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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by silent_water@hexbear.net to c/technology@hexbear.net

they were all owned by the same company and sold to Kape, which has ties to the Israeli intelligence service, a few years back.

The issue is who he sold it to -- the notorious creator of some pernicious data-huffing ad-ware, Crossrider. The UK-based company was cofounded by an ex-Israeli surveillance agent and a billionaire previously convicted of insider trading who was later named in the Panama Papers. It produced software which previously allowed third-party developers to hijack users' browsers via malware injection, redirect traffic to advertisers and slurp up private data.

I personally use perfect-privacy, which didn't turn up any red flags when I did research a few years ago. it's a little lacking in features but openvpn isn't that hard to set up on linux & android. no clue how well their desktop app works.

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[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 38 points 1 year ago

Oh motherfucker PIA is the one I use

Thankfully the main reason I have it is just to steal video games but I’ll make sure that doesn’t renew

[-] KittyBobo@hexbear.net 34 points 1 year ago

Mullvad is what I use, haven't heard of any controversies with them.

[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 26 points 1 year ago

I used to use Mullvad but switched because PIA was cheaper and a looooot of sites and apps were blocking me when I used Mullvad.

Fuck you Wendys I don’t want to turn off my VPN on work wifi just to order food

[-] Gucci_Minh@hexbear.net 22 points 1 year ago

Seconding Mullvad, you can send them an envelope of cash or buy a code off amazon if you really care about it that much. Technically they're in a 14 eyes country but no one here is important enough to worry about that.

[-] Des@hexbear.net 14 points 1 year ago

angel-biblical there are too many eyes

[-] SSJ2Marx@hexbear.net 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The only problem is that they don't support port forwarding, so if you're a serious torrent person that can be disqualifying.

[-] muad_dibber@lemmygrad.ml 11 points 1 year ago

I torrent with mullvad, it seeds fine.

[-] Kumikommunism@hexbear.net 17 points 1 year ago

But it would seed better with port forwarding, as all VPNs would. Which is the point.

[-] kleeon@hexbear.net 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

main reason I have it is just to steal video games

why do you need a VPN for that? Can you get in trouble if you don't use it?

[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 26 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I’ve gotten letters from my ISP in years prior. For torrenting Silicon Valley and Gambo Thrones if I remember right

[-] kleeon@hexbear.net 19 points 1 year ago

US seems to be pretty strict with it's IP laws, crazy stuff. I've seeded like a 100TB of data and never gotten anything from my ISP

in canada isps are obligated to pass on what IP holders accuse you of, but they don't actually do anything about it. the rights holders are the ones tracking torrents or whatever. i've torrented tons of music and movies and the only time i got an email was when i torrented the lady ghostbusters lol

ive heard that in the us an ISP can decide to stop providing service to you if you get too many tho

I believe the US works much the same way

[-] Raebxeh@hexbear.net 11 points 1 year ago

Depends on where you live, but they like to periodically make examples out of people and sue them for like half a million dollars

[-] anarchoilluminati@hexbear.net 29 points 1 year ago

Once again plugging ProtonVPN.

[-] JamesConeZone@hexbear.net 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

perfect-privacy

$120 a year, god damn. I used PIA because it was $80 for 3 years and because like 10 people can use the same account.

for others switching from PIA,

  • kaspersky is about $35 a year ($30 first year, then $45) for 5 devices

  • protonvpn $60 a year for 10 devices with the 2 year plan

  • Mullvad is $60ish a year for 5 devices (no port forwarding)

  • IVPN is $80 a year for 7 devices with 2 yr plan (no port forwarding)

[-] lapis@hexbear.net 11 points 1 year ago

I also was just looking, and that "reasonable price if you prepay for two years" nonsense is, well, nonsense. I ain't exactly looking to spend $120+ all at once while crossing my fingers in the hopes the service doesn't suck.

Kaspersky seems like a good move, the page is saying it renews at $40/yr which is only $10 more than my current provider. Only five devices is a shame, though.

[-] JamesConeZone@hexbear.net 9 points 1 year ago

I was leaving towards them too. I paid for two years of NordVPN and got a refund when it sucked ass, so I'm guessing other companies do that if it isn't great

[-] farting_weedman@hexbear.net 21 points 1 year ago

There’s a significant difference between the threat model surrounding vpns that you intend to use for port forwarding torrents and vpns you intend to use to protect yourself from data harvesting/the cops.

Don’t expect one to do both.

[-] silent_water@hexbear.net 11 points 1 year ago

I'm posting this here because a lot of use a VPN for organizing. this doesn't matter if all you care about is torrenting.

[-] farting_weedman@hexbear.net 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I totally agree. I made my post for the same reason but not in direct reply to anyone talking about torrenting.

E: the thing I’m generally posting in the direction of is that all vpns aren’t the same and just turning yours on before you click on the link while you flip down your sunglasses and say “I’m in” or even checking out a company’s reviews before you sign up isn’t enough to keep you protected in the limited ways that VPNs are able to.

I’m using a hypothetical “you” here, not trying to accuse you of those practices in a passive aggressive way.

[-] silent_water@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago

I follow, just wanted to clarify because I didn't call it out in the post

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[-] YearOfTheCommieDesktop@hexbear.net 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm sure they still spy on my torrents but this is why I don't use any vendor provided apps or software for VPN shit (or anything else without a very compelling reason tbh), it's practically guaranteed to be adware or spyware

I guess it's time to check if my provider is on this list though

[-] SwitchyWitchyandBitchy@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't know the situation on Windows but the network manager VPN integration on Gnome is actually pretty amazing. Just have my VPN set to auto connect and it just works and comes right back up without any drama when the system wakes from sleep or switches access appints etc. definitely +1 for not using the vendor apps.

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[-] lapis@hexbear.net 9 points 1 year ago

Once again happy with my decision to use Torguard ages ago.

[-] tree@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 year ago

Have you seen their mastodon account?

https://home.speakfree.social/@torguard

Surprised anyone in this instance would use their service since they use their social media account to more or less do NAFO posting.

[-] lapis@hexbear.net 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's interesting to know about, I guess. I signed up ages ago, on a lifetime $30/yr deal, so they'd have to do something genuinely evil for me to consider some service that's 2-4x the price.

[-] Dirt_Owl@hexbear.net 9 points 1 year ago

I hate this dystopia

[-] M68040@hexbear.net 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I set up a Wireguard appliance on my VM host a while back but never got around to actually setting my PC up to actually be able to use it or anything

[-] SuperNovaCouchGuy2@hexbear.net 8 points 1 year ago

Minecraft, Roblox, GTA.

[-] Mardoniush@hexbear.net 8 points 1 year ago

I dont think anything conspiricy brained me quite as much as what happed to the person who leaked the Panama Papers. Not Epstein, not the Jakarta Method, not that time when the FBI and CIA found out every member of the Trot Org they were infiltrating was an informant...

[-] tamagotchicowboy@hexbear.net 7 points 1 year ago

I got letters over a damn textbook when I was in college. I'll need to switch vpns. I need something with port forwarding ideally.

Any body know of any good ones that use wireguard? I have PIA (didn't do anything I needed to be actually secure on fortunately) since I get amazing performance with wire guard vs openvpn, or least it seems to be a lot less picky when the underlying connection is weird or unreliable.

Also, for anyone who needs to hear it, a VPN alone will not protect you and you shouldn't use both at the same time unless you know what you're doing and the security consequences.

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this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2024
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