this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2023
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There's way too much hype over VPN Providers, but do not forget, you are routing all your traffic through their servers

As a general advice, if a VPN provider keeps logs of your activity, does not allow you to pay with crypto, and generally spends way too much on youtube ads is probably not an ideal choice.

Do not follow any advice/recommendation blindly, do your own research on which one offers the best service for your own needs.

TorrentFreak Q&A with VPN Providers

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[–] somedaysoon@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

You should not trust any provider that says they do not keeps logs unless they have been audited by a reputable 3rd party and then you are putting your trust in that 3rd party. Anyone can say that they do not keep logs so it's absolutely meaningless, there really is no way to know unless you admin the server.

The secret service used a honeypot VPN to successfully take down ShadowCrew almost 20 years ago. They have had the blueprint for 2 decades, so I wouldn't be surprised if half these VPNs secretly cooperate with them over higher profile cases despite their claims.

[–] ki77erb@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

"Private Internet Access has verified in court multiple times that we keep no logs."

If they've gone to court on multiple occasions and proven they keep no logs, that's pretty compelling evidence that they're telling the truth. I guess you could never be 100% sure though.

[–] CmdrShepard@lemmy.one 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Was that before or after they got bought out?

[–] Ilandar@aussie.zone 3 points 1 year ago

Before I'm pretty sure. They used to be common recommendations for this reason.

[–] amanneedsamaid@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Torguard has also proven no logs in court, and I believe they also have never been acquired.

[–] equalszero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Some companies like Mullvad have no way to even keep logs

[–] nodsocket@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

How do you know that?

[–] somedaysoon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm not familiar with them, can you explain how you are certain they don't keep logs?

[–] zaine00@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No way to be 100% sure, but they were raided by police recently and supposedly walked away with nothing. Verge article

SomeOrdinaryGamers had a video on it also.

[–] somedaysoon@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

You're right, although it's not proof, this is pretty compelling.

[–] equalszero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
  • Does not contain non-free js in their website
  • Do not depend on google services etc.
    • Also have made major contributions to FOSS projects
  • There is no Swedish law applicable to them to share data with their goverment
  • They do NOT even allow you to create an account, you just generate a random account number, fill it up with time(monero & bitcoin & cash payment via mail allowed)
  • They also offer OpenVPN with RSA-4096 and WireGuard which uses Curve25519 and ChaCha20-Poly1305
  • Also awesome DNS protection

There are other VPN providers that offer similar stuff to mullvad, I can keep going for days.

TL;DR They do not ask you for any info that would deanonymize you & support FOSS projects

[–] somedaysoon@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

None of those things are proof that they don't keep logs. You're proving my point, and trusting a company because they have said the right things.

[–] equalszero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Some companies like Mullvad have no way to even keep logs

They do not ask for information that would deanonymize you would be a better way of putting that

I’m not familiar with them, can you explain how you are certain they don’t keep logs?

TL;DR They do not ask you for any info that would deanonymize you & support FOSS projets

None of that answers my question.

I just shared a link where they answer those questions in much more detail that I can do via Lemmy commet replies. If you have specific questions please share them, if someone wants to help you out they will reply, otherwise just read the article and try different VPN providers out yoruself.

edit: formatting replies edit2: Because you edited your reply you should NEVER trust any company with your personal information. You should just NOT give it to them, I do not trust Mullvad or any other "privacy" related company to store data that would deanonymize me, you are proving my point that you do not read what I'm typing or the article I've shared.

[–] somedaysoon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

They wouldn't need to ask for any info, and it doesn't matter how you pay either. Having your connecting IP address is all that is needed to identify you.

I've looked through it, there is no proof that they do not keep logs.

And I don't need help, you do, in understanding how proof and verification works. Go back to my original comment, and let me know if you have any proof that any of these providers don't keep logs.

[–] Flatworm7591@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago

I think that no amount of verification or technical details would satisfy you, because you could simply turn around and say, "well that might have been the case on the day is was verified, but what about the day after?" or "why should we trust the independent auditor?" In other words, you are just trolling. If you are the one claiming they are not trustworthy, despite them having an almost flawless reputation, then the onus is on you to provide evidence to back up your claims, not the other way around.

[–] equalszero@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You should have "How do I know if they are not keeping logs of my IP address connections"

Your IP address does not always relate to you, either because you are using a public wifi(that you can bypass the payment portal thanks to mullvad btw) or on top of tor etc.

Your ISP is also a company, and as I said above you should not share your private information with them if possible and legal in your country.

They also claim:

When a customer connects to a VPN server, the server asks the central service to validate the account number, whether or not the account has any remaining time, if the account has reached its allowed number of connections, and so on. Everything is performed in temporary memory only; none of this information is permanently stored to disk

Which I have to guess is true for all the police raids they had that left the police with 0 evidence.

Ask specific questions, and be nice to others. You won't learn much here otherwise, and if you know everything, why even post?

I do not advocate for mullvad, there are many other companies that are valid choices. That's why I posted this to learn what others use or maybe some that are not even listed by torrentfreaks not to argue about the no-log policy of Mullvad.

[–] somedaysoon@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I never stated I knew everything. I asked you to back up your claim and you've failed to do it.

The only reason we are arguing is because I'm holding your claims to the burden of proof. You can stop being a blowhard whenever you want but you're right, people are here to learn, so I'm doing them a service by calling out your misinformation.