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The CEO of Mullvad is the main financer of the Swedish Örebro party

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Re: The CEO of Mullvad is the main financer of the Swedish Örebro party

#491

Post by myrmidon »

panarky wrote: post #398
mrhottakes wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're a political company, but you don't want people to examine the politics of the people running the company? That seems naive.

>> Being in a tolerant and intellectually open environment ... Karl Popper said, "Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." >> the same way that someone's opinions on animal…

[flagged]

Re: The CEO of Mullvad is the main financer of the Swedish Örebro party

#493

Post by teddyh »

yaris wrote: post #210

I try to turn it other way in my head, like if Mullvad got to know somehow political views of some of their customers and say "We don't like what you say, so we decide to end our business with you. We don't want our infra to be used to spread opinions like yours."

You’re not taking it far enough. What if Mullvad has someone you disagree with as a customer, and does nothing about it. Does this mean that Mullvad is supporting them? Does this mean that you have to stop supporting Mullvad? What about Mullvad’s landlord? The company that provides them their electricity? Their internet provider? Their internet provider’s internet provider? Should you boycott the entire internet because Mullvad has not been given the BGP death penalty?

Re: The CEO of Mullvad is the main financer of the Swedish Örebro party

#494

Post by mrguyorama »

newtonianrules wrote: post #377
nradov wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that how all businesses operate? If customers don't like it then they can find an alternative vendor.

Yeah I just expected better of Mullvad as a long standing customer. They seemed pretty politically neutral which I prefer.

"We have worked extremely hard to ensure that your internet browsing cannot be retrieved by the police, even with a warrant, and that you can be anonymous online" is not at all "politically neutral"

Like, I agree with and support their politics, but that doesn't make something politically neutral.

Re: The CEO of Mullvad is the main financer of the Swedish Örebro party

#495

Post by Dylan16807 »

rglover wrote: post #381

[flagged]

An important part of making "vote with your wallet" work is that people need an awareness of what their wallet is voting on. Telling people not to talk about problems with companies lets companies get away with way too much.

Re: The CEO of Mullvad is the main financer of the Swedish Örebro party

#496

Post by tamimio »

Welp, that vanishes my support for mullvad, despite I did recommend it to many of my friends who doesn’t want/can setup their own.

Im not against people having different political opinions, I personally agree with things from each side and disagree with them both too on other matters, plus having my own third option that doesn’t fit any side. But I am certainly against a company marketing itself as a “defender of personal and human rights and freedom”, yet they are sponsoring a party that obviously doesn’t hold these values, this company will report individuals in the future to deport them maybe, 5 years later they are reporting others for disagreeing with whatever agenda that party is having, it’s always a slippery slope, never think it will end at xyz and that’s it.

Goddammit it’s like companies are ALWAYS destined to turn to evil one way or another, it’s just how long it will take is the question. It’s a reminder that you should always host your own, trust nobody, none.

Re: The CEO of Mullvad is the main financer of the Swedish Örebro party

#497

Post by everfrustrated »

alexseman wrote: post #333
kfreds wrote: post #118

Hi, Mullvad has two owners, founders, and CEOs - Daniel Berntsson, and me, Fredrik Strömberg. All posts I've seen yesterday and today, including the newspaper articles, talk about Mullvad as if Daniel is the single owner, founder and CEO. It should be obvious that Daniel's private donation to a political party is not part of Mullvad's values or mission. If you have any questions, comments or concerns you're welcome t…

Thanks Fredrik, will actually be switching to Mullvad.

Indeed I see this as a positive. There is a common meme that the CIA might well run VPN companies. It would seem less likely for Mullvad.

Re: The CEO of Mullvad is the main financer of the Swedish Örebro party

#498

Post by helterskelter »

myrmidon wrote: post #472
miyoji wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It should be obvious that Daniel's private donation to a political party is not part of Mullvad's values or mission. No, in fact, the opposite of this is obvious.

An honest question: Would you like to live in a world where company/employer exerts more control over the views that are publicly expressed? Do you actually want voting to happen via wallet? This whole view kinda confounds me. I don't see how you can honestly profess to be on the tolerant/right side, morally, while trying to boycott someones business over his political views. Would you have preferred early feminists…

This is about what customers are comfortable supporting. This guy doesn't just have what many consider to be unpalatable political beliefs, he's one of the biggest funders of what many consider to be an unpalatable political party. Lots of people don't want to give money to something which they feel will in part be funneled to an organization which is antithetical to their views. Realistically, I kind of doubt Mullvad is rolling in swimming pools filled with cash getting syphoned to neonazis, but that brings me to my next point...

For many, it's not just an intellectual position but an emotional one. This doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong, but you probably won't be able to reason them out of it. It's the same reason I don't listen to Michael Jackson. He's dead and none of that streaming revenue would go to him or to raping children but...yuck.

At the end of the day, there's an irony in this guy supporting the very freedoms on the internet which are being used to disseminate criticisms against him, and perhaps inducing people to starve one of the vehicles which helps maintain those freedoms.

Re: The CEO of Mullvad is the main financer of the Swedish Örebro party

#499

Post by aleda145 »

Örebropartiet is like the weirdest party in Sweden. It's named after "Örebro", a Swedish city with 125k population. The party's founder, Markus Allard, used to be far left politician before turning far right.

Their party program is all over the place. They stand for free dental care, direct democracy and deporting immigrants.

Marcus is also known for profanity and foul language in council meetings.

An oddity in Swedish politics is that if a local party manages to get 12% of the votes in a constituency they are eligible for getting a seat in parliament, and can skip the regular 4% popular vote rule.

Örebropartiet actually has a chance to get into national government next election (Fall 2026) since their local support is quite strong. Times are weird

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