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Mozilla to launch free built-in VPN in upcoming Firefox 149
151–160 of 178 posts
Re: Mozilla to launch free built-in VPN in upcoming Firefox 149
#152I self-host wireguard on a VPS for this exact reason. $5/mo and i know exactly what's running. the setup takes some effort but after that it's basically zero maintenance.
The bigger issue with browser VPNs for me is that they don't help against DPI at all. I'm in a country where the ISP fingerprints wireguard traffic and drops it - a browser VPN connecting to a known mullvad endpoint gets blocked just as fast. You need protocol-level obfuscation for that, which is a completely different problem.
Re: Mozilla to launch free built-in VPN in upcoming Firefox 149
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
I doubt Mullvad would be doing this if they weren't getting compensated given they've always said (even right now[1]) they don't offer a free tier since they don't believe it makes sense. The other aspect is I expect it would stain the IP pool further. VPN IPs often end up on various blacklists due to abuse and introducing a wave of free users would only make it worse for paying customers. [1] https://mullvad.net/en/…
It's already pretty bad for mullvad. 3/4 of the websites I visit do bot checks it used to just be a few.
I get that without any vpn in 2026. In fact theres been times I’ve been locked out, returned my user agent and ip and asked to email a webmaster to prove I am human. I guess because I use firefox.
Re: Mozilla to launch free built-in VPN in upcoming Firefox 149
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
And crowd sourced think tank.
Eh, a think tank usually has some kind of minimum requirements, such as education or industry experience. The usefulness of hackernews lies in "farming the opinions of the kind of dork that hangs out on hackernews" -- this is useful data, but "crowd sourced think tank" is trumping it up a bit i think
Eh, a think tank usually has some kind of minimum requirements
When paid for, I agree that is absolutely true.
When nearly free, thanks to team Daniel it's an input that can be weighted against paid options. The free but large crowd may have thought of things that paid think tank members members holding doctorates may not have. Great ideas are missed all the time and most often until it is too late. There may only be a few golden eggs and many bad eggs but there are quicker ways to sort that out nowadays without an Eggdicator and Oompa Loompas though I do miss the songs. One golden egg could pay for the entire cost of the staff running HN for a decade.
Re: Mozilla to launch free built-in VPN in upcoming Firefox 149
#155[dead]
Re: Mozilla to launch free built-in VPN in upcoming Firefox 149
#156I usually defend Mozilla with these things, but I'm a bit bearish on this. It's not like they're not relying on big partnerships already for their survival. I don't have a problem with free to long as there is a paid plan, which I don't see on their announcement page. I don't care who is running a free-only VPN is a huge red flag, and I am one of those people that recommends using VPN services instead of running your…
FWIW, we'll have a secure, enterprise version of Firefox available later this year.
Re: Mozilla to launch free built-in VPN in upcoming Firefox 149
#157As a Firefox user: if I want a VPN I'll use an actual VPN. Focus on making a great browser, and not all this distraction. Also, "free": "If you're not paying for it, you're the product being sold"
Now we're the product whether we pay for something or not.
Re: Mozilla to launch free built-in VPN in upcoming Firefox 149
#158As a Firefox user: if I want a VPN I'll use an actual VPN. Focus on making a great browser, and not all this distraction. Also, "free": "If you're not paying for it, you're the product being sold"
I'd love to have a free VPN directly integrated into the browser, it's not a distraction. It's a developer tool for website developers.
Vivaldi integrates Proton VPN into theirs. I think it's pretty useful.
Re: Mozilla to launch free built-in VPN in upcoming Firefox 149
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Firefox’s free VPN won’t be using Mullvad’s infra though; it’s hosted on Mozilla servers around the world (if beta testing of the feature done in late 2025 tracks)." From OMG Ubuntu
What makes me not want to use it is I assume Mozilla has a legal presence all around the world. Two huge reasons people use VPNs is piracy and saying things/accessing content that's not legal in their country. If that company has a legal presence in your country, then they'll hand over that data to the police should you criticize the wrong person or download a movie without permission. At which point a VPN becomes ki…
It depends on whether the company keeps records or not. They can't turn over records they don't have.
Re: Mozilla to launch free built-in VPN in upcoming Firefox 149
#160Firefox doing everything, but being a good browser.