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NordVPN library and client code open-sourced

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Re: NordVPN library and client code open-sourced

#261

Post by mtlmtlmtlmtl »

boomboomsubban wrote: post #220
mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing shady about fleecing your customers ;) The fact they're in Panama suggests some kind of money laundering scheme to me at the very least.

While I can agree that something about the business seems sketchy as hell, I don't see how it would be money laundering. Do you think they're buying a bunch of YouTube sponsorships with drug money to then attract customers to an unprofitable business? Or they're buying their product themselves and then advertising to make it seem like they have a legitimate business?

For laundering, the more legitimate cash flow the better. The less actual work, also the better.

Throw money at Youtubers, they make the ads for you.

Indiscriminately approve the sponsor spots(Check out IncognitoMode's sponsor spots. He practically designs his spots to be unapprovable. NordVPN will always work with him anyway. They don't seem to care).

You get lots of customers, charge them enough that a large profit margin is to be expected. Botnet users to save even more cost on getting hosts. Log user data and sell it on dark markets. That's the money you can then launder with your large clean cashflow.

At least that's the sort of set up I had in mind.

The datamining and botnetting is possibly optional. Dirty money could also be from any other criminal activity, maybe crypto scams or some other e-crime. Or just drugs/sex trafficking. Or here's a wildly speculative one: use your vpn service to aggregate CSAM and sell that on the dark web, then launder the money via your seemingly legit vpn service. Bonus: keep logs for blackmail purposes in case your Dark Web enterprise craters. Blackmail futures!

I feel like I could sit here all day listing viable ways of building a nasty, disturbingly profitable criminal enterprise under the guise of a VPN service.

(I swear I'm not a criminal I just know how to think like one).

Re: NordVPN library and client code open-sourced

#262

Post by commoner »

jedisct1 wrote: post #102

They didn't open source their Windows and macOS clients, which are the most important pieces of the puzzle.

I was misled by the title of this submission. The Linux NordVPN client is now open source (https://github.com/NordSecurity/nordvpn-linux), but the Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows NordVPN clients are still closed source.

Re: NordVPN library and client code open-sourced

#263

Post by etherealG »

LeBit wrote: post #252
disadvantage wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> terrible attitude towards privacy A VPN is inherently not a privacy tool. It is perceived that way because of the acronym Virtual 'Private' Network but privacy is not in the design specs at all. It's just for tunneling over untrusted networks like Starbucks Wi-Fi and spoofing your geo-location. That's it. You can't verify the no-logs claims by providers unless you're physically in their building and auditing the se…

My ISP doesn't see what I do. My DNS queries are sent into a private network. Nobody knows what I'm looking at. When I torrent movies, my IP cannot be tracked. It is shared with many users. It is fast. Those are all grest properties I gladly pay for.

Not sure I understand, are you saying you use or don’t use a vpn? If you don’t, how do you “hide” your ip while torrenting?

Re: NordVPN library and client code open-sourced

#264

Post by etherealG »

lillecarl wrote: post #248
babypuncher wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this "easier" argument amusing. Any solution that requires me to reach behind my TV and plug in my laptop is already not easy. With Netflix you just punch your password into your smart TV and you're watching content.

You don't have to, I can use my Android TV to stream torrents in a Netflix-like GUI using public torrents. My father uses it and he's not very "techy". It even syncs progress across devices, works on all my devices (doesn't work in the Apple ecosystem).

Would you mind sharing the software you’re using?

Re: NordVPN library and client code open-sourced

#265

Post by n3rv »

LeBit wrote: post #252
disadvantage wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> terrible attitude towards privacy A VPN is inherently not a privacy tool. It is perceived that way because of the acronym Virtual 'Private' Network but privacy is not in the design specs at all. It's just for tunneling over untrusted networks like Starbucks Wi-Fi and spoofing your geo-location. That's it. You can't verify the no-logs claims by providers unless you're physically in their building and auditing the se…

My ISP doesn't see what I do. My DNS queries are sent into a private network. Nobody knows what I'm looking at. When I torrent movies, my IP cannot be tracked. It is shared with many users. It is fast. Those are all grest properties I gladly pay for.

carrier grade NAT does not hide you...

Re: NordVPN library and client code open-sourced

#266

Post by ashirviskas »

maxloh wrote: post #257
acatton wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not related to them, I'm just a user of it. But Mullvad.net is the only decent VPN. (They're the one Mozilla chose to provide their VPN infrastructure) They've been audited https://mullvad.net/en/blog/2022/6/22/vpn-server-audit-found... I have no financial incentive to vouch for them. But what do you care, I'm just a random guy on the internet.

How about ProtonVPN?

Same company (no matter how hard they try to hide it), so unless it has better pricing or features, if you don't trust Nord, there's no reason you should trust Proton.

Though I do trust both, as Tesonet is based from here (Lithuania) and from my experiences with people who worked there, they have full trust in them and continue to use their services years after leaving the company.

Re: NordVPN library and client code open-sourced

#267

Post by boomboomsubban »

mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote: post #261
boomboomsubban wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I can agree that something about the business seems sketchy as hell, I don't see how it would be money laundering. Do you think they're buying a bunch of YouTube sponsorships with drug money to then attract customers to an unprofitable business? Or they're buying their product themselves and then advertising to make it seem like they have a legitimate business?

For laundering, the more legitimate cash flow the better. The less actual work, also the better. Throw money at Youtubers, they make the ads for you. Indiscriminately approve the sponsor spots(Check out IncognitoMode's sponsor spots. He practically designs his spots to be unapprovable. NordVPN will always work with him anyway. They don't seem to care). You get lots of customers, charge them enough that a large profit…

You've described many malicious things they could do, but none of it is really money laundering. And if your goal was money laundering, I'd assume you'd want to make that business look as clean as possible, not a VPN we can all agree appears shady as hell.

Re: NordVPN library and client code open-sourced

#268

Post by 4ggr0 »

r3trohack3r wrote: post #99
4ggr0 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No? I've used Netflix with NordVPN like 2 years ago and since then switched to ProtonVPN, which works as well... Using VPNs for Streaming is selling point #1 for tons of people.

It fully depends on whether the IP address associated with your VPN tunnel has tripped their automated detection systems or managed to land on a public blacklist like Project Honeypot. But they do actively track and block VPN traffic.

Ah, that's probably the case, true. Never had it happen to me but that's very anecdotal.

Re: NordVPN library and client code open-sourced

#269

Post by tekknik »

etherealG wrote: post #263
LeBit wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My ISP doesn't see what I do. My DNS queries are sent into a private network. Nobody knows what I'm looking at. When I torrent movies, my IP cannot be tracked. It is shared with many users. It is fast. Those are all grest properties I gladly pay for.

Not sure I understand, are you saying you use or don’t use a vpn? If you don’t, how do you “hide” your ip while torrenting?

Typically you’d use a seed box and have that do the actual torrenting, with you accessing the seed box via the VPN

Re: NordVPN library and client code open-sourced

#270

Post by jamiek88 »

bennysonething wrote: post #157
jamiek88 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix does however work with a smart dns spoofer.

Can you give an example please? I'd like to do this.

I use https://www.smartdnsproxy.com/services/netflix/

Never had an issue, been signed up for years.

It’s possible to set up your own solution I believe but I don’t have the time for that currently.

Not affiliated or anything and I’d do your own research on them but I much prefer this as they only see that traffic from me.

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