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Young File-Sharers Respond To Tough Laws By Buying A VPN

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Re: Young File-Sharers Respond To Tough Laws By Buying A VPN

#21

Post by lucian1900 »

bmelton wrote: post #16

I suppose what's interesting about this to me is that the pirates are presumably paying for VPN service? Which means that I guess we've figured out the threshold where they are and aren't willing to pay for things -- to keep out of jail. I should launch a Piracy as a Service app. Each month, you send me $100, and I will send you back copies of hot movies of varying quality, but all perfectly legal. You stay out of ja…

"Pirates" usually aren't unwilling to pay, but unwilling to pay for an inferior product.

Re: Young File-Sharers Respond To Tough Laws By Buying A VPN

#22

Post by nuttendorfer »

bmelton wrote: post #16

I suppose what's interesting about this to me is that the pirates are presumably paying for VPN service? Which means that I guess we've figured out the threshold where they are and aren't willing to pay for things -- to keep out of jail. I should launch a Piracy as a Service app. Each month, you send me $100, and I will send you back copies of hot movies of varying quality, but all perfectly legal. You stay out of ja…

Better get started soon, these guys: http://put.io/ have been at it for years.

Re: Young File-Sharers Respond To Tough Laws By Buying A VPN

#24

Post by slig »

losvedir wrote: post #13

I've been using my Linode as a VPN lately since I do a lot of work in coffee shops and it works great. More recently I've been using it here in Bahrain to access sites that are blocked by the government (innocent ones that come up on HN, dunno why they're blocked), and US-only sites like Pandora. However, Linode is kind of expensive for this purpose only (I also host my small website on it, though), and have been loo…

I've been using PrivateTunnel for a while. Reliable and relatively inexpensive.

Re: Young File-Sharers Respond To Tough Laws By Buying A VPN

#25

Post by arethuza »

3pt14159 wrote: post #18
arethuza wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are using an SSL-VPN is there any way, apart from the destination address, of someone detecting that the SSL traffic is a VPN and not a secure website?

Essentially, yes. There are usage patterns and timing attacks. It would take someone with a hell of a view of the network though.

I guess the obvious heavy-handed approach that would be taken would be to simply ban the use of anonymizing VPN services.

Re: Young File-Sharers Respond To Tough Laws By Buying A VPN

#26

Post by roel_v »

lucian1900 wrote: post #21
bmelton wrote: post #16

I suppose what's interesting about this to me is that the pirates are presumably paying for VPN service? Which means that I guess we've figured out the threshold where they are and aren't willing to pay for things -- to keep out of jail. I should launch a Piracy as a Service app. Each month, you send me $100, and I will send you back copies of hot movies of varying quality, but all perfectly legal. You stay out of ja…

"Pirates" usually aren't unwilling to pay, but unwilling to pay for an inferior product.

Well they still watch/use/listen to the "inferior" product, so if it's worth watching/using/listening to, why is it not worth paying for? Or should people be able to set their own prices on what they get?

Re: Young File-Sharers Respond To Tough Laws By Buying A VPN

#27

Post by tjoff »

rlpb wrote: post #8

My fear is that use of an anonymising VPN will in itself become cause for the state to hassle you, and that this won't require any new laws to be passed.

I'm more afraid that the use of a VPN will actually become less secure than without using it. ISPs are governed by different laws ensuring your privacy (to some extent). VPNs aren't subjected to those laws and can thus, legally, sell you out long before your ISP ever could. Sure, the potential outrage for such behavior is probably enough to convince most VPN services to never do it (although a secret agreement with MPAA or similar is probably tempting for many) - but you get no extra protection against the law.

Since the moment someone has a warrant against you both the VPN and your ISP are obligated to cooperate you really have nothing to gain, in theory, from using a VPN in order to pirate.

There is one exception and that is if your VPN resides in a different country, then filing a warrant is probably trickier but with time this hole will probably be a lot smaller (at least within countries of EU etc.). And having a VPN in another country is of course not the best thing you can do performance wise.

That or the absurd idea that VPNs is to be criminalized. I wish it was a joke but politicians are seriously considering it.

Re: Young File-Sharers Respond To Tough Laws By Buying A VPN

#28

Post by moron »

bmelton wrote: post #16

I suppose what's interesting about this to me is that the pirates are presumably paying for VPN service? Which means that I guess we've figured out the threshold where they are and aren't willing to pay for things -- to keep out of jail. I should launch a Piracy as a Service app. Each month, you send me $100, and I will send you back copies of hot movies of varying quality, but all perfectly legal. You stay out of ja…

If you want to pay to improve your piracy experience, Usenet is the way to go. For about $20 a month you can get unlimited downloads of whatever, as fast as your home connection can handle, non-peer-to-peer. It's not as general a solution as VPN, but it's kind of amazing to me that Usenet doesn't get more attention, at least if VPNs are now starting to.

Re: Young File-Sharers Respond To Tough Laws By Buying A VPN

#29

Post by fl3tch »

jstalin wrote: post #6

Almost all my traffic goes over a VPN these days. I don't do any file sharing, but I just don't want my ISP keeping tabs on me. (Yes, yes, I know, a VPN ISP can keep track too) It's so easy (and cheap) to set up a VPN or SSH tunnel with your own server (or servers). My favorite site for finding a cheap provider is www.lowendbox.com or www.lowendstock.com. I have several VPN/SSH servers around the world for an average…

At least you get a choice among hundreds of VPN providers and can choose a privacy-respecting one, whereas most of us are stuck with a monopoly or duopoloy in ISPs.

Re: Young File-Sharers Respond To Tough Laws By Buying A VPN

#30

Post by pessimizer »

roel_v wrote: post #26
lucian1900 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Pirates" usually aren't unwilling to pay, but unwilling to pay for an inferior product.

Well they still watch/use/listen to the "inferior" product, so if it's worth watching/using/listening to, why is it not worth paying for? Or should people be able to set their own prices on what they get?

The inferior part is the file format (DRM ridden and weird) and the convenience, not (usually) the sounds and the sights.
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