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I cannot recommend any other VPN in good faith while Mullvad is still around. Not only are they run by privacy schizo ideologues that have proven they do not log user data as of the time they got raided in 2023, they're also working on tools to fuck with modern AI data scrapers. Proton, on the other hand, did hand user data over to the Swiss feds when hit with a court order. That's enough to earn a them 'no, thank you' in my book.
Proton and Mullvad are in the same position, as far as not retrospectively collecting logs for all user connections, traffic etc. What happened with Proton is that they were ordered to collect more data, and they chose not to break the law.

While I do personally prefer Mullvad for their policy of not collecting emails and other details, including apparently only collecting limited payment information, around a user account, let's not kid ourselves that they are immune to court orders. They are not going to shut down their company or go to jail over refusing a Swedish court order. If they are ordered by a Swedish court to add additional logging to log all clients connecting to the (let's face it, usually quite limited) range of VPN servers that a particular user might use, and log all outgoing traffic from that server, and connect the dots about the two for authorities, they will. This could be ordered secretly- under the Swedish Signals Intelligence Act, for example- and they would not be allowed to disclose it.

If they haven't been ordered to do such data collection under the SIGINT act or other laws, why not add a warrant canary?

Is Mullvad and Proton safe to use for torrenting the latest episode of 'Reacher'? Yes. Are Mullvad and Proton safe to use for shitposting online? In many cases, sure. But neither provide full protection if you're being targeted by the enemies of humanity.
 
Proton, on the other hand, did hand user data over to the Swiss feds when hit with a court order.
Swedish law has more to do with that than Mullvad having more of a spine or better design somehow. Also if those activists had used Proton VPN they would've been fine as the requested data was in relation to an e-mail account and they got busted as they didn't use a VPN to access it.

I do like Mullvad but I'm dreading the day that Sweden (or the EU) legislates them out of existence.
 
It's worth noting that Mullvad stopped support for port forwarding back in 2023. It's not a huge deal, but if you're someone who torrents a lot and helps seed torrents for others then it can be a pain. Port forwarding essentially helps with peer to peer connection for incoming connections, so with Mullvad you can't accept incoming connections to seed torrents. Again, not a huge deal if you tend to torrent and then delete after, but it also results in slower download speeds too if you're only relying on outgoing connections, and means it can affect availability of low-seeded torrents.

Thought it's worth bringing that up since the discussion seems to be teetering on believing that Mullvad isn't susceptible of change under pressure, but they definitely are if there's enough cause to (like with the above).

I like the account anonymity stuff they have with Mullvad (used them myself for a while), but for the sake of download speeds and torrent availability I had to change.
 
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  • Agree
Reactions: Ferryman and Quioui
It's worth noting that Mullvad stopped support for port forwarding back in 2023.
Yes, people were running CSAM sites via the port forwarding so their hand was forced.
You should upgrade your torrenting setup. Torrenting on VPNs is nigger behavior, rent a VPS somewhere for the same price and either VPN through that, or torrent on it directly. That way you're leeching & seeding faster, while also not being a nigger to everyone else connected to the same vpn. It's win/win for everyone, plus if you torrent on your VPS you don't gotta run your PC 24/7 either.
 
Proton, on the other hand, did hand user data over to the Swiss feds when hit with a court order. That's enough to earn a them 'no, thank you' in my book.
Friendly reminder that they gave the IP a user used to connect to Proton Mail to send illegal e-mails with. It is assumed merely using Proton VPN to then log onto Proton Mail would have avoided being logged.

While I like Mullvad, it is a paid product, Proton VPN is a very good option for a free VPN. (the free tier doesn't let you choose the country, it's usually Netherlands or Japan. Also no torrents)
 
It's worth noting that Mullvad stopped support for port forwarding back in 2023.

I like the account anonymity stuff they have with Mullvad (used them myself for a while), but for the sake of download speeds and torrent availability I had to change.
I've been seeding a shit ton of torrents recently so this comes at a very opportune moment. I've been thinking of setting up a torrent box on an old thinkpad, so in your opinion, do you think ProtonVPN would be a good fit for that?

You should upgrade your torrenting setup. Torrenting on VPNs is nigger behavior, rent a VPS somewhere for the same price and either VPN through that, or torrent on it directly. That way you're leeching & seeding faster, while also not being a nigger to everyone else connected to the same vpn. It's win/win for everyone, plus if you torrent on your VPS you don't gotta run your PC 24/7 either.
Any specific VPS, or at least privacy-friendly VPS host in mind? Definitely sounds like an enticing option, even if I've never handled VPS renting before.
 
Any specific VPS, or at least privacy-friendly VPS host in mind? Definitely sounds like an enticing option, even if I've never handled VPS renting before.
BuyVM are a great place to start - Null has used them in the past too https://kiwifarms.st/threads/nulls-tier-list-for-internet-services.129513. This does mean though you need to manage the VPS, update it, install stuff etc. You may be better off with a seedbox. TLDR it's like a VPS except a company runs it for you and you just rent disk space and (fair use) bandwidth. There's a load of great options for seedboxes, to name two: seedhost.eu & whatbox.ca
Whatbox especially are known for their helpful and friendly support.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: ddddank
seedboxes
I've been happy with Feral Hosting for my seedbox. It's not a pure seedbox but I just add transmission to it and use that with the API linked into flexget running on a home system to push new torrents to it and auto-download finished torrents with rclone. And then a simple scp command to send torrents which aren't part of my automation.
 
Remember that if you're only looking for a way to hide your IP on the BitTorrent network and you're fine with using a local machine to do the deed, you can simply rent a VPS with unlimited bandwidth, set up a Wireguard server on it and use it as a personal VPN. And by personal VPN I do mean personal VPN. If you want to connect to public WiFi, you can use your VPS for it. If you want to have remote access to your local network and your main connection is CGNATed, you can use your VPS as the anchor point.

Keep in mind that some torrent clients like qBitTorrent allow you to bind to a network interface, so the moment you lose your connection with your VPN, it doesn't try to switch to your main connection, risking an IP leak. It's like a kill switch that's actually reliable.
 
A Google search suggests that it's an issue with some upstream dependency (youtube.js). The GitHub issue says there will be a patch out soon.
It seems to be working as of now. Hopefully the issue is resolved at some point, I really love freetube!
 
(fair use) bandwidth.
Whatbox especially are known for their helpful and friendly support.
Forgive my privacy schizophrenia - they do seem really legit, options to pay with crypto is always a good sign. My primary concern is safety since I live in a very piracy hostile country, so whichever VPS / Seedbox I rent must be as secure as possible. Maybe an anonymous seedbox in Romania or something might fit the bill.
That's a very interesting proposition. But it also means that the burden of trust is put upon the VPS provider, which instinct tells me to consider unsafe unless proven otherwise. Maybe threading my connection through a VPN a la Mullvad, and THEN through a VPS would provide more safety, but then, that just defeats the purpose of having an off-site torrent box. I guess running something like a minimal spec VPS that just auto uploads to an online cloud like MEGA, then to only be accessed through McDonalds wifi would also work.
 
But it also means that the burden of trust is put upon the VPS provider
Which also applies if you use the VPS as a seedbox. The difference is that with a VPN, the torrents (the illegal material) are on your machines, and with a seedbox they're ont he machines of the VPS host. In both scenarios it's the VPS IP that shows up on the trackers, it's this IP that'll be snitched on by copyright trolls, and in both cases the provider will be the one to decide whether or not to narc on you.
 
  • Thunk-Provoking
Reactions: Ferryman
This isn't software, but an API. Creating a thread just for this one didn't feel like it's worth it.

IP checking: https://myip.wtf For when you're paranoid about whether your browser/interpreter/script took on the new proxy settings or not. Compared to its alternatives, it's completely no-bullshit and offers plain text results. Ex.: https://ipv4.myip.wtf/text, https://ipv6.myip.wtf/text.
 
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