The last several weeks I've had to keep constantly switching #NordVPN servers to sustain significant activity on my phone, and I've just had enough of it now, so the last few days relied on my backup #RiseupVPN free option, with a single server over in Paris, France (lol) but it's *flying* and I've been using the web and apps loading without stalling interruptions. Only a temporary fix, of course. Will probably switch to #Surfshark when my #VPN renewal comes up. No idea why Nord deteriorated so much in recent months.
Oh, and a VPN isn't just for when you're sharing WiFi with other people who could use that shared connection to hack you. I started using VPNs as soon as the UK "pry minister" oversaw the introduction of the Snoopers Charter - which requires all ISPs to log all users' web activity, because the state is full of spooky perverts. And now the latest attacks on not only VPNs but also encryption show what many of us were warning of: with the UK government now in a fascist mode, who do you think they will consider to be "undesirable" groups? Already, protest is being banned, unions are under attack, and anarchists are on public lists. Here. In the UK. Today. Now. Not some fictional faraway dystopian future. Use a VPN.
So this provoked quite a lot of (mostly useful and helpful!) discussion. My takeaway at this point is, in principle all of us who give a shit might want to use VPNs to undermine Snoopers Charter type crap where ISPs are logging our activity at request of the state's spooky perverts, also for other data transferral or connecting from a specific geographical location; Orbot can also be a good standalone option for mobile but can be trickier and slower, if more fun for scuppering data collectors. But it's about "threat modelling" for each of us and ultimately oppressive regimes will almost always find ways to kick our doors down - literally or digitally - for not being a good little capitalism adherent. Yet we can all do our bit. So as I said: use a VPN (at least).
How do you know VPN providers like NordVPN are just not part of a new effort by NSA/GCHQ/whatever to collect data, even from people in nations not willing to collaborate and whose ISPs would then be better?
These so called VPN services are suspiciously too much promoted lately and they are also dangerous for the induced false sense of security.
For sure using the acronym "VPN" for this kind of services is already too scammy to me.
A real VPN is a network you usually find in companies and whose employees connect to to access content and devices not exposed to the Internet.
These "VPN" providers like NordVPN are using this same technology to make their users connect to their network, but then it is connected to the Internet and so are their users. So basically they act as a man-in-the-middle.
@post @MediaActivist Technically, you’re right, but for people from countries implementing Internet censorship, like Russia where I am from, potential risks of collecting our data by some foreign companies are much less evil than our own ISPs.
Wait a moment, what do you exactly mean by Internet censorship? I am not seeing how you are linking it to collecting data/tracking/spying people.
I understood that part, what I am asking is: aren't collecting data and blocking sites orthogonal? Or are you suggesting they discover inconvenient sites by tracking users and then proceed to block them through DNS?
@post Yes, these things are orthogonal. That’s why using VPN providers in Western countries is just another threat vector heightening the risk of leaking personal data, while in Russia it’s an essential tool allowing to anonimize and hide your network traffic. Nobody in Russia cares if their data are collected by some foreign companies, we just can’t see any ways how they can use it against us. We don’t think the CIA is really interested in tracking an ordinary Russian citizen, but we think it can be quite likely that the FSB is.
What about the last part of your question — yes, our ISP are obliged to track our traffic and to even store it for possible future investigations by low. They block sites in many ways: they can be block through DNS, our packets can be dropped by hardware having the DPI (Deep Packet Inspection), etc. etc.
It's not about spying on an ordinary citizen, it's about being able to retrieve data on anyone when needed for whatever reason.
I don't see how a company, foreign or not, could operate in a country by offering a way to overcome a measure by the governament: don't you think the Russian govermament would be more than capable and willing to block these so called VPN providers if their service were genuine?
Also notice that private companies collaborating with many governaments all around the world is not uncommon at all, see for example the Pegasus trojan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_(spyware)
@post Russia is still not China, we don’t have the Great Firewall, and while we already have some VPN providers blocked, our state doesn’t push it really hard. For example, nothing prevents me from setting up the OpenVPN server on Russian VPS located somewhere abroad and I actually have one.
So basically like in many countries that enforce Copyright by blocking sites like SciHub, LibGen and torrent search engines through DNS but still allow companies like NordVPN that offer an easy way to get around the block?
@post Nobody seriously enforses copyright in Russia, we just don’t respect it. Our state blocks sites mostly for pure political reasons.
Why don’t they block all VPN providers? First, it’s not so easy technically, second, it’s just the Russian way of doing things. Nobody really cares 🙂
You are lucky, Copyright violation is one of the favourite excuses to censor content on social media.
In Italy we even have public TV channels (we have a tax in the electric bill to fund them) but if you upload 10 seconds owned by them in a long YouTube video to discuss the content, the video is removed and you get a strike (3 strikes = channel removed). This happen way more likely if you are a real political dissident.
Add to this the strikes for "fake news", "bigotry" and even "explicit sexual content" caused by mass report and you can have your channel closed pretty quickly. Same with Facebook and Twitter.
This is why I said data mining and censorship are orthogonal, though recently Google announced a system meant to predict where a "fake news" would come from by analyzing users' data to block it in advance.
@post It’s pretty simple. Our ISPs blocks some sites and turn us in. In this case collecting our data by foreign companies like NordVPN, ProtonVPN, or Mullvad is much lesser risks, technically in our conditions it’s next to nothing.
Theoretically speaking, foreign VPN providers still can be honeypots working for FSB, but I’m pretty sure it hardly is the case.