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Relaunching of AriaVPN website (ariavpn.net)

submitted 5 months ago by AriaVPN@monero.town to c/monero@monero.town

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Hello Monero Town,

I wanted to thank you for all the feedback you gave us when we initially proposed our project to you. We went back to the drawing board and reworked a few things. Notably, as you can see, a new website, and more communications. We’re still working on the design, but it’s getting there.

We also integrated another payment method with a friendly ecosystem, but we still are, and will always be, preferring Monero to be used. We stand by privacy.

If you would be so kind to have a look and let us know your thoughts, if you feel like you’d use the VPN service, why/why not, and any tips on improving our project would be greatly appreciated.

https://ariavpn.net/

Best, J

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[-] itsmect@monero.town 2 points 5 months ago

I can not take any privacy service seriously which does not accept monero and/or cash. You exceed expectations by not even including kyc'd payment methods.

Your landing page does not load at all without javascript. For a privacy service this is an immediate red flag. It doesn't have to be pretty, but I expect to be able to read all text without JS.

I'm not a fan of your "litepaper". It contains too much marketing (mission statement, ownership, zero knowledge praise) and user guide (website, payment, dashboard, referral). The first block belongs on an about us page, the second on an faq page. As it is right now, it feels a bit like a shitcoin whitepaper. Instead use it to exclusively explain how your tech works, and why I it is better then what your competition does.

Ultimately you could just be another ANOM, and it's up to you to sufficiently proof you aren't. Sorry to be this harsh, but your presentation does not give me the confidence to even try your service.

[-] AriaVPN@monero.town 3 points 5 months ago

Hi, thanks for your feedback. We do not want to accept cash because there will be some form of PII. So preferably all is done via Monero.

Thanks for raising the JS issue, and for the feedback on the litepaper. Well noted and we will work on that.

[-] itsmect@monero.town 2 points 5 months ago

Either monero or cash is fine as payment. You don't need to support both.

[-] jet@hackertalks.com 2 points 5 months ago

Be careful doing crypto refunds, depending on your jurisdiction that could put you into a high regulation money transmitter and KYC framework.

$7 is more than the gold standard mullvad $5 service, so you should have some reason to justify the extra cost.

Since your plan defaults into $0.25 cents per day for underpayment, then I imagine you should just advertise this as a feature. Pay per day, etc.

[-] AriaVPN@monero.town 4 points 5 months ago

Hi! Thanks for your response. We will have to look into the crypto refunds/money transmitter framework, thank you for raising that concern.

Mullvad - they're certainly a great service, but still legally need to collect some data. Their plans are 5eur and our monthly is 7usd, and if a yearly plan is purchased it brings it down to 4.16usd, which is then cheaper than Mullvad's 5eur :) Plus, you get to support the underdog :)

We did have a pay per day option, but decided to scrap it. Is that something you as a user would look for?

[-] jet@hackertalks.com 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

What data is mullvad forced to collect?

Pay per day may interest some users, especially automated users, but not something I'm currently looking for. Just thought since it's in your terms of service you should call it out as a feature to differentiate you

[-] delirious_owl@discuss.online 4 points 5 months ago

Nothing. They are forced to give their data upon request, but the data they give is basically useless. They even disabled recurring CC payments so they can't store customer PII payment info

[-] AriaVPN@monero.town 2 points 5 months ago

It is in our ToS because we didn't update it yet. We're hoping to have more long-term users than one-offs. But perhaps it's also a good way for potential users to 'dip their toes in the water'..

[-] jet@hackertalks.com 1 points 5 months ago

More notes:

Make it easy for people to pay you, accept credit cards PayPal etc etc
You're based in the United Kingdom, you should have your company information on your website, and contact information for the police when they need to escalate

[-] itsmect@monero.town 2 points 5 months ago

There are plenty of VPNs that accept credit cards Paypal etc etc
There are plenty of VPNs that have company and contact information on their website

Vote with your wallet.

[-] AriaVPN@monero.town 2 points 5 months ago

I understand that not accepting PP, CC or any form of fiat excludes a lot of potential users, but we simply don't want to have to store that information. We truly strive to be zero-log, zero personal information. We are not based anywhere–not sure where the UK came from, and it's not a company. We operate as a team, that's all, no registration.

[-] jet@hackertalks.com 1 points 5 months ago

Your domain registration indicates Yorkshire UK. At least as far as you told cloud flare

[-] admin@monero.town 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

[removed]

[-] jet@hackertalks.com 1 points 5 months ago

Why dox the voters for this post?

[-] admin@monero.town 4 points 5 months ago

The data is public anyways, just not shown by the default lemmy ui. I put it below posts that stick out to me but you're right, this wasn't a case of "downvote-because-crypto" and unnecessary.