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Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

jeffgeerling.com

91–100 of 235 posts

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#91
post #4

Before going to a long 3 month trip to Asia last year, I installed WireGuard on my Raspberry Pi 1 (original model B from 2012) which was running at home in US. I found PiVPN to be the easiest way to install Wireguard. I didn't know if I even needed a VPN but I was glad, and I was able to use internet as if I were at home. It was weird, but a lot of sites are blocked oversea, even though it shouldn't. For example, I c…

> Apparently a lot of US business sites refuse to connect from oversea IP because (...) they just don't want to deal with it I am French. What I find fascinating is that there are local US newspapers (that server a tiny community) that went through the effort to do a geoblock from the EU and put a page along the lines "we cannot be compliant to Privacy laws in the EU so we must block you". Why do they care at all? Ho…

I'm sure there are still some people willing to report the websites to EU commission, it's a guaranteed fine (less so a paycheque, I have no clue if the company has to comply with paying it (unless later on they want to expand to the EU))

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#92
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apparently a lot of US business sites refuse to connect from oversea IP because (...) they just don't want to deal with it I am French. What I find fascinating is that there are local US newspapers (that server a tiny community) that went through the effort to do a geoblock from the EU and put a page along the lines "we cannot be compliant to Privacy laws in the EU so we must block you". Why do they care at all? Ho…

I'm sure there are still some people willing to report the websites to EU commission, it's a guaranteed fine (less so a paycheque, I have no clue if the company has to comply with paying it (unless later on they want to expand to the EU))

This is a fine that the EU can issue but why would the local business care?

If I was issued a fine by the US, China, India or Japan it would directly go to the trashbin. It is their law, and their problem, not mine.

Of course this means that I will not be able to do business there, if I travel I may be in trouble etc. But again - we are talking about small local newspapers (and similar businesses).

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#93
post #64
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you read the article? > PiVPN, luckily, runs on any other Pi-like device, though, as long as it's running a Debian or Pi-OS-like distro.

So…Linux?

To me it sounds a bit more restricted than any Linux.

Any Debian isn't too bad though.

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#94
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't do business in the EU why accept traffic from there and possibly have to deal with GDPR issues.

Is GDPR that big of a difference now that California has its own strict data privacy laws?

Yes. Check below for a comprehensive list of differences.

https://www.cookieyes.com/blog/ccpa-vs-gdpr/

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#95
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure there are still some people willing to report the websites to EU commission, it's a guaranteed fine (less so a paycheque, I have no clue if the company has to comply with paying it (unless later on they want to expand to the EU))

This is a fine that the EU can issue but why would the local business care? If I was issued a fine by the US, China, India or Japan it would directly go to the trashbin. It is their law, and their problem, not mine. Of course this means that I will not be able to do business there, if I travel I may be in trouble etc. But again - we are talking about small local newspapers (and similar businesses).

between the options of:

A. [re-]architect in in GDPR compliance;

B. deal with incoming legal documents, likely can't just discard;

C. block country representing tiny share of viewership,

option C seems to present the least hassle

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#96
post #24

Base wireguard is pretty easy to setup, especially with wg-quick, so idk why anything would be required to make it easier. Also, Rosenpass is quite great and easy to use, which really improves the security further. Hopefully Rosenpass will become part of the base implementation at some point.

After skimming both the GitHub and the protocol specification for rosenpass, I still have no idea what benefit it provides on top of wireguard and therefore why I should use it.

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#97
post #4

Before going to a long 3 month trip to Asia last year, I installed WireGuard on my Raspberry Pi 1 (original model B from 2012) which was running at home in US. I found PiVPN to be the easiest way to install Wireguard. I didn't know if I even needed a VPN but I was glad, and I was able to use internet as if I were at home. It was weird, but a lot of sites are blocked oversea, even though it shouldn't. For example, I c…

> Apparently a lot of US business sites refuse to connect from oversea IP because (...) they just don't want to deal with it I am French. What I find fascinating is that there are local US newspapers (that server a tiny community) that went through the effort to do a geoblock from the EU and put a page along the lines "we cannot be compliant to Privacy laws in the EU so we must block you". Why do they care at all? Ho…

Most small local newspapers are owned by huge megacorps. GDPR EU laws and some others explicitly say that they can be enforced to entities outside the EU. I don't know if it has ever been enforced, except for large multinationals.

The US does do that kind of thing though. As a dev, break some law, step foot in the US for a conference, get arrested (ex: Sklyarov 2001 case, for breaking PDF encryption).

Although for most financial things, it's common in US/CA to block non-local IPs. Heck, I was in Mexico and I couldn't login to my provincial government tax portal. There are constant security issues with those sites.

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#98

With the cost of raspberry pi nowadays, you’re better off buying something like a GL.iNet GL-SFT1200 for $40.

The article explicitly mentions this: "PiVPN, luckily, runs on any other Pi-like device, though, as long as it's running a Debian or Pi-OS-like distro. Something like a Libre Computer Le Potato should work in a pinch, without breaking the bank—though if you want faster networking, you'll have to pony up a little more cash, at least until the Pi shortage abates."

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a fine that the EU can issue but why would the local business care? If I was issued a fine by the US, China, India or Japan it would directly go to the trashbin. It is their law, and their problem, not mine. Of course this means that I will not be able to do business there, if I travel I may be in trouble etc. But again - we are talking about small local newspapers (and similar businesses).

between the options of: A. [re-]architect in in GDPR compliance; B. deal with incoming legal documents, likely can't just discard; C. block country representing tiny share of viewership, option C seems to present the least hassle

Option D: ask a local lawyer once (100 USD or so) and they will confirm that the business can trash such foreign requests and be done.

Not sure whether C or D would be more complicated long term (you need to manage the geoloc somehow, or outsource and pay for the service)

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#100
post #33
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't do business in the EU why accept traffic from there and possibly have to deal with GDPR issues.

That's not how GDPR works but it is a common misconception and I can't really blame non-EU businesses for not taking the time to understand a foreign law when blocking is so easy.

It took my team six months to get our company GDPR-compliant, and that included hiring three external consultants with extensive knowledge of GDPR and its implementation across the various EU countries we did business in. We were a short-term car rental company, we did not earn money with user-tracking, advertising or selling user data. But we did process drivers licenses, user data, trip data. We had to re-write big parts of our car-tracking module because having it tied to the current driver (customer) automatically made it personal data, which can be requested on demand when the customer wants to. It also limited us on what we could log to our logging server and store in a database.

I can understand that an American company does not want to make such an investment when there is literally 0 added business value, as EU customers don't shop at that company.

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