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PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy

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Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy

#301

Post by earenndil »

Tenoke wrote: post #133
rasengan wrote: post #4

This article and articles like this miscast Kape in an incorrect light. To be clear, in the past the company was known as CrossRider and provided a developer SDK that could be used to integrate with browsers. Unfortunately, CrossRider didn't do enough to prevent malware (like platforms these days and their fake news) and the platform was used by some bad people for bad purposes. When the new management team of CrossR…

>The merger between Kape and PIA affords PIA the resources needed to bring privacy to the mainstream. You were one of the most, if not the most successful VPN provider for years. Did you really need more resources? For what? The main benefit of PIA is the expectation for extra privacy. No matter how you look at it, selling to Kape is a strong signal that's not a priority. Similar, for hiring Karpeles to do your secur…

I don't have a horse in this race, but should mention that PIA was losing a ton of money.

Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy

#302

Post by willstrafach »

rasengan wrote: post #270
nickpsecurity wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The merger between Kape and PIA affords PIA the resources needed" I'm one of those people who understand the importance of reputation and integrity. One bad deal might ruin mine forever. You needed resources to expand your privacy business. Did you try and fail to partner with reputable businesses such as Mozilla, get funding from governments/foundations, etc? Did you try to get with amoral companies whose backgroun…

We actually did reach out to many groups including some of those you mentioned. You would be surprised to find that “non profit” doesn’t always mean “for the public good.” As for others that were willing to partner with us, they wouldn’t sign a no log pact so I had no interest to work with them. It’s shocking how many private VPNs are shadily logging and/or selling your data.

I have tried to get in touch with you all, but got no response from the e-mail address provided via Twitter when inquiring about collaboration. No log pact sounds wonderful.

Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy

#303

Post by samsa »

rasengan wrote: post #278
NeedMoreTea wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trust and ethics are important. A company that is identified as using questionable ethics in business, for an extended period, is not automatically "reset to neutral" by airdropping in a new management team and a rebrand. Honestly? That sounds more like a move to bury the bad news, which has a long and effective history, just as the day a story goes public does - The Friday News Dump, Thanksgiving News Dump, etc. So,…

Nice comments. When Trump became president, was it still Obama’s administration? Given my knowledge on corporate governance and publicly held companies, I disagree with your first statement. The CEO and management team are absolutely the ones who define the ethics of a company and are legally responsible as well. As for Teddy, I’m not sure how knowing his background and being able to public verify his moves would cau…

It seems that you are redefining the word "trust" here. I would agree that transparency in a VPN is very important, but surely you have to realize that any time a consumer such as myself is utilizing the services of any third party company, whether it's a traditional software provider, a commercial VPN, a SaaS vendor, etc., etc., there is a trust dynamic taking place. No matter how transparent PIA is about their no logging policy, for example, I have to trust that the PIA team is holding firm to that policy. Yes, that policy has been tested in the courtroom; but all that does is tell me that as of 2018 or whenever you were served you didn't log; it doesn't tell me anything about whether you logged my traffic last month. For that, I need to trust you, based on a multiplicity of factors, that you didn't. Prior court cases form part of that trust, and your outspoken no-logging policy, but your corporate structure is also factors in to whether I trust PIA.

It is also worth meditating on the fact that, unlike this very boring (from a legal and political perspective) user, undoubtedly there is a segment of your user base who are dissidents and journalists, for whom the privacy of their online activities truly is a matter of life and death.

Trust is like respect; it should be earned, not given freely. PIA had my trust. You have since eroded it. Not completely, but enough that I am shopping for another VPN. If you want me to sign up again, you must re-earn that trust.

Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy

#304

Post by EpicEng »

rasengan wrote: post #154
Tenoke wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The merger between Kape and PIA affords PIA the resources needed to bring privacy to the mainstream. You were one of the most, if not the most successful VPN provider for years. Did you really need more resources? For what? The main benefit of PIA is the expectation for extra privacy. No matter how you look at it, selling to Kape is a strong signal that's not a priority. Similar, for hiring Karpeles to do your secur…

> Did you really need more resources? For what? Yes, to bring freedom thru privacy to people, The coming battle against privacy and free speech is by far the strongest and worst yet; the narrative and our voices are quickly getting quashed. Without the ability to communicate privately and speak freely, at best democracy is at risk; and at worst, humanity, or what it has meant to be human until now, itself may be at r…

>Yes, to bring freedom thru privacy to people

Ok, but you're a VPN provider. When I use a VPN service I am simply moving my trust from the ISP to you. This decision (as well as hiring Karpelès, convicted for fraud) lowers my trust in you.

I am on a year sub with you guys. I don't buy the marketing speak you're spewing here and I doubt I'll be renewing.

Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy

#305

Post by eyeball »

v64 wrote: post #3

Former PIA user who recently just moved to Mullvad [1]. Very transparent about their operations and they don't require any information from you to open an account. You can even mail them cash or pay with cryptocurrency to avoid having your real identity financially linked to your subscription. [1] https://mullvad.net/en/

Gave them a try for a month. Very easy to set up with WireGuard.

One thing I liked about PIA’s app is the kill switch function that prevents internet connection if you’re not on the vpn. Does that happen by default when I have wireguard enabled?

I use this in a place I don’t trust and need to make sure it doesn’t accidentally connect “raw”.

Another nice PIA feature is the ability to check server speed. Any way to know which of mullvad’s servers is the best bet?

Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy

#306

Post by EpicEng »

flyinglizard wrote: post #110
mirimir wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, I do my best to hedge relying on trust. But Kape is just way too beyond the pale. Perhaps it's unfair, but the association with Israeli intelligence, and so indirectly with NGO Group and the NSA, is just too much.

This company has no association with the Israeli intelligence whatsoever. Many, many of the Israelis involved in the technology world have served in the IDF Intelligence Corps (being that Israel has mandatory conscription and the intel corps select the best and brightest).

>This company has no association with the Israeli intelligence whatsoever.

And then...

>My assertion is that companies are not automatically related to the Israeli intelligence even if their founders came from its ranks. It takes decisive contrarian proof to convince me otherwise.

Why were you so convinced that there is no association? Maybe there is, maybe there isn't, but what we _do_ know is that the CEO is an ex member.

Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy

#307

Post by rhizome »

jeltz wrote: post #193
NeedMoreTea wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Start here (from Simon Davies, the founder of Privacy International): http://www.privacysurgeon.org/blog/incision/how-the-online-g... They are as bad as, and often indistinguishable from, the least salubrious corners of online advertising in their tracking and data gathering. Unfortunately their determination to keep feeding off addicts and keep tracking the whales is what has driven their data abuses. Responsible ga…

As someone who has worked in the online gambling industry I can say that this article is very outdated and on some points misinformed. Things have changed a lot since 2010, and he is wrong even about how things worked back then. > It is routine for sites to demand the transmission of passport and credit card scans, drivers licenses, utility bills and other personal documents. All the available evidence indicates that…

>Only due to the regulating authorities demanding this to prevent money laundering

Authorities demand tracking/ID info for users because the industry declines to make laundering impossible on their platforms.

Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy

#308

Post by rhizome »

hncommenter13 wrote: post #200
rasengan wrote: post #4

This article and articles like this miscast Kape in an incorrect light. To be clear, in the past the company was known as CrossRider and provided a developer SDK that could be used to integrate with browsers. Unfortunately, CrossRider didn't do enough to prevent malware (like platforms these days and their fake news) and the platform was used by some bad people for bad purposes. When the new management team of CrossR…

This may be ancient history, but I believe this understates Crossrider's active role in the adware/malware that was being widely installed. Per this research from Google and other academics [1][2], Crossrider was one of the largest "affiliates" of Superfish and other ad-injector malware. To my understanding, Crossrider was essentially a distributor: they delivered installs, recruited advertisers, and brokered deals w…

>It may or may not be relevant to today's Kape, but we should at least be honest about what these guys were doing in the past.

Yep, "consider the source." It's weird how people will strongly imply that reputation doesn't (or shouldn't) be a factor when the internet is involved, that even criminals should be able to fail upward.

Re: PIA VPN to be acquired by malware company founded by former Israeli spy

#309

Post by rchaud »

iddan wrote: post #186

It is worth mentioning a large portion of Israel talented IT youth is enlisted to intelligence technological units in IDF. So, every cyber company founded / hiring in Israel will almost always have people from those units. But, this is not such a big deal and definitely doesn't make them spies.

Correct. It just makes them people that happen to have contacts with an especially competent spy agency.
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