So I’m pretty recent to the high seas but I’ve seen a few posts now about “stop relying on your VPN” and “people that think VPNs will protect them are naive” and so on.

So since I believe knowledge is our greatest weapon/tool/super-power, can we get some answers regarding what exactly the doomsayers are getting at? ELI5 why VPNs wouldn’t protect your anonymity.

Is it about logging? The country your end-point is in? Something more technical?

Ultimately I’d like to be fully armed in order to keep making the best choices for my fledgling ship as it navigates the vast, stormy seas.

  • CmdrShepardEnglish
    3·
    2 years ago

    Skip Mullvad. They’re removing port forwarding at the end of the month. I’ve been with them for years and unfortunately have to switch providers yet again.

    • justinalanbass@kbin.social
      1·
      2 years ago

      Eh don’t bother. You weren’t as anonymous as you thought using port forwarding if you’re doing anything bad enough to warrant NSA attention. Most users probably are not. Mullvad is just being honest about their limitations here.

      • CmdrShepard
        3·
        2 years ago

        I doubt the NSA will come after me for sharing some movie files, so I’m not really worried about that. Port forwarding is essential though as you won’t be able to seed any files to 99.9% of leechers, which is an issue with private trackers and goes against the concept of p2p sharing in general.

        Mullvad is removing port forwarding because a few bad apples spoiled the bunch by using their service for highly illegal things and its bringing too much attention to the company, as they described in their press release. They aren’t removing it because they can’t keep things anonymous (which is why they removed the automatic monthly subscription some time ago).

      • CmdrShepard
        1·
        2 years ago

        I briefly read through the page, but don’t fully understand this. Would this replace the need for a commercial (paid) VPN completely and allow me to create my own VPN using my own hardware (a Pi or more likely Proxmox since Pis are expensive now)? If so, how does it mask your IP address and where does the replacement IP come from?

      • CmdrShepardEnglish
        2·
        2 years ago

        I am going to switch to AirVPN after some limited googling based on price, popularity, and port forwarding (the three 'P’s). I dunno a whole lot about them but my main priority is just hiding my IP from movie studios and port forwarding. I don’t need my traffic locked down like Fort Knox.