Contrasting take: RTT and a service providing black box knowledge is not equivalent to knowledge of the backbone. To assume traffic is always efficiently routed seems dubious when considering a global scale. The supporting infrastructure of telecom is likely shaped by volume/size of traffic and not shortest paths. I'll confess my evaluation here might be overlooking some details. I'm curious on others' thoughts on this.
VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits
31–40 of 333 posts
Re: VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I am not sure that I really understand what they did. They checked where the VPN exit nodes are physically located. A lot of them are only setting a country in the whois data for the IP, but do not actually put the exit node in that country.
Yes, I don't understand the advantage or disadvantage of this. Let's say I need a Colombian IP address, I would figure it out pretty quickly it this was not genuine, except if the geo-block protection would be fooled too. Most of the "problem" countries are tiny places. Monaco, Andorra etc. It might be tough to rent a server there. And your list of clients should be minimal.
You can easily test this, of course -- the problem isn't that you, the user, cannot find out, it's that you pay for being able to use an endpoint in those countries and can't, because they don't exist.
It's not only small countries either, it affects much of Latin America, including Brazil (PIA's servers were in Miami for BR as well last time I checked). I've occasionally seen it also affect US states where e.g. Massachusetts would be served from Trenton, NJ.
Re: VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits
#33Using FreeBSD dummynet it’s possible to modify the characteristics of network traffic and emulate e.g. Somalia performance from a datacenter in France.
Re: VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits
#34This was a dumb study, and if they'd asked the VPN providers, I'm sure someone would tell them why. All the VPN providers I've used let you select the endpoint from a dropdown menu. I'm not using a VPN to make it appear I'm in Russia, I'm using it as one of many tools to help further my browsing privacy. My endpoint is one of 2 major cities that are close to me. Could I pick some random 3rd world country? Sure! That…
That's great for you. But some people need to pick a specific country. People in different countries often get different prices for things like airline tickets or online subscriptions. Maybe you need to appear from a particular country to access certain media.
I mostly use it to avoid exposing my IP address too, but if I knew my VPN was comfortable with a little light fraud, I'd be concerned about what else they're comfortable with.
Re: VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits
#35This was a dumb study, and if they'd asked the VPN providers, I'm sure someone would tell them why. All the VPN providers I've used let you select the endpoint from a dropdown menu. I'm not using a VPN to make it appear I'm in Russia, I'm using it as one of many tools to help further my browsing privacy. My endpoint is one of 2 major cities that are close to me. Could I pick some random 3rd world country? Sure! That…
Re: random countries, sometimes with PIA the Panama exit has a crazily low ping time (I'm physically in California). I wonder what leads to it? Hawaii I can understand, there's a cable landing not far from my physical location, but Panama is a mystery to me.
Re: VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits
#36This was a dumb study, and if they'd asked the VPN providers, I'm sure someone would tell them why. All the VPN providers I've used let you select the endpoint from a dropdown menu. I'm not using a VPN to make it appear I'm in Russia, I'm using it as one of many tools to help further my browsing privacy. My endpoint is one of 2 major cities that are close to me. Could I pick some random 3rd world country? Sure! That…
That may be your use case, but it by no means it's reflective of anyone else's. I live in a country that actively blocks and limits your connectivity to (ordinarily) public websites. Choosing an exit point that's in a different country is very relevant and important.
Re: VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits
#37I tried to use ProtonVPN when I switched over to ProtonMail a year ago. But so much of the web does not work when you're on a VPN. For example even HackerNews has VPN restrictions. More and more sites know where VPN endpoints originate. How will VPNs prevent this in the future without them just become easy to block?
Even worse is the Reddit approach, where leaving your VPN on will get your account shadow banned permanently. But you are not notified of that, so if you are wondering why nobody is replying to your comments, check in a private session if you can visit your profile page.
Re: VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits
#38Mullvad is the only VPN I will ever trust. Yet again they ace the test.
I also use Mullvad VPN exclusively for my VPN needs. The fact I can get 6 months of access with a scratch card bought from a store & my account is just a random integer number is an example of privacy by design: no email, no phone numbers, no credit cards. I don't even do anything illegal, I'd just rather have a (what I feel) trusted option when I want to browse the Internet anonymously.
Can you buy those in US stores?
I’ve been paying for Mullvad with Monero for years. Love it
Re: VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits
#39I tried to use ProtonVPN when I switched over to ProtonMail a year ago. But so much of the web does not work when you're on a VPN. For example even HackerNews has VPN restrictions. More and more sites know where VPN endpoints originate. How will VPNs prevent this in the future without them just become easy to block?
They can ban VPNs and Tor because it's affordable. Most of their users aren't using VPNs or Tor. Get enough people to use VPNs and Tor and they'll suddenly become unable to drop the traffic.
The ideal world is one where everyone is using Tor. They can only discriminate against you if you're different from others. The idea behind Tor is to make everyone look like the same user. The anonymity set must be maximized for that to work.
Re: VPN location claims don't match real traffic exits
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same issue exists with Tor exit nodes. It’s anonymous in that you have a hoodie on with a giant spotlight right on you.
A better metaphor would be that Tor and VPNs are like wearing a mask in public. It's obvious that you're trying to be anonymous, but you're still wearing a mask, so no one knows who you are. You may be denied entry to certain establishments, but some of the bouncers don't block all masks and if you're persistent with changing your mask (Tor or VPN exit node), there's a good chance you'll get in. CTRL+SHIFT+L works on…
To continue on the analogy, many people using a VPN wear a mask but they also keep the same unique combination of clothes that they were wearing a few minutes earlier without a mask.