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SoundCloud has banned VPN access

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111–120 of 222 posts

Re: SoundCloud has banned VPN access

#112

I keep wishing “privacy” company, Apple, would release a VPN such that no business would be able to block it as they’d lose too many customers

They… do?

Private relay is an Apple VPN-like service that only covers iOS safari. That means the SoundCloud app or desktop usage will not receive any privacy benefits.

Re: SoundCloud has banned VPN access

#113

I keep wishing “privacy” company, Apple, would release a VPN such that no business would be able to block it as they’d lose too many customers

They… do?

They’re not big enough and some sites will hard block it with other VPNs, like the government of Delaware. Bigger sites still soft block it like Instagram which will randomly ban accounts using it, or Google with captchas every couple of searches.

Re: SoundCloud has banned VPN access

#114
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of VPN and proxy detection services, either as a service (API) or downloadable database, which are surprisingly comprehensive. Disclaimer: I’ve run one since 2017. Years on, our primary data source is literally holding dozens of subscriptions to every commercial provider we can find, and enumerating the exit node IP addresses they use. There are also other methods, like using zmap/zgrab to probe for…

> Years on, our primary data source is literally holding dozens of subscriptions to every commercial provider we can find, and enumerating the exit node IP addresses they use. Assuming your VPN identification service operates commercially, I trust that you are in full compliance with all contractual agreements and Terms of Service for the services you utilize. Many of these agreements specifically prohibit commercial…

Maybe the tables could be turned and we can build a service with dozens of subscriptions to every VPN detection service and report them for ToS violations ;)

Re: SoundCloud has banned VPN access

#115

You can't just blanket block all VPN access, that's not how the internet works... they could pick some common/well-known providers of VPN services and block their IPs/ASN/etc., but you can't just flip a switch and make all forms of VPN/proxy stop working, as there's no way to tell with certainty that someone is using one.

There are plenty of VPN and proxy detection services, either as a service (API) or downloadable database, which are surprisingly comprehensive. Disclaimer: I’ve run one since 2017. Years on, our primary data source is literally holding dozens of subscriptions to every commercial provider we can find, and enumerating the exit node IP addresses they use. There are also other methods, like using zmap/zgrab to probe for…

who's buying your service ?

Re: SoundCloud has banned VPN access

#116

I keep wishing “privacy” company, Apple, would release a VPN such that no business would be able to block it as they’d lose too many customers

Unless Apple would make an anonymizing VPN connection mandatory, I don't see any difference to the situation as is. As long as people can be pressured to turn off the VPN, nobody loses any customers. Additionally, I don't think paying customers are the target, since they usually provide identifying information anyway.

Re: SoundCloud has banned VPN access

#117

I keep wishing “privacy” company, Apple, would release a VPN such that no business would be able to block it as they’d lose too many customers

Unless Apple would make an anonymizing VPN connection mandatory, I don't see any difference to the situation as is. As long as people can be pressured to turn off the VPN, nobody loses any customers. Additionally, I don't think paying customers are the target, since they usually provide identifying information anyway.

If Apple started routing all iPhone/Mac traffic through some anonymizing VPN by default, services that block it would absolutely lose lots of customers.

Re: SoundCloud has banned VPN access

#118
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nowadays it's called "residential IP proxy". A lot of shady shit under that term. Used by all the harmful services - scammers, AI crawlers... :)

Now that you mention it, I never used those, but I always did wonder how they do those.

Someone googles "free VPN" so they can watch region locked videos and now their connection is a part of that network too. They may or may not realize that this is the arrangement.

Re: SoundCloud has banned VPN access

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They… do?

Private relay is an Apple VPN-like service that only covers iOS safari. That means the SoundCloud app or desktop usage will not receive any privacy benefits.

Private Relay also works in macOS Safari.
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