VPNs

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No, I don't, why?

So.. why not use a VPN to get at least a modicum more resistance to privacy invasion than what your ISP will provide (which is essentially nothing)?

Noone's saying Tor isn't better than using a VPN.

But when you aren't using Tor, do you have absolutely no concern for your privacy?

 

[James Smith]

So.. why not use a VPN to get at least a modicum more resistance to privacy invasion than what your ISP will provide (which is essentially nothing)?

Noone's saying Tor isn't better than using a VPN.

But when you aren't using Tor, do you have absolutely no concern for your privacy?

I've never suggested people shouldn't use a VPN. I've suggested people shouldn't go out of their way to use a VPN under the marketing scheme that Tor is improved by one.

 

[Elaine Benes]

Anyone else use Hotspot Shield? I've been using them since 2011 when they were Expat Shield and I've never had any issues.

 

[Sam Losco]

PIA 1.7 update has this in the changelog:

* Improved firewall rules on Linux to mitigate CVE-2019-14899 on affected distributions

 

[Aib Ld]

I'm a shit with the knowledge of VPNs, so are there any free VPNs (optional: with any way to safely torrent) that I can get my toes in their waters? Currently, I'm just using the Tor browser, but it sure sucks that daring to torrent anything will make it go all tits-up. I use Deludge, which I'm sure has some technical know-how to make it private somewhere...
Throw some low-price VPNs too, but I'm paranoid at giving them money.

 

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I'm a shit with the knowledge of VPNs, so are there any free VPNs (optional: with any way to safely torrent) that I can get my toes in their waters? Currently, I'm just using the Tor browser, but it sure sucks that daring to torrent anything will make it go all tits-up. I use Deludge, which I'm sure has some technical know-how to make it private somewhere...
Throw some low-price VPNs too, but I'm paranoid at giving them money.

As far as 'free VPNs' go, obviously nothing is ever really free. The classic 'free VPN' would be Hola VPN, which uses your computer as a node in their network, doesn't actually encrypt data, and is also based in Israel and spies on you.

Now, ProtonVPN does offer a free service, which I haven't tried, which blocks torrents and streaming sites. The intention is obviously to get you in the door and then upgrade. They have other business besides just a VPN, and their whole selling point for all services is privacy, so they have a disincentive to screw even free users. If you did try and upgrade, maybe set up a new account using Josh's affiliate link when you do.

There are a few other VPNs that aren't 100% dodgy and offer some limited free service as a marketing method. Windscribe is the most generous, in that they'll give you 10gb and allow torrents, from a limited range of their servers. They do also allow regular OpenVPN access once you're set up so you don't have to use their software. OTOH they are based in Canada, so don't do stuff the NSA would hunt you for. They haven't had a security audit conducted yet, though neither has Proton (nor have most services TBH). I believe they state that they can offer as much as they do because it is pretty much their sole marketing method (they don't do ads and are shutting down their affiliate program.

https://thatoneprivacysite.net/ gives you a matrix of VPNs by characteristic, so you can filter by those that can take cash, gift cards, crypto etc. You might also be able to use a service that only takes credit cards with an anonymous prepaid debit card that you've loaded using cash. Whatever you sign up for, it should be from a single-use email address, preferably a cock.li email you only access through Tor.

 

[Aib Ld]

After a bit of research, I've settled on Windscribe for now. Thanks!

 

[A Logging Company]

I've been thinking about hosting some Linux ISO files via bittorrent with a seedbox. If I'm concerned about third parties trying to snoop on my Linux ISO hosting, should I get a VPN or will just having a seedbox cover for that?

 

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I've been thinking about hosting some Linux ISO files via bittorrent with a seedbox. If I'm concerned about third parties trying to snoop on my Linux ISO hosting, should I get a VPN or will just having a seedbox cover for that?

Is "Linux ISO hosting" a euphemism?

Generally these servers are hosted in a jurisdiction that doesn't care about copyright enforcement. The idea is that you don't have to worry about copyright enforcement coming after you, so even if you're seeding rips of new blockbusters, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

 

[totse]

I've been thinking about hosting some Linux ISO files via bittorrent with a seedbox. If I'm concerned about third parties trying to snoop on my Linux ISO hosting, should I get a VPN or will just having a seedbox cover for that?

They would more or less accomplish the same thing. If you don't even want your ISP to know that you're accessing the seedbox (nobody cares), then the VPN can be useful. But with a seedbox, you already won't get ISP nastygram. Sometimes the seedbox also lets you VPN, like https://whatbox.ca

So suppose you get only the VPN, then you still hide the torrent traffic's origin, but you don't get TBs of disk space on a fast link in a datacenter. HD movies in seconds to minutes. Worth it.

For best results, exchange Linux ISO torrent files on private trackers

 

[AnOminous]

As far as 'free VPNs' go, obviously nothing is ever really free. The classic 'free VPN' would be Hola VPN, which uses your computer as a node in their network, doesn't actually encrypt data, and is also based in Israel and spies on you.

Needless to say avoid this shit like the plague. Not only won't it protect you, but it will also expose you to the illegal conduct of others being used by your IP as an exit node. Not only weren't they being clear about this, they were being underhanded and sleazy and selling the bandwidth of their "free" customers to their paid service. While I could see an above the board service like this, I'd never trust or pay money to some entity that operates in this way. That's not even getting into their overt malware.

 

[L50LasPak]

Needless to say avoid this shit like the plague. Not only won't it protect you, but it will also expose you to the illegal conduct of others being used by your IP as an exit node. Not only weren't they being clear about this, they were being underhanded and sleazy and selling the bandwidth of their "free" customers to their paid service. While I could see an above the board service like this, I'd never trust or pay money to some entity that operates in this way.

I wonder if enough people start using stuff like this the idea of a properly encrypted VPN will become obsolete because there's just literally so much fucking crap for the authoirites to sort through and the wires are so crossed and so many wolves in the flock of sheep and nobody knows what goes where or who said what or this or that or the other thing that we might actually see traditional internet anonymity restored in the most exceptional way possible.

 

[Vecr]

Needless to say avoid this shit like the plague. Not only won't it protect you, but it will also expose you to the illegal conduct of others being used by your IP as an exit node. Not only weren't they being clear about this, they were being underhanded and sleazy and selling the bandwidth of their "free" customers to their paid service. While I could see an above the board service like this, I'd never trust or pay money to some entity that operates in this way. That's not even getting into their overt malware.

The only "free VPN" that's at least sort of good is Tor, as a single node does not have enough information to find you.

 

[AnOminous]

The only "free VPN" that's at least sort of good is Tor, as a single node does not have enough information to find you.

And if you do act as an exit node, you had to go out of your way to do that, had the technical knowledge to do it, and presumably some clue as to what kind of dangers you are facing doing it.

 

[Coffee Anon]

Is there a list of who owns which VPNs? Like their CEOs or whatever?

 

[Wingus Dongshire]

I use AirVPN on my pfSense to privatize my entire LAN at home (only to inevitably turn it off every time I don't renew (which is every time I'm up for renewal))

 

[Aib Ld]

I'm probably going to out myself as a dumb idiot, but does Brave count as a VPN as sorts? The infobox above (at this time of this post) said Brave has Tor built in, but I haven't been using Brave lately since it's so slow.

 

[Pissmaster]

Anyone know anything about VyprVPN? I ask because there's a year of it available in a Humble Bundle right now for around $12.50: https://www.humblebundle.com/software/pc-essentials-software

https://thatoneprivacysite.net/#detailed-vpn-comparison says that they're based in Switzerland, but they do some troublesome logging - though for all I know, that could be outdated, as their website claims they don't, and have an audit from November 2018 from a security firm I've never heard of named Leviathan: https://www.vyprvpn.com/our-commitment

$12.50 for a year is pretty damn cheap, but is this one of those you-get-what-you-pay-for things? Or is that worth the cash?

I'm probably going to out myself as a dumb idiot, but does Brave count as a VPN as sorts? The infobox above (at this time of this post) said Brave has Tor built in, but I haven't been using Brave lately since it's so slow.

If you right click a link, you'll see "Open link in private window with Tor", which is what that means. Other than that, no, Brave is just a web browser with some nice features built-in.

 

[soft kitty]

Anyone know anything about VyprVPN? I ask because there's a year of it available in a Humble Bundle right now for around $12.50: https://www.humblebundle.com/software/pc-essentials-software

https://thatoneprivacysite.net/#detailed-vpn-comparison says that they're based in Switzerland, but they do some troublesome logging - though for all I know, that could be outdated, as their website claims they don't, and have an audit from November 2018 from a security firm I've never heard of named Leviathan: https://www.vyprvpn.com/our-commitment

$12.50 for a year is pretty damn cheap, but is this one of those you-get-what-you-pay-for things? Or is that worth the cash?


If you right click a link, you'll see "Open link in private window with Tor", which is what that means. Other than that, no, Brave is just a web browser with some nice features built-in.

Below average speeds, but for $12.50 'below average' is pretty damn good. That's like, what, $1 and some change a month? That's even cheaper than PIA. I'd say go for it. With that price, what have you got to lose?

FWIW TechRadar gives it 4/5 stars.

 

[Sam Losco]

Linus of Linus Tech Tips had a talk with PIA people. He goes through a summary of the conversation and plays clips on the WAN Show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va9vbM4EXbM&t=180s

The full interview is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOjOA9tWs7U
And I have attached just the audio rip of that for archival purposes.

It's about what you'd expect, they are saying everything is cool and nothing is going to get shitty and untrustworthy.