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

det.social

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

#271
post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's confirmed. And the party in question is quite extreme, at least by Swedish standards.

According to polls[0] the party gets ~20% votes in their region. IMHO 20% of voters can't be "extreme" [0] https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/orebro/orebropartiet-nast-... (swedish)

The AfD is a far-right extremist party in Germany with currently 28% projected support[0].

[0] https://dawum.de/Bundestag/

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

#272
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."

If the far-right parties they're supporting are similar to MAGA in the U.S., what they're doing is taking customer money and funneling it into a political effort to do just what you're describing - just in a different way. "We don't like groups X, Y, and Z, so we're going to fund a political effort to take their rights away by using government."

As I understand it, the Örebro party pushes for deporting immigrants and has a "Sweden belongs to the Swedes" policy that includes deportation for even those born in Sweden if their parents were born in, e.g., Somalia. So basically, "we don't like certain people, so we want to use customer money to force them out of our country". That really doesn't paint Mullvad as the victim, here.

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

#273
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at Zuck and Musk. Their platforms are still used by millions. It's only "us" that care about the pedigree of our tech founders, most people couldn't care less.

I commend your correct use of “couldn’t care less”. It’s so rare to see people get this one right these days.

really? how would/did you see others use it?

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

#274
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at Zuck and Musk. Their platforms are still used by millions. It's only "us" that care about the pedigree of our tech founders, most people couldn't care less.

There has to be some reason that so many projects are started by right wing people. Something in their personality that makes them both RW and willing to start lots of projects.

I would argue that right-wing people are now the left-wing people from like 30-40 years ago.

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

#275

To be fair, Örebropartiet can also be called an extreme left party. It’s complicated… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96rebro_Party

It doesn't seem that complicated to be honest with you. That is how they self identify but none of their policies seem particularly left wing. At least not from that Wikipedia page. Extremely left wing dental care is the best I will give them.

What about more social housing, reductions in working hours, and opposition to privatisation? Sounds left wing to me.

They have been called Marxist-Lenninist by more mainstream politicians: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96rebro_Party#2021_bus_rap...

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

#276
post #265
post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could do it, some people would align with that stance, and some wouldn't. Exactly how it plays out being a customer: now we've discovered he supports a far-right party here in Sweden, I can choose to not support the CEO with my money and let others know about their political leaning to decide by themselves if they want to support him and his business aware that their money might got to far-right parties. I don't…

I imagine that if a company really denied a customer due to disagreement on some views there would be similar flood of comments like "my views is my problem, I pay you money you must do business with me". Maybe I'm wrong though

There's an enormous imbalance between company and customer that you're ignoring, not to mention the difference between a private person and a company's very public personas who own said business.

If a company was sniffing around to learn my political views, that would be a bit intrusive, wouldn't it? I wouldn't expect the same level of anonymity if I were the CEO of a company like Mullvad. There's also a disparity between "I'm taking my business elsewhere, good luck without my $10 a month!" (or whatever Mullvad costs...) and "we've decided to not allow you to use this service".

How large a disparity is depends a lot on whether a company has a lock on a market. Generally, if a vendor in a crowded market decided to turn away customers who are XYZ voters (as an example) I'd be more apt to just comment on that as a business strategy than as a "how dare they, they must accept all customers!" Like, if you are one of 20 VPN providers and you think you can be successful by turning away customers.. well, OK. Good luck with that.

If it's a provider with a monopoly that's a bit different. I live in an area with only one choice of provider for electricity. So I don't think they should be allowed to refuse service to anybody who is paying their bill, even people I vehemently disagree with.

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

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does it physically prevent Mullvad from logging your data?

They're known to run everything in RAM, nothing gets stored. You pull the plug and everything is gone. Of course, you have to trust the company on that.

So nothing prevents them

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

#278
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Horseshoe Theory strikes again: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_theory

[flagged]

You got that reversed.

The nazis (national socialists) were running on full on the extreme left talking points, right down to socializing several industries, providing everyone a job (via state) etc pp.

After they got to power they ultimately abolished the democracy - that cannot be called either left or right leaning, because neither side would want that... And what they did up to that was actually very close to what they ran on. They did give everyone a job. State sponsored. Etc.

From a objective perspective, they were left. At least until the Kristallnacht.

The left just successfully rebranded them to right over the next decades, because they could and it was expedient for their bottomline.

I think it's worth pointing out that - if things were reversed - the political right would've done the same.

Realistically speaking, the Nazi were neither "left leaning" nor "right leaning"

They were just populists which told the population what they wanted to hear, which was left leaning propaganda - and delivered enough of that to establish itself successfully. But the dismantling of the democracy is proof that they were outside of the political spectrum. They were dictators, neither left nor right.

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

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Also they are anti EU and NATO. Lot of astroturfing here.

> Lot of astroturfing here.

The guidelines say "assume good faith"

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#280

To be fair, Örebropartiet can also be called an extreme left party. It’s complicated… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96rebro_Party

To add to the context. The founder of the was the chairman for the youth organization of Vänsterpartiet (English name: The left party), the furthest left party in the Swedish parliament, and he recruited members primarily from the same organization when he was kicked out. The reason he got kicked out was that he was seen praising the Revolutionary Front, a far-left extremist political and militant network in Sweden.

It should be added that the area where they are active is in the local government of Örebro Municipality, a place with a total population of 160,143 people. Looking at the political leanings of parties for a small local government with the lens of national parties might not give a very clear picture. Their strategy is also directed toward local voters, not national voters, through a strategy called the 12% line.

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