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2023 Paid VPN Relationship and Corporate VPN Ownership Map

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Re: 2023 Paid VPN Relationship and Corporate VPN Ownership Map

#31

Post by yieldcrv »

I think at best this can just help some people break through their cult-like fealty to whichever VPN provider their favorite trusted youtuber happened to introduce them to

because the VPN concept has limitations. It doesn't matter if the favorite VPN has proof of stonewalling a court case at some point in time, any other point in time it can be undermined and you wouldn't know until its too late....

it relies purely on trust and your use case. but if your use case ever expands to something law enforcement would be interested in, the VPN concept relies on too much trust

Re: 2023 Paid VPN Relationship and Corporate VPN Ownership Map

#32

Post by giobox »

xnx wrote: post #20
candiddevmike wrote: post #10

Anyone want to tl;dr what the best one is? The map doesn't load for me and the full map isn't the greatest thing to navigate... Would much prefer just text.

If I wasn't using https://one.google.com/about/vpn I'd probably set up my own VPN box on AWS.

> I'd probably set up my own VPN box on AWS.

I did this for years (OpenVPN then Wireguard, run from a simple Docker container), but it's increasingly a losing battle - so many services, especially in the streaming video space, just blacklist all requests from IP ranges associated with VPS providers such as AWS.

Depends on your usecases, but accessing streaming services in another country is a big one for a lot of people. I've since given up self hosting a VPN for accessing region blocked video content.

If its just to secure access when using untrusted connections while traveling, self hosting a VPN such as Wireguard at home is a nice option as you get the benefit of your own domestic IP, as well secure access to your own LAN. Good use for a Raspberry Pi or similar, total lifetime spend will likely be less than 6-8 months of a paid VPN subscription.

Re: 2023 Paid VPN Relationship and Corporate VPN Ownership Map

#33

Post by trclst »

beauHD wrote: post #22

> However, the worst case situation is that they lie about not tracking users and then they get hit with a LEO request they bow down to. That's within reason though. A VPN is another ISP afterall, so they have to 'bow down' to law enforcement requests. What LEAs can get depends on how zero knowledge the VPN setup is. OVPN[0] for example has been 'court tested' and Mullvad had nothing to give to authorities[1] since t…

"OVPN acquired by Pango, parent company of Hotspot Shield: what does it mean for users?"

https://alternativeto.net/news/2023/5/ovpn-acquired-by-pango...

Article updated 2023 https://blog.windscribe.com/the-vpn-relationship-map-2023/

Re: 2023 Paid VPN Relationship and Corporate VPN Ownership Map

#34

Post by Barrin92 »

infogulch wrote: post #14

Very interesting! I'm curious why there is there is a typical relationship between vpn companies and media companies, by common subsidiary ownership or otherwise. I don't really follow the logic here, is it just because the media company can promote their partnered vpn? Or is there some other reason?

there isn't that much technical differentiation. If you have a hundred companies selling the same commoditized service the only way for you to make any money is through some sort of brand or customer acquisition. On a pure product case VPN providers have essentially competed each other to the cost of production.

Re: 2023 Paid VPN Relationship and Corporate VPN Ownership Map

#36

Post by yegor »

_lvbh wrote: post #4

Used to be a customer of ExpressVPN but after the acquisition, it no longer worked properly in China. Mullvad somehow survives despite their server IP ranges being public

Contrary to popular belief, IP blocking isn't the most common way VPNs are blocked these days. Additionally, GFW isn't the same in all of China. Different networks, different cities, have different filtering policies and rule sets. Same as in Russia now.

Re: 2023 Paid VPN Relationship and Corporate VPN Ownership Map

#39

Post by spondylosaurus »

CuriousCosmic wrote: post #26
candiddevmike wrote: post #10

Anyone want to tl;dr what the best one is? The map doesn't load for me and the full map isn't the greatest thing to navigate... Would much prefer just text.

It depends what you want. The chart doesn't really say which are the best, just which are undisputedly shady. #1 undisputed champion for security, privacy, and anonymity is almost certainly Mullvad. Note however that Mullvad servers tend to get flagged and blocked by services pretty quickly. Mozilla VPN (which you can turn on easily in Firefox) is just a thin shell around Mullvad. The ease of use could make it worth…

Mullvad is my heavy lifter (well worth the monthly fee, even on months when I never actually boot it up), but I've used Windscribe in the past and thought it was pretty decent.

Back then they had a free tier where you could use a certain amount of data free of charge, and "create your own plan" tiers where you could mix and match various features at various prices. They might still have them now.

Re: 2023 Paid VPN Relationship and Corporate VPN Ownership Map

#40

Post by yegor »

CuriousCosmic wrote: post #26
candiddevmike wrote: post #10

Anyone want to tl;dr what the best one is? The map doesn't load for me and the full map isn't the greatest thing to navigate... Would much prefer just text.

It depends what you want. The chart doesn't really say which are the best, just which are undisputedly shady. #1 undisputed champion for security, privacy, and anonymity is almost certainly Mullvad. Note however that Mullvad servers tend to get flagged and blocked by services pretty quickly. Mozilla VPN (which you can turn on easily in Firefox) is just a thin shell around Mullvad. The ease of use could make it worth…

This list isn't about "dirt" but rather connections between companies and organizations. Windscribe is independent, and 100% privately owned.

Source: Me, as a co-founder.

If you want dirt on us, you can find it on our blog, written by me. https://blog.windscribe.com/ukrainian-server-seizure-a-comme...

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