331–340 of 453 posts
Serious question, what are people using their VPN for? I used PIA before the buyout then shifted to Windscribe but I don't think I will renew after this year. I rarely use it and if I want soemthing safe (like using public wifi), I use tailscale instead.
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I agree that it's but a single tool in a complex mesh of procedures to provide some privacy. But the reality is that it does work for a variety of usecases. Try to torrent in Germany (of all places) and you'll get blackmail letters from random lawyers. Do this with a VPN and no problem. For this scenario it's the tool for the job. If you're an insurgent trying to liberate Iran it's not. For general surfing privacy it…
Yeah I definitely see value , don't get me wrong. I think, slightly, that marketing privacy is the cheap shot at best and kinda irresponsibly inaccurate at worst because it glazes over so much of the actual problem. In other words, if I start using Mullvad today I don't incredibly become anonymous and private on the internet... there's a lot more work to do to achieve that posture. The way VPNs are touted though migh…
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I'm curious, how does VPNs break the internet? The only angle I can immediately see is the shortage of IPV4s.
They break the practical solutions to content distribution and delivery that we've deployed. If everyone used a VPN, CDNs and caching would be rendered ineffective. Generally, VPN consumers use more bandwidth than necessary to acquire the same content which does impact the network.
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It’s pretty simple. A VPN adds a layer of privacy between you and the server you’re accessing. You go from user A with X home IP address originating from precise Y location, to user A with generic shared IP originating from a vague location likely nowhere near your real location. Beyond location, did you know there are services that can sometimes accurately provide a users place of work based on home IP? Their likely…
But traditional ISPs reuse IP addresses too. You rarely get a static IP from your ISP. Some even run carrier grade NAT and you're literally sharing an IP with your whole building or something. VPNs are not really different in any regard. They do obfuscate location, I'll give you that, and that's seems like the crux of the issue with traditional ISPs: they are small and distributed so people have created location maps…
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 f…
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Some of us have really crappy ISPs (that also happen to be monopolists) that do things like HTTPS MITM (when they try to force you to install their root CA certificate and HTTPS simply doesn't work unless you do it), block DNS requests unless you use their DNS servers, or store all your traffic (this is being done in Russia, but it's close enough). I very much prefer to cover the precise details of my communications…
I hope you go for a spying incompetent country in Europe :). Especially one which is not partnered with the US .. like the UK and others.
Refunds and disputes can happen way after a week right? I've seen disputes 120+ days after a transaction. I mean, maybe they won't be affected by this but they sort of suggest after a few weeks you could dispute the charge and they would have no idea it was you.
They have a 30 day refund policy. Their credit card partner stores transaction information for 40 days. https://mullvad.net/en/help/no-logging-data-policy/#payments
Maybe that is fine, just a cost of doing business for them. But it is definitely atypical. Never heard of someone who would be completely unable to respond to disputes before.
Serious question, what are people using their VPN for? I used PIA before the buyout then shifted to Windscribe but I don't think I will renew after this year. I rarely use it and if I want soemthing safe (like using public wifi), I use tailscale instead.
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Not really. See the trial against the founders of The Pirate Bay for example, and the controversies surrounding it. Also, the FRA surveillance. Also, according to the ISP Bahnhof, the police at least used to submit lots of data requests without a court order and for non-serious crimes. AIUI, Bahnhof and other VPN providers stay in the clear by avoiding storage of data in the first place. They can be compelled to hand…
Could you elaborate on the Australian laws?
The AABill introduced warrants that can be handed down without judicial oversight that compel the recipient (individual or institution) to grant (or, critically, develop the means to grant) read access to any system to the government; while simultaneously acting as a gag order preventing disclosure of the warrant's existence. Violating this gag order would incur jail time.
The IDBill introduced warrants that allow the government to "disrupt data by modifying, adding, copying or deleting data in order to frustrate the commission of serious offences online" and further allows them to impersonate the online profiles of a person deemed significant to a criminal investigation.
Both of these bills were rushed through parliament with minimal opportunity for public comment. Where public comment (from the legal, tech, and human rights arenas) was made, it was universally negative. We have just ousted the government that drove these bills, but the new government (supposedly considerably more left leaning) supported both these bills with minimal opposition and has made no public plans to repeal or amend this legislation.
A previous Prime Minister once said (not in regards to these particular laws): “The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia.”
[1] Assistance and Access Bill (2018): https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislat...
[2] Identify and Disrupt Bill (2021): https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislat...
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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 f…
I just paid using Bitcoin Cash (BCH), low fees and simple to integrate ;)
Doesn't scale.
Layer up.