralized services are also bad for the internet, but that's not a rebuttal to my point (also, what is a VPN service if not a "centralized ISP with different egress options"). A VPN does not add a layer of privacy. That's a misunderstanding of the concept and unfortunately a popular one even among security folks and even more-so among security marketing folks. A VPN allows you to effectively c…

[deleted]

Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions

#229

Post by ignoramous »

sph wrote: post #218
rglover wrote: post #27

Wow. Hadn't heard of Mullvad before reading this, figured I'd give it a try. That is hands down the BEST onboarding experience for an app (let alone a VPN) I've had in I don't know how long. Took me maybe 2 minutes to go from no account to a working VPN connection. I love that everything is anonymous (down to the account credentials just being a randomly generated token).

Of all their features, I love that they have an Android TV app so I can watch F1TV on my couch. They're worth more than the 5 euros I give them per month.

Aren't OTT streaming services notorious for blocking VPN IP ranges? How is Mullvad getting around those? Surely, they don't buy / lease / steal residential IP addresses [0]?

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9614993

Re: We are removing the option to create new subscriptions

#230

Post by stjohnswarts »

jaywalk wrote: post #149
stjohnswarts wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mullvad deletes all transactions as soon as they are allowed by law/contract with pay agent. That's 45 days for some things and 60 for others I believe. They have more details on their site. This assumes you trust them to shred that info though. They also supposedly don't keep ip logs, but I assume their ISP does, so I guess that's of limited value.

Why would it matter if their ISP keeps IP logs? Those logs would not be able to link an IP address to anything of value.

sometime just having meta info is enough for 3LA orgs. They would know the user is using mullvad services as the most obvious which is enough to get you multiple year sentences in some repressive countries.
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