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VPN Providers Report Huge Increase In Downloads, Usage Since Privacy Rules Were Repealed (ibtimes.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A number of major VPN providers reported a significant increase in subscriptions, downloads, and traffic from Americans since the U.S. Congress voted to repeal the Broadband Consumer Privacy Rules that would have mandated internet service providers get user permission before collecting information. The International Business Times reports that "several popular VPN providers reported a more than 50 percent increase in downloads." VPN provider ExpressVPN said they "experienced a 105 percent increase in traffic from the U.S. and a 97 percent spike in sales" since the repeal. Additionally, "KeepSolid, the New York-based company behind VPNUnlimited, noted a 32 percent increase in purchases and growth of 49 percent in total downloads," reports IBT. "The company also reports having a considerable amount of increased engagement via social media regarding user privacy." Have you taken any privacy measures since Congress voted to repeal ISP privacy rules? If you use a VPN, which provider do you recommend and why?
The privacy rules WERE NEVER IN EFFECT
But repealing them shows an intent, and there is some rationale to react to just that.
How many of those fools will start using free VPN providers that make their privacy and security even worse: Proxy Services Are Not Safe. Try These Alternatives
I've used OperaVPN on a jailbroken phone and then used tcpdump to monitor the traffic to be sure. OperaVPN lies, or stopped providing updates to my iOS version, leaving it broke. Matter of fact, they haven't had an update in months. Using Netherlands, it connects somewhere between the U.S. Midwest to California servers. Using Germany, I've caught it using Swiss and Russian servers. I would never use a U.S. or U.K. server. You can check by using: "tcpdump -D" to get your internet device name (usually wlan0 or eth0) and then "tcpdump -xx -i eth0 tcp" to monitor your web browsing connections. The "-xx" part will allow you to see if the information coming and going is encrypted or not; you shouldn't be able to understand any of it. You can leave off the "tcp" part at the end, but you'll get UDP and other info too. The connections should all have the same IP address. Then, use that IP address via "geoiplookup #.#.#.#" in another terminal to find the country. I only knew my cities because the bottom of a Google search said the location on my phone and wasn't asking to translate to English for me. Both "tcpdump" and "geoip" packages are available for Linux, Cydia, and source code; I'm not sure about Window$.
Exactly. It was one thing when internet providers new that the rule was coming, because it wasn't worth the investment in a program that would soon be canceled. Now that the rule has been canceled, you can be 100% certain that Comcast and its ilk will be monetizing you in every way they can, disingenuous statements about not selling your data be damned. (Of course they're not selling the actual browsing histories of their users, because they'd be selling the keys to the kingdom. What they'll sell is customized reports on your browsing behavior. The report on you that your medical insurance company buys will be different from the one that your would-be next employer buys, because they'll both be interested in different things.
Yes it can they will still be able to tell you are using a VPN and how much data your using but not the content.
Then you just have to trust your VPNs ISP more than your own ISP.
Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
If both sites are owned by you, it would be smarter to just deploy OpenVPN yourself at one site and connect the other site to it directly. No reason to pay a 3rd party service for that.
Pay special attention to the difference between openvpn.net and openvpn.com. The first one is the free, open source software project. The second is their commercial service for said software. You do not need to subscribe to the second to use the first.
ThatOnePrivacyGuy on /r/privacy manages That One Privacy Site, including a handy VPN section:
https://thatoneprivacysite.net...
Unlike most other VPN reviews, this one encourages community discussion and appears to be impartial.
Could be a ploy to thin the herd. Only smart, interesting people will invest time and more funds in a VPN.
Given the lack of VPN payment bans/comments on the use of VPN products in the US, UK and Australia, law enforcement at a national level does not care about VPN use.
If a user is found on an interesting site using a VPN, police will get a court order in that VPN's nation and log the next log in of that site by the same VPN.
Most people set their VPN, expect to enjoy a working VPN daily and connect the same site with the same details?
Their isp ip is hidden, a big pool of new random VPN ip's get offered?
The VPN product would just connect the next day and have the origin ip, isp logged by the local police in the VPN servers nation.
Habit would allow the police to just connect the normal ip and VPN ip after a court order in any nation that hosts the VPN company.
A user would have to totally change their VPN use every session to stay away from simple court ordered police logging efforts waiting days and hours later.
Extra sentencing guidelines could then be in place as the user made it so difficult to be found? International cooperation, other courts, the sorting of accounts by another nations police, finally finding the users own ip and isp. Did the interesting person pay for the VPN every year out of a main bank account and CC? No funds for a good lawyer with all accounts frozen given the wider international connections.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"