11–19 of 19 posts
I wonder how the author feels about audits? At the end of the day, even if mullvad is logging, I trust them with my data far more than xfinity/comcast.
[1] https://mullvad.net/en/blog/2021/1/20/no-pii-or-privacy-leak...
And I use Mullvad, which I'd say, given we have to trust our provider, they're as trustworthy as they come.
> You can make every promise in the world, because nobody can verify them. You don't even have to know what you're doing, because again, nobody can verify what you say. It is 100% snake-oil. I wonder how the author feels about audits? At the end of the day, even if mullvad is logging, I trust them with my data far more than xfinity/comcast. [1] https://mullvad.net/en/blog/2021/1/20/no-pii-or-privacy-leak...
That being said, none of us were there when the audit happened.
And since VPN is used a lot to mask criminal activity out there then if I was Mullvad but was malicious then of course I'd do every right PR move to gain trust. We all heard stories how certain VPN providers were basically intelligence agencies honeypots.
Valid argument for using a VPN: you are better off being spied on by a government on the other side of the planet rather than your own. Your own government can very easily do things to harm you, like throw you in prison or allow private actors to use tort/defamation/etc law to destroy you financially. A government on the other side of the planet - especially a country which doesn’t get along with your own - has far l…
This is well documented, see for example the first result I found: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/19/...
Ditto for Europeans.
Valid argument for using a VPN: you are better off being spied on by a government on the other side of the planet rather than your own. Your own government can very easily do things to harm you, like throw you in prison or allow private actors to use tort/defamation/etc law to destroy you financially. A government on the other side of the planet - especially a country which doesn’t get along with your own - has far l…
For Americans, that would probably increase your exposure. They can legally spy on their own people via foreign governments. This is well documented, see for example the first result I found: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/19/... Ditto for Europeans.
For criminal matters, possibly yes, depending on the circumstances.
For civil matters, arguably not. The US government can ask a foreign government to spy on you, but the results of the spying can't be admitted in a civil lawsuit. Whereas, an American ISP, the plaintiff can get a subpoena, the ISP has to comply, and the evidence is admissible in court. Also, with a civil lawsuit, even if it is possible for the plaintiff to get an order from a foreign court, the added difficulty and expense may make them decide to abandon the suit altogether.
> They can legally spy on their own people via foreign governments.
What if you used a Russian VPN company with a server in Russia? Of course, merely signing up for such a thing is likely to attract the attention of intelligence agencies. But, if the US government asks the Russian government to spy on you, I doubt the Russian government is going to say "yes", unless you are something like a terrorist.