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Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

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Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#321

Post by 411111111111111 »

kkielhofner wrote: post #318
411111111111111 wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They can tear your house apart. Seize your property. They can withdraw your blood by force if necessary. Micheal Jackson (rich, famous, and powerful) had his genitalia examined. They can certainly (and do) go in your office and take every single thing computer or data related if those devices may contain information relevant to the warrant. Thats only true for the US, which isn't where Mullvad is located.

This has been talked to death on this thread. Swedish law enforcement did an initial investigation. Applied for a warrant. Was granted a warrant. Then six officers from the national police arrived to serve the warrant. In any country in the world with a functioning government they are not just going to walk away because someone said they don’t have the materials covered in the warrant.

> In any country in the world with a functioning government they are not just going to walk away because someone said they don’t have the materials covered in the warrant.

That's probably true, but entirely unrelated to what you claimed before.

You said this specifically, and none of that is permissive anywhere in Europe.

> They can tear your house apart. Seize your property. They can withdraw your blood by force if necessary. Micheal Jackson (rich, famous, and powerful) had his genitalia examined. They can certainly (and do) go in your office and take every single thing computer or data related if those devices may contain information relevant to the warrant.

They'll only be able to take what's specifically allowed according to the warrant, and if the warrant was worded to only include servers with storage mediums, and they don't have any, then nothing could be collected until the warrant was reissued. Which would likely be done pretty quickly.

Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#322

Post by KomoD »

beltsazar wrote: post #165

I've been a Mullvad customer for some time and I'm quite satisfied. But the main issue I have is that many of its servers are blacklisted by Cloudflare and other services. Because Mullvad provides the strongest anonymity a VPN can provide, it attracts not only normal users, but also malicious users (scammers, hackers, or less malicious but more numerous scrappers).

> many of its servers are blacklisted by Cloudflare

Can't relate, haven't had this happen when using Mullvad

Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#323

Post by KomoD »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #160

Does anyone have a Nord vs Mullvad on speed of servers in the USA. I’m ending out my Nord and want to switch, but man, I’m actually surprised at how fast Nord’s servers are, I can get 500mbps on non-peak times.

Just pay the €5 for a month and try?

Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#324

Post by ranger_danger »

KronisLV wrote: post #133
pedro_hab wrote: post #71

I don't understand why go after the VPN, I think most people don't use a VPN correctly. What good is a VPN when multiple apps on your computer are phoning home? If the law has a suspect IP, couldn't they just ask google, microsoft and facebook what accounts were accessed with that IP? To use a VPN correctly wouldn't have to use a fresh OS and absolutely not login to any accounts connected to the IP you are trying to…

> To use a VPN correctly wouldn't have to use a fresh OS and absolutely not login to any accounts connected to the IP you are trying to hide? Even then fingerprinting would still present an issue, even without explicitly logging in, with most browsers. For example: https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/ Also have a look at this: https://www.amiunique.org/ So you might need to have a browser that lies and presents configura…

Ever used creepjs? It's literally impossible to escape fingerprinting that actually works now. Also if you use not-Windows, no browser currently properly spoofs its javascript OS value, especially if queried within a WebWorker, so that alone makes you stand out way more just by not using Windows, at least until browsers make a way to spoof that too.

And the people that say "just disable CSS/JS"... guess what? Almost nobody does that, which makes you stand out even more!

Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#325

Post by gala8y »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #210
gala8y wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you, please, explain?

We're assuming in this scenario that your memory is still basically functional, so the math on a sheet of paper won't be replaced suddenly without you noticing. If you can't even remember things in the medium term that's a level beyond "trapped in a dream" that's much more hopeless. So, with that assumption, you make a computer solve a problem that's impossible for a human to work through in a practical amount of tim…

Thanks, I will try to understand it, but I need to read some stuff beforehand, I guess.

Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#326

Post by troad »

kkielhofner wrote: post #252
troad wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is quite silly. A warrant isn’t a magic bullet that ends all your rights and gives the police superpowers. A lawyer can very much say “no, this information isn’t responsive to the warrant”, where a lay person may not realise this, and volunteer information that they have no legal obligation to hand over. The police absolutely rely on the information and power asymmetry between them and the public. You honestly d…

This is extremely silly. I did not say it ends your rights. I did not say it gives them superpowers. What it does do is give them government and legally sanctioned power backed up by force to do whatever the warrant says. They can tear your house apart. Seize your property. They can withdraw your blood by force if necessary. Micheal Jackson (rich, famous, and powerful) had his genitalia examined. They can certainly (…

With respect, you're speaking with an unwarranted degree of confidence about a topic you do not seem very well versed in.

The key problem is that you're confusing two very different kinds of police operations. If the police get a tip off about a dangerous meth lab in your basement, then yes, they will execute a dawn raid, in which they storm your house, guns drawn. In that moment you simply comply, and any police overreach is sorted out later in litigation.

But this is absolutely not how warrants work in high corporate contexts. The police will arrive at reception, politely identify themselves and ask to be shown in, ask everyone to step away from their keyboards, and then begin speaking calmly with whoever is in charge. Being involved in investigations is simply a part of life for any sufficiently large corporate entity. No one is running around, no guns are being pointed at anyone, no one is particularly phased. Most staff are sent out to go for a walk, a few are kept back to walk the police forensics techs through what data is (or isn't, in this case) kept on premises.

I applaud your zeal against police overreach, but most cases of police overreach happen on the streets and in people's homes, not in some glass tower under the watchful gaze of a team of hostile lawyers. That's why - to return to your post above - legal representation absolutely does matter, and anyone interacting with the police in any capacity without it is being inexcusably reckless. Here's a law lecture to make that point better than I can: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE.

Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#327

Post by grvgr »

RonMarken wrote: post #311
grvgr wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[dead]

Have further information on potential malice by Private Internet Access or employees?

There are some links on my profile if you're curious.

Bonus:

1. Mark Karpeles has nothing to do with PIA:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21821832

2. Kape is a shit show:

https://old.reddit.com/r/PrivateInternetAccess/comments/11ej...

3. Jonathan Roudier has nothing to do with WeVPN:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35561337

much more to come...

Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#328

Post by mindslight »

aborsy wrote: post #287
mindslight wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally use a bunch of VMs for web browsing, all with different exit IPs. And yes, a lot of people use VPNs but don't use them correctly. But I'd rather help them to use them more effectively, rather than shout down that VPNs "don't work". And even when they're not used correctly, most people don't have particularly omniscient threats. And even imperfect use still helps everyone else by creating cover traffic, a…

You use Qubes OS? Otherwise, a lot of ram, CPU and storage might be needed.

Actually no, just home-rolled with virt-manager. I can definitely see the advantages of Qubes, but at this point it feels like it would be a lot of learning and changes for what is mostly a similar system. And I don't think it would work for the servers/daemons I run either.

Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#329

Post by relatedtitle »

gameshot911 wrote: post #288
aborsy wrote: post #285

What if the law enforcement, instead of saying give me your logs, rephrase it slightly and says, start logging this IP address and then give me your logs? They can do whatever they want.

A warrant can compel the seizure of existing evidence, but I don't know if it legally can compel the creation of new evidence by a 3rd party. At least in the US. I'm sure there are exceptions under various anti-terrorism laws, but in general it seems like the government can't compel corporations or individuals to assist in it's investigations.

Relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI%E2%80%93Apple_encryption_d...

Re: Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant – customer data not compromised

#330

Post by AtNightWeCode »

hnarn wrote: post #275

The summary of many comments so far seems to be: "I don't believe this is what actually happened when this warrant was executed in Sweden, because it doesn't sound like something that would happen when a warrant is executed in the US."

The police have confirmed that they were at the location but there are no further details. Could be anything.
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