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Why You Should Start Using a VPN

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Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#121

Post by unhammer »

michaelt wrote: post #6

It's all very well saying a VPN services keep your communications secure, encrypted and away from the prying eyes of your ISP - but why would you trust a VPN provider more than an ISP? These consumer-oriented VPN services marketing to bittorrent users seem kind of sketchy to me.

In e.g. Sweden, VPN's are not covered by the EU Data Retention Directive. ISP's are. Ie. they're not required by law to log more than what they need to bill you accurately. And of course you can pay for a VPN with bitcoin or prepaid credit cards.

Of course, your VPN can still _choose_ to log your IP address (e.g. if they're acting as a honeypot), so at some point you have to trust someone (perhaps by looking at whether there have been news reports of that VPN handing over data to other entities, ie. don't use HideMyAss).

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#122

Post by unhammer »

propercoil wrote: post #97
Karunamon wrote: post #55

So on that note, are there any VPN providers that HN would recommend? Something preferably not based in the USA or any countries exceedingly friendly with the USA (so the UK, Sweden, etc are out)

mullvad, nuff said

Well, Mullvad is based in Sweden, which the asker didn't seem to like[1]. However, they do have exit nodes in the Netherlands too, if you prefer, and allow payment with bitcoin.

[1] Although I can't think of any suitable alternative countries – I mean, most countries are either fairly friendly with the US, or fairly corrupt, or both (or even fairly corrupt and fairly unfriendly with the US and currently surrounded by big US military bases on all sides). Perhaps the Principality of Sealand?

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#123

Post by wlk »

alokm wrote: post #28

Steps to configure your own vpn http://library.linode.com/networking/openvpn/debian-6-squeez... . Used it my self.

Nice :) It would have been so much easier for me if I known this link since I configured my own server as VPN for me

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#124

Post by mike-cardwell »

shanemhansen wrote: post #107
dkokelley wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't most modern VPNs use UDP as the VPN wrapper? That way it's the application's job to ensure connections are made and packets sent properly.

I would say probably not. SSL based vpn is pretty common, and that's always done over TCP. Cisco does support DTLS, and ipsec happens below TCP, so it just depends on your provider.

OpenVPN is an SSL based VPN that can do either UDP or TCP, but defaults to UDP.

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#125

Post by tjoff »

draebek wrote: post #95
wccrawford wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think another reason to trust a VPN provider is that it's their reason to exist. If people find out that they're not really protecting their customers' privacy, they'll lose all their customers. ISPs, on the other hand, provide a different service and privacy is merely an additional consideration. It's not their main reason to exist.

> If people find out that they're not really protecting their customers' privacy, they'll lose all their customers. Yeah, but given the lack of history, openness, and reputation a lot of the VPN providers have, it seems to me that a provider could just "pick up and move": start a new company with a new name and new IPs and what not, and just do it all over again.

Not to mention that there is also a pretty big incentive to sell out your users. Probably a high percentage of shady business that the entertainment industry normally can't get a hold off legally.

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#126

Post by corford »

frequently10 wrote: post #103
corford wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't trust them. Just rent a cheap VM instance and setup your own VPN. OpenVPN is all you need and then you're good to go.

How would that help? Tracker leads back to IP of your VM instance. Although your VM instance doesn't keep VPN logs, the VM provider would happily cough up your Name/Address/PaymentHistory in response to a court order. They wouldn't need to know your home IP address.

It removes the sketchy VPN service (which is what he was worried about).

The main selling point of a VPN is to avoid suffering your ISPs craptastic network. It isn't anonymity.

If you want true anonymity, use tor.

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#127

Post by alphadogg »

wccrawford wrote: post #49
belorn wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I trust a VPN provider more than a ISP. The reason is pretty simple, I trust a random company more than a 30-200 year old telecommunication company which has strong ties to government and content delivery networks. How many VPN's companies has deals with content networks? How many ISP has a content network deal? How many VPN's has has a past of cooperative with government surveillance? How many ISP has cooperated wit…

I think another reason to trust a VPN provider is that it's their reason to exist. If people find out that they're not really protecting their customers' privacy, they'll lose all their customers. ISPs, on the other hand, provide a different service and privacy is merely an additional consideration. It's not their main reason to exist.

Unless they were setup by the agencies interested in catching you, right?

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#128

Post by dkokelley »

shanemhansen wrote: post #107
dkokelley wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't most modern VPNs use UDP as the VPN wrapper? That way it's the application's job to ensure connections are made and packets sent properly.

I would say probably not. SSL based vpn is pretty common, and that's always done over TCP. Cisco does support DTLS, and ipsec happens below TCP, so it just depends on your provider.

An SSL based VPN can be done within a UDP wrapper. The outer layer can't be encrypted or the connection wouldn't work. It's the payload that carries your (TCP/UDP) traffic out at the other end of your VPN.

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#129

Post by TheAmazingIdiot »

voltagex_ wrote: post #109
meritt wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

mmm. amazon micro free tier and rtorrent.

Wouldn't Amazon stomp on you pretty quickly for this?

They didn't the last time I did that.

I had some dodgy stuff going on over at an amazon free tier, including; socks proxy, ping tunnel, Metasploit, semi hidden tor end-node, ctorrent, and a few other things. I also linked a 25$ visa card from a convenience store, so very limited traceability.

All they did was bill me for the bandwidth.

Re: Why You Should Start Using a VPN

#130

Post by tripzilch »

shell0x wrote: post #114
ricardobeat wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your hosting company hasn't saved your access logs for the purchase. Otherwise you just added one step to the process.

Well, they probably log, but maybe you find an open or public wifi to join ;)

also they probably just log URLs and IPs, but not the POST requests.
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