this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2024
77 points (98.7% liked)

Privacy

31242 readers
1113 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Related communities

Chat rooms

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I've been reading through Signal's government requests and couldn't find a similar section on Mullvad's website. I'd be curious to read about them if there are any. It would seem unlikely to me that Mullvad has never received any kind of court order for information about a user.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] aiccount@monyet.cc 21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

What could they even give? They don't even ask for an email, and they claim to run everything you browse as RAM that never gets held or recorded.

[–] communism@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 month ago

Yes if you get a court order for data you don't hold, you don't have to provide data you don't have access to. I wasn't expecting that Mullvad would have any useful data to give, I just wanted to read their response/commentary is all

[–] NegativeLookBehind@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Credit card numbers, assuming you would pay for the service that way

[–] aiccount@monyet.cc 0 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I don't see why people would use a credit card to pay for a vpn, it seems like it would totally defeat the purpose. I guess if you get ahold of an anonymous card then it would be fine, but using a card in your name to pay for an anonymous service just seems wacky to me.

I'm curious, does anyone here pay for their vpn with something thatvis in their name? If so, why?

[–] Railcar8095@lemm.ee 21 points 1 month ago

Because that's not our threat model.

I want to be anonymous for the sites I visit. I want my ISP, who's likely selling my data, to have none. I want to use a WiFi without anybody sniffing.

I'm lucky enough to live in a county were I'm not prosecuted for my ideas or who I am, and I'm not doing anything illicit aside from torrent.

So the hassle doesn't seem needed in this case. If I think Mullvad can harm me if they know my name, then I wouldn't use it at all, even with private payments.

[–] fluckx@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

Anonimity is keeping your identity private, but not your actions.

Privacy is keeping your actions hidden, but not your identity.

Using a VPN will hide your IP and make you more anonymous online. Using a personal CC to buy the vpn does not compromise that and does not defeat the purpose at all.

Only if your specific account ID is compromised could the personal CC be used against you by identifying you. E.g.: "they" found your bad email in an inbox of somebody who is less privacy conscious and are trying to figure out who festybear69@... is.

It depends on what your use-case/threat model is.

[–] GustavoFring@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What purpose is it defeating if they are not storing anything besides your credit card payment information?

[–] vxx@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yeah, if they're looking for your data on VPN services, they obviously already know you use it, most likely because of the IP.