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RANT: I hate the fact that my ISP can restrict access to certain sites (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by ad_on_is@lemmy.world to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

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How can it possibly be, that an ISP, which I'm paying for gets to decid, which sites I'm allowed to have access to, and which not?

All the torrenting sites are restricted. I know, I can use VPN, and such... but I want to do it because of my privacy concerns and not because of some higher-up decided to bend over for the lobbying industry.

While on the other hand, if there's a data breach of a legit big-corp website (looking at you FB), I'm still able to access it, they get fined with a fraction of their revenue, and I'm still left empty-handed. What a hipocracy!!

What comes next? Are they gonna restrict me from using lemmy too, bc some lobbyist doesn't like the fact that it's a decentralized system which they have no control over?

Rant, over!

I didn't even know that my router was using my ISPs DNS, and that I can just ditch it, even though I'm running AdGuard (selfhosted)

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[-] folkrav@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

Free VPNs should be avoided at all costs for many reasons, and the alternatives are an additional service to pay for, to fix another service you already pay for too that doesn't work the way it should work in the first place.

I don't see what's ineffectual about the complaints. Of course people will, and should, complain. Loudly.

[-] aBundleOfFerrets@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

Cloudflare’s 1.1.1.1 is free and can be as trusted as any of their other services.

[-] folkrav@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

That's DNS

[-] aBundleOfFerrets@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

No, their warp protocol is a fully fledged VPN. They use the same branding for it

[-] folkrav@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Hmm, Cloudflare themselves seem to say it's not.

What WARP Is Not

From a technical perspective, WARP is a VPN. But it is designed for a very different audience than a traditional VPN. WARP is not designed to allow you to access geo-restricted content when you’re traveling. It will not hide your IP address from the websites you visit. If you’re looking for that kind of high-security protection then a traditional VPN or a service like Tor are likely better choices for you.

https://blog.cloudflare.com/announcing-warp-plus/

[-] aBundleOfFerrets@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

It will get you around ISP and network level blocking, with high bandwidth and considerable less privacy concerns than any other free vpn. It is not surprising that you will need to pay money for geo-spoofing, and due to the nature of it’s design it can only expose your client IP to cloudflare customers. As far as VPNs go, those are very minor restrictions.

Saying it isn’t a VPN is pedantry and also wrong no matter what they say.

[-] netchami@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago

The ProtonVPN free plan is good though. There's no reason not to trust them, Proton is a privacy company and their business model is very clear. Also, their apps are completely free and open source. Windscribe might also be an option, but they have bandwidth limits. Proton doesn't limit bandwidth, instead they only allow you to connect to a small amount servers in only 3 countries. They also block P2P on the free plan, but it's fine if you just want to get around censorship and browse the web.

[-] folkrav@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, fair enough. My point still stands though: VPNs are a mere band-aid to the underlying issue, not a solution. You're merely shifting your trust from your ISP to another company, not fixing the problem.

[-] netchami@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago

I always use a VPN, no matter what network I'm on. I don't need or want to trust my ISP, I just need to trust my VPN company. And when I don't trust my VPN anymore, I can easily switch to another one, while I can't switch ISPs that easily, because they actually own the fiber-optic cable that runs to my house. Censorship is not the only issue with ISPs, privacy is another reason why a trustworthy VPN is mandatory for me. You can't fix ISPs, they are garbage, and they will always be. But you can use a VPN, so you don't have to care about your ISP.

[-] folkrav@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Which is exactly my point. Not all VPN companies are trustworthy (I'd say most are not, tbh). You're still stuck trusting some third-party. The problem lies elsewhere. VPNs are a band aid.