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Mozilla bundles its VPN and email relay services for $7 per month

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Re: Mozilla bundles its VPN and email relay services for $7 per month

#11
post #2

> its virtual private network (VPN) it's not theirs, it's mullvad ones https://mullvad.net/en/help/partnerships-and-resellers/

Is that bad, or good?

for mozilla neither, for mullvad probably good, i think many trust the mozilla brand more than mullvad

mullvad is an average vpn provider

also its important to note, that many question that VPNs provide any security at all , i think for 7 dollars you pay their email relay and phone masking seem like the more interesting feature and value

Re: Mozilla bundles its VPN and email relay services for $7 per month

#12
post #6

What is the best way to support Mozilla/Firefox? I'm happy to sign up for this if it is the best way to contribute to the longevity of the product I use more than anything else.

Whatever the default search engine currently is, don't change it. Moz earns a kickback every time you use it.

It's probably still Google and I generally encourage people to get weaned off the Google product teat as much as possible, but that search engine integration is how Moz makes most of their money from what I understand.

Re: Mozilla bundles its VPN and email relay services for $7 per month

#13
When the topic of VPN comes up, there are often posts which criticize the use of a VPN for the use case of privacy. These posts are often absolutist in nature and fail to address specific threat models. Of course a VPN isn't going to protect your privacy from state level actors - I doubt that it is possible anyway.

Why I use a VPN:

1. I don't want many of the sites I browse to know my IP.

2. My US ISP corrupted my government to allow them to steal my data. I don't know if I can trust my VPN provider, but I know for certain that I can't trust my thieving ISP.

3. I frequently connect through untrustworthy networks when traveling. Yes, SSL helps, but going through a VPN is an added layer of abstraction.

I am not a network security expert, so criticism of these three use cases is highly welcome.

Re: Mozilla bundles its VPN and email relay services for $7 per month

#14
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they can reskin what they want, the press still spread an incorrect information

Is Brave (and similar browsers) not their own browsers because the rendering engine is the same as what others use? Similarly, was Chrome not Google's browser when they were using Webkit?

> Mozilla has partnered with Mullvad in order to utilize our global network of VPN servers for its own VPN application, Mozilla VPN, since July 2019.

Mozilla uses Mullvad VPN, they built their VPN Client application using wireguard

Therefore, it's a VPN Client, not "their VPN", VPN = virtual private network, it's not their "network"

Chrome Browser = VPN Client

Google Services = VPN

Brave made a browser using chromium, but they do not use Google's servers/services, so its their browser

Understand the difference now?

Re: Mozilla bundles its VPN and email relay services for $7 per month

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is Brave (and similar browsers) not their own browsers because the rendering engine is the same as what others use? Similarly, was Chrome not Google's browser when they were using Webkit?

> Mozilla has partnered with Mullvad in order to utilize our global network of VPN servers for its own VPN application, Mozilla VPN, since July 2019. Mozilla uses Mullvad VPN, they built their VPN Client application using wireguard Therefore, it's a VPN Client, not "their VPN", VPN = virtual private network, it's not their "network" Chrome Browser = VPN Client Google Services = VPN Brave made a browser using chromium…

You must be fun at parties.

Re: Mozilla bundles its VPN and email relay services for $7 per month

#16
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that bad, or good?

for mozilla neither, for mullvad probably good, i think many trust the mozilla brand more than mullvad mullvad is an average vpn provider also its important to note, that many question that VPNs provide any security at all , i think for 7 dollars you pay their email relay and phone masking seem like the more interesting feature and value

> mullvad is an average vpn provider

I was under the impression that mullvad was best-in-breed. A lot of bad VPN companies running around these days and Mullvad is a clear HN favorite.

Re: Mozilla bundles its VPN and email relay services for $7 per month

#17
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

for mozilla neither, for mullvad probably good, i think many trust the mozilla brand more than mullvad mullvad is an average vpn provider also its important to note, that many question that VPNs provide any security at all , i think for 7 dollars you pay their email relay and phone masking seem like the more interesting feature and value

> mullvad is an average vpn provider I was under the impression that mullvad was best-in-breed. A lot of bad VPN companies running around these days and Mullvad is a clear HN favorite.

Mullvad UX is pretty sweet - I especially like how they don't force signups, and still let you open ports.

I wish there was a premium tier to let you pay for more bandwidth though, the fact that down speeds are capped at 300MBPS and up speeds much less made it not really usable for me

Re: Mozilla bundles its VPN and email relay services for $7 per month

#18
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that bad, or good?

for mozilla neither, for mullvad probably good, i think many trust the mozilla brand more than mullvad mullvad is an average vpn provider also its important to note, that many question that VPNs provide any security at all , i think for 7 dollars you pay their email relay and phone masking seem like the more interesting feature and value

average? Have you read this? [1] I think they do a lot more then other VPN providers!

To name a few:

- no logging (no hdd in their servers even!)

- pay with cash (via post)

- audit of their infra

[1] https://mullvad.net/en/help/no-logging-data-policy/

Re: Mozilla bundles its VPN and email relay services for $7 per month

#19

When the topic of VPN comes up, there are often posts which criticize the use of a VPN for the use case of privacy. These posts are often absolutist in nature and fail to address specific threat models. Of course a VPN isn't going to protect your privacy from state level actors - I doubt that it is possible anyway. Why I use a VPN: 1. I don't want many of the sites I browse to know my IP. 2. My US ISP corrupted my go…

All of this can be achieved through a person VPN rather than a commercial subscription one by ssh -D whateverPort user@ip_address and setting up a SOCKS proxy in Firefox on that same port.

>there are often posts which criticize the use of a VPN

Often they specifically critique the likes of NordVPN etc. The off the shelf solutions rather than personally setup VPNs. What disgusts me is that they charge fees that are multiples of what it costs to run a basic Linode or DO Droplet for a month and a virtual machine is far more useful than a commercial VPN.

Re: Mozilla bundles its VPN and email relay services for $7 per month

#20
post #5
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, though the mozilla client is their own, and seems to be somewhat customized, like using only wireguard.

they can reskin what they want, the press still spread an incorrect information

>they can reskin

The client isn't a reskin of Mullvad's client.

https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/mozilla-vpn-client

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