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Exposed: How Israeli Spies Control Your VPN (www.mintpressnews.com)
submitted 1 month ago by plinky@hexbear.net to c/technology@hexbear.net
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Kape Technologies is a major player in the online privacy world, one of the three giants that collectively control the market. It owns many of the world’s top VPNs, including ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, ZenMate, Intego Antivirus, and a host of tech websites that promote its products.

This begins with its owner, Teddy Sagi. Born in Tel Aviv, the tycoon, who previously spent time in prison for financial crimes, is estimated to be worth $6.4 billion, making him among the top ten richest Israelis.

Sagi has a long history of working closely with the IDF and is rumored to be extremely close to Israeli intelligence. In 2019, he donated $3 million to fund hundreds of academic scholarships for discharged Israeli soldiers. “It is a debt of honor for us and for me personally to express gratitude and appreciation that all of Israel’s citizens owe to you,” Sagi said at the Friends of the IDF Gala. He also made a point of finding jobs for former IDF soldiers in his businesses.

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[-] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

People who didn't read the article: "OMG is [my favorite VPN] affected?!"

People who did read the Article: ExpressVPN, Private Internet Access, CyberGhost, Intego, and Webselenese

Folks, this isn't some clandestine super-secret operation. Kape lists all their acquisitions here: https://www.kape.com/about-us/

[-] roux@hexbear.net 11 points 1 month ago

God I can't wait for my PIA sub to run out. Locked in for 2 more years and I feel gross.

[-] plinky@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Use it to its full potential pirate-jammin

But also, how did you manage to get this long of a sub?

[-] roux@hexbear.net 8 points 1 month ago

They occasionally have a steep sale that is like $2.13 a month but you pay for 3 years. I forget the exact prices but iirc I paid under $100 though. I jumped on it without knowing where there are out of. I'm gonna be switching to Proton because of their email/storage bundle when my sub is up though.

And I'm def using it lol. I checked my torrent app last week and have downloaded around 1TB since my last OS install this past spring.

[-] citrussy_capybara@hexbear.net 8 points 1 month ago

the proton offer is too good for a reason, it’s the new “crypto ag” cia honeypot, they log ip addresses and turn data over to police

[-] pinguinu@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 1 month ago

They log IP for the email service, not VPN service. They made a blog basically telling people to use a VPN to log into their email if they didn't want that to happen (the arrest part not the disclosing IP part)

[-] citrussy_capybara@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago

a company telling people to buy another one of their products to protect themselves from the data collecting and sharing they do should not inspire confidence

proton is also anti-China, having told people to delete tiktok due to Chinese spying and donating money to Hong Kong protests

[-] pinguinu@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 1 month ago

They recommended a VPN service that didn't log IP, which includes theirs. And yeah, privacy-concerned libs are always anti-China. They also host fundraisers for liberal freeze peach orgs, including Bellingcat and Tor Project. So nothing new under the liberal sun. I don't think anyone is expecting tankie email services from such a company.

[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago

I did the exact same thing deeper-sadness

[-] roux@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

I mean we really didn't know any better. meow-hug

[-] afters@hexbear.net 11 points 1 month ago

is mullvad vpn part of this?

[-] plinky@hexbear.net 12 points 1 month ago

Its not mentioned and i think it's still swedish, and haven't been sold as far as i know

[-] Stolen_Stolen_Valor@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago

Are any of the VPNs not scum? Every time I try to research any of them I find a slew of reasons they all suck.

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

Mullvad and ivpn I think, there are couple of others I forget. Despite proton being pigdogs, I don’t think their vpn side showed issues with warrants (mail did though). Mullvad does a lot of cute, future-proofing stuff as well, like traffic noise (small number of nodes though) and quantum resistance (if you just torrent, that’s useless)

[-] vovchik_ilich@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

AmneziaVPN as a protocol is pretty cool, and for not much money you can rent your own server and host VPN for yourself

[-] tamagotchicowboy@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago

I wonder about Nordvpn

[-] plinky@hexbear.net 4 points 1 month ago

https://vpnpro.com/blog/hidden-vpn-owners-unveiled-97-vpns-23-companies/

More thorough article on ownership and shenanigans across vpns (some snark at china, but whatevs, vpns are libertarian hobbyhorse)

[-] coolusername@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 month ago

Proton is CIA

this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2024
52 points (100.0% liked)

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