I use it to watch BBC and Channel4 from Poland.
Ask HN: Why do you use a VPN?
71–80 of 86 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why do you use a VPN?
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
IP can't be geolocated to a street address. Translating your IP to your street address would require some larger network compromise (probably at the ISP level) or actually getting PII from your ISP.
There are multiple public databases available via web search, which can map residential, relatively static, IP addresses within a few city blocks, at least in large urban areas. That's usually enough to cross-reference with other sources and obtain an exact street address. There's also geolocation data compiled by browsers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Location_Service
You still haven't provided evidence that IP address alone can be translated to a street address. You can't because it doesn't. IP addresses were never intended to be confined to that small of a geographic area.
> There are multiple public databases available via web search, which can map residential, relatively static, IP addresses within a few city blocks, at least in large urban areas.
I have never seen anything like this. Can you link to one? IP addresses just don't resolve to that level of detail, even in large urban areas. My own IP address (in a large urban area) resolves to a city ~25 miles away from me.
> There's also geolocation data compiled by browsers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Location_Service
This doesn't use IP. It uses local network IDs.
Re: Ask HN: Why do you use a VPN?
#73From what I saw in gaming circles, VPNs are used to minimize the path between the gamer and an out of region server.
Eg, in Quake, the current e-sports tournament is being played "cross-region", people in US and EU and Oceania compete against each other. Using a VPN can shave some milliseconds off the "ping time" to the servers they're playing on (I think the rule is to use consecutively one server in each player's region).
So if the demographic of the youtubers that you mentioned is gamers, then maybe VPNs have their place, not for opsec, but for plain faster internet to remote servers.
Re: Ask HN: Why do you use a VPN?
#741. Security on a public wifi. 2. Playing games on the internet with creeps who will dig through IP logs for my location. Yes, they can fingerprint my device, but device is easier to change and safer than location info. 3. Tricking Netflix into thinking I'm in Australia so I can watch Rick & Morty.
Why does it protect you on public Wi-Fi? Won’t MitM just be between you and the VPN?
To my understanding, the VPN I use (Mullvad) encrypts all packets that go to them. It's not just a proxy.
Re: Ask HN: Why do you use a VPN?
#751. Security on a public wifi. 2. Playing games on the internet with creeps who will dig through IP logs for my location. Yes, they can fingerprint my device, but device is easier to change and safer than location info. 3. Tricking Netflix into thinking I'm in Australia so I can watch Rick & Morty.
I hate that 2) is a thing, especially if you have a console that just does P2P matchmaking assisted by the server for NAT punching. My friends that play CoD or similar quite literally get attacked off the internet for winning rounds at least every single night they play more than an hour or so, it's that low of a bar of entry.
Certain MMOs I play run along the span of years. It's literally easier to get some people to delete their account than to beat them in game. Game admins and clan leaders are sometimes attacked to overturn decisions.
Re: Ask HN: Why do you use a VPN?
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Are there situations where using a VPN (#3) is warranted Anonymity and therefore privacy. An ISP-assigned IP address reveals a lot of information about you. With a court order it can be traced back to you. Suppose a dissident wants to publish information adverse to the government, there's a situation.
> Suppose a dissident wants to publish information adverse to the government, there's a situation. In what case would a commercial VPN provider, which will have a payment path associated to you, be better than something like Tor for the sort of user who fears government retribution? Commercial VPN services are pretty much exclusively for doing things that annoy copyright holders. They're great for that, but for almos…
payment can be done anonymously through cash in the mail. Lot of services offer that. Nevertheless, it would be foolish to think a commercial VPN provider is enough to keep the three letter boys and girls away - or other sophisticated actors. I just hope it's enough to watch movies online...
Re: Ask HN: Why do you use a VPN?
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are multiple public databases available via web search, which can map residential, relatively static, IP addresses within a few city blocks, at least in large urban areas. That's usually enough to cross-reference with other sources and obtain an exact street address. There's also geolocation data compiled by browsers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Location_Service
You still haven't provided evidence that IP address alone can be translated to a street address. You can't because it doesn't. IP addresses were never intended to be confined to that small of a geographic area. > There are multiple public databases available via web search, which can map residential, relatively static, IP addresses within a few city blocks, at least in large urban areas. I have never seen anything li…
> IP addresses were never intended to be confined to that small of a geographic area.
Design intentions are different from what exists today, where an ISP can assign a residential home IP that remains the same until their CPE is rebooted, which can often be several months.
> IP addresses just don't resolve to that level of detail.
That depends on what the geolocation service provider is willing to publish, keeping in mind their ability to cross-reference with multiple signal sources. e.g. if someone enters their home address into a site for shipping/delivery, what are the chances that at least one ad-tech data broker on that page is linking their IP to the user-entered street address? There are many other potential signal sources.
> It uses local network IDs.
Which have often been precisely geolocated by cellphones (with GPS) or StreetView mapping vehicles. The browser also has access to IP address that is "near" those SSIDs..
Re: Ask HN: Why do you use a VPN?
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
AFAIK The ISP still obtains and stores full urls, time stamps and log all http requests even if content is encrypted In the uk they are legally required to store it for 12 months as well
Hosts/domains, not full URLs. The path part of a URL is encrypted and ISPs can't know it without acting as a MITM, and unless they have also installed malware/trusted certificates on your computer, there's very low likelihood they are doing that.
Thanks for clarifying
Re: Ask HN: Why do you use a VPN?
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you tell me a bit more about that setup? How exactly does a VPN fit into that flow, instead of just sharing the social media account passwords?
Trying to not get banned from social media probably
Exactly! If we don’t then Instagram keeps asking for extra verification / captchas / etc ... just to avoid those annoyances
Re: Ask HN: Why do you use a VPN?
#80From what I saw in gaming circles, VPNs are used to minimize the path between the gamer and an out of region server. Eg, in Quake, the current e-sports tournament is being played "cross-region", people in US and EU and Oceania compete against each other. Using a VPN can shave some milliseconds off the "ping time" to the servers they're playing on (I think the rule is to use consecutively one server in each player's r…
[deleted]