VPN⁰: A Privacy-Preserving Distributed VPN
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Re: VPN⁰: A Privacy-Preserving Distributed VPN
#2Why not Tor? Providing more bandwidth to that network seems the most advantageous option. You also get stronger privacy guarantees.
Re: VPN⁰: A Privacy-Preserving Distributed VPN
#3Using zero-knowledge proofs to get around the "I don't want to carry " barrier to entry of distributed relay tech, is really very clever. The performance sounds like it might suck though.
Re: VPN⁰: A Privacy-Preserving Distributed VPN
#4Why not Tor? Providing more bandwidth to that network seems the most advantageous option. You also get stronger privacy guarantees.
They explain that in the first paragraph or so.
This allows edit nodes to decide what types of content will be routed to their node.
Re: VPN⁰: A Privacy-Preserving Distributed VPN
#5Why not Tor? Providing more bandwidth to that network seems the most advantageous option. You also get stronger privacy guarantees.
Tor is funded by the US government, probably as a way of disseminating US propaganda during government overthrows. When conducting psyops, governments sometimes block the online channels the US uses. With them also controlling so many nodes, they can use Tor for surveillance.
Re: VPN⁰: A Privacy-Preserving Distributed VPN
#6This is the sort of feature that could get me using Brave instead of Firefox. Great job by those guys, I've been wanting something like this for a while now!
Re: VPN⁰: A Privacy-Preserving Distributed VPN
#7The whitelist based approach seems pretty limiting, doesn't it? If every exit node is expected to enumerate the domains it will carry traffic to, what happens if a client needs to connect to a new site? Are exit nodes intended to keep massive, curated whitelists?
Something isn't adding up, to me. If the assumption is that all "good" sites _can_ be enumerated, then wouldn't Tor (or other systems) exit nodes already be capable of blocking CP?
Someone connect the dots for me....
Re: VPN⁰: A Privacy-Preserving Distributed VPN
#8The whitelist based approach seems pretty limiting, doesn't it? If every exit node is expected to enumerate the domains it will carry traffic to, what happens if a client needs to connect to a new site? Are exit nodes intended to keep massive, curated whitelists? Something isn't adding up, to me. If the assumption is that all "good" sites _can_ be enumerated, then wouldn't Tor (or other systems) exit nodes already be…
The CP, Drug markets etc on Tor is typically on hidden services, not on the clearweb.
The whitelist approach may work similarly to adblocker lists, where you say "I trust Jim's List Of Friendly Websites". I don't know how good it is for performance though.
Re: VPN⁰: A Privacy-Preserving Distributed VPN
#9Why not Tor? Providing more bandwidth to that network seems the most advantageous option. You also get stronger privacy guarantees.
They explain that in the first paragraph or so. This allows edit nodes to decide what types of content will be routed to their node.
And opens the network to abuses Tor was meant to protect against. If proof-of-destination is built into the network then that is a huge step towards invalidating the main benefit of using a VPN -- you don't want someone (your local authority) knowing where you've been. Current VPNs sort-of work by not being in your local jurisdiction. Decentralizing it makes it easier to attack.
Re: VPN⁰: A Privacy-Preserving Distributed VPN
#10Great idea. Was thinking of doing something like this for a while, but obviously the drawback is that you're suspect to being the exit node for someone who's doing something illegal, which is a risk I'm not willing to take for the sake of privacy.
Obviously you can start a whitelist, but as some other comment said, it's pretty limited... and I don't want the hassle to add in every domain I go to (given the number of different blogs posts from different domains that show up on HN).
For now, I'll be sticking to AlgoVPN because I can't imagine how they'll protect the safety of users too (maybe a blacklist... although that'd be hard to given the numerous "bad" websites out there that make you suspect of further surveillance).