informational: mullvad vpn funding swedish national conservatives

[fairyrune]

before i begin, i would like to reiterate that this is informational. i do not intend to start discourse over whether or not you should or should not stop using mullvad.

very recently it has come to public attention that mullvad, a popular VPN service, has been spending massive amounts of its profits on the swedish party Örebro. this is a party that has explicitly aligned itself with the fascist far-right. you can read more here. given this is the space it is, i figured melonland users would want to know.

if you're looking for a VPN to replace mullvad in light of this news, airVPN or protonVPN are popular alternatives, but i cannot yet vouch for them myself.

edited to stress the above. i have not vetted them, please do your own research - these are only POPULAR vpns, not necessarily ones that will do what you want them to.

[poesu]

Sadly, Proton endorsed Trump and deanonymised Stop Cop City protester (they were able to do so because they paid for their service and thus gave them their card details), so… Yeah

[SugrPawz]

Sadly, Proton endorsed Trump and deanonymised Stop Cop City protester (they were able to do so because they paid for their service and thus gave them their card details), so… Yeah

Well that's a reason to swap away from proton as a provider. Luckily I have 0 details on record with them but jeez. Now I need alternatives to them too. Gonna keep this post watched for sure.

[lakes]

I'd recommend either AirVPN or IVPN. ProtonVPN's CEO supports Trump and has proven not to be quite as private as Mullvad from a number of incidents. There's also some free open source VPNs that aren't ProtonVPN, like Windscribe and RiseUp VPN, but they're based in Five Eyes Countries.

[fairyrune]

Sadly, Proton endorsed Trump and deanonymised Stop Cop City protester (they were able to do so because they paid for their service and thus gave them their card details), so… Yeah

thanks for the information! all i knew is that it's been recommended in some piracy circles, hence why i listed them but didn't want to full-on endorse them.

i use proton for email, which is unfortunate. they've never gotten my cash but if i can switch away from something like that, i will.

privacy for me and not for thee, huh?

[Còbra!]

I'd recommend either AirVPN or IVPN. ProtonVPN's CEO supports Trump and has proven not to be quite as private as Mullvad from a number of incidents. There's also some free open source VPNs that aren't ProtonVPN, like Windscribe and RiseUp VPN, but they're based in Five Eyes Countries.

Welp, I just bought a month's ProtonVPN after hearing about the Mullvad thing.

AirVPn it is, I guess.

[arcus]

This also applies to Mozilla VPN, which is Mullvad rebranded. This thread has details on how to request a refund for both services.

Regardless, all VPN providers are bad. Aside from avoiding geoblocks, VPN services have many issues. It's better to use TOR, or rent a VPS to use as a VPN instead.

Windscribe's staff are transphobic and ableist.

AirVPN does not have an audit, and can not be trusted.

IVPN made a statement about being politically neutral in the context of the Mullvad situation.

And that's only naming the popular alternatives.

[candycanearter07]

Regardless, all VPN providers are bad. Aside from avoiding geoblocks, VPN services have many issues. It's better to use TOR, or rent a VPS to use as a VPN instead.
And that's only naming the popular alternatives.

...maybe its finally time to jump from NFS and buy a "real" VPS? Do you have any reccomendations that aren't too expensive I guess? Also, how hard is it to move a domain from NFS and manage it myself without their auto renewal?

[rnottelovesowls]

i hate that we even have to THINK about VPNs because we spend every moment of our online lives worried about the rich man spying on us and selling our data out to the highest bidder without our consent. if that wasn't an issue, if the rich man would just leave us the hell alone, we wouldn't even be having this conversation

just imagine, telling your younger self in the 2000s internet that they'd eventually have to pay a company to protect their privacy for them, only for that money to go into the pockets of the very same right-wing rich D-bags advocating for spying on us online in the first place. all of this mess in the name of "innovation and progress". someone stop this big tech train. i want off

[lakes]

This also applies to Mozilla VPN, which is Mullvad rebranded. This thread has details on how to request a refund for both services.

Regardless, all VPN providers are bad. Aside from avoiding geoblocks, VPN services have many issues. It's better to use TOR, or rent a VPS to use as a VPN instead.

Windscribe's staff are transphobic and ableist.

AirVPN does not have an audit, and can not be trusted.

IVPN made a statement about being politically neutral in the context of the Mullvad situation.

And that's only naming the popular alternatives.

I didn't know about this. I probably should use Tor more, but the thing is when it comes to torrenting and peer to peer stuff, Tor can actually leak your IP address because it's mostly meant for TCP traffic rather than UDP. So for that, I'd recommend I2P. I doubt Riseup VPN has bigoted politics unless it turns out to be true that they're a honeypot, since they're a nonprofit worker collective of self proclaimed ancoms that intends their invite only email service for activists. They got subpoenaed once though which is unfortunate.

[squidlifecrisis]

well, that's unfortunate. I guess I won't be renewing when mine runs out in a month.

how complicated is using Tor/I2P? I don't know how many more massive overhauls I have in me >_>

[lakes]

well, that's unfortunate. I guess I won't be renewing when mine runs out in a month.

how complicated is using Tor/I2P? I don't know how many more massive overhauls I have in me >_>

Tor is usually pretty simple. You often just need to install Tor browser. You also can install Tor as a separate program to route other apps through, but I'd imagine using Tor without a browser or a mobile app like Orbot/Invizible Pro is a bit more complicated.

I2P is more complicated to install & use than Tor is, since the main I2P project requires Java to also be installed 1st. But there's forks like I2Pd that don't, but they require a bit more configuration if you want the "extra features" that come with Java I2P out of the box. For example, torrenting over I2Pd requires a separate torrent client that supports it (ie. qBittorrent, BiglyBT, I2P Snark Standalone, etc), but Java I2P comes with its own torrent client.

[arcus]

There's now a script and blocklist for blocking Mullvad IPs.

Jeff Moss made a post recently about VPNs

Well that's a reason to swap away from proton as a provider. Luckily I have 0 details on record with them but jeez. Now I need alternatives to them too. Gonna keep this post watched for sure.

If you don't need an email account tied to your legal identity, this is a decent list. If you need privacy with email, read this and this.

I haven't looked deep enough into paid alternatives to recommend any.

...maybe its finally time to jump from NFS and buy a "real" VPS? Do you have any reccomendations that aren't too expensive I guess?

I have no personal recommendations. I mooch off my girlfriend and multiple pubnix communities. My girlfriend uses OVH and hasn't had any issues with it, but I haven't looked into them well enough to recommend them. I know others have had downtime issues with them. If your goal is to have somewhere to throw your site, it should be fine but there's likely better services. Make sure to keep regular backups if you go with them.

Mythical Beasts I see recommended. They're based in the UK (harsh laws over there) with servers in the UK and Europe. I have no idea what their ethics are like. Don't use them for a VPN.

Flokinet's focus is protecting journalists and they are known for hosting a torrent site. Their acceptable use policy is lax and they allow running TOR relays. However, they partner with Proton and log IPs. I'm not aware if they have made any statements regarding Proton's issues.

Njalla is more expensive but they're anti-fascist. Support seems slow. Apparently they don't have a SOCKS5 proxy nor do they support DNSSEC.

Hetzner and Netcup are commonly recommended, but to quote their ToS...

From Hetzner's ToS:

8.2. The Customer is obligated not to publish any content that infringes on the rights of third parties or otherwise violates applicable law. This includes in particular, but is not limited to, pornographic or obscene material, extremist content or content that offends common decency, gambling, material that could seriously endanger the morals of children or young people or violate the rights of third parties (copyrights, name rights, trademark rights and data protection rights). This also includes the publication of defamatory content, insults or disparagement of persons or groups of persons.

Netcup's ToS:

5.   In using the services as provided by netcup, the customer undertakes to maintain compliance with the applicable provisions of the law and to refrain from activities that could result in service disruptions affecting servers operated by netcup. The following activities are expressly prohibited:
[...]
Actions intended to store and provide access to files and material concerning left-or right-wing radicalism, with offensive content, or encouraging terrorism or acts of violence

Hetzner has taken down a whole fediverse instance before over a tame yuri drawing.

I doubt Riseup VPN has bigoted politics unless it turns out to be true that they're a honeypot, since they're a nonprofit worker collective of self proclaimed ancoms that intends their invite only email service for activists. They got subpoenaed once though which is unfortunate.

Riseup is based in the USA. The government can silently monitor everything regardless if they keep logs or not. It should be fine for avoiding basic geoblocking.

how complicated is using Tor/I2P? I don't know how many more massive overhauls I have in me >_>

TOR Browser is just Firefox with a few changes and a button to connect to the TOR network. It works best if you're only aiming to hide your IP and make it harder to fingerprint you, and not for torrenting. Ideally disable JavaScript and use alternative front ends. If you need to log into an account or have major security needs, read this.

I don't like giving advice on what to do, since it varies on who you're trying to avoid or what you're trying to do. If you have a specific reason to use a VPN...

Njalla has a good track record with standing their ground and is run by a leftist. However, they haven't had an audit, and their prices are higher, and their customer support seems iffy at times.

If you are unsure about Njalla, IVPN has audits and have stated that they don't use funds from the project to fund fascists. But that says nothing about their personal beliefs, and they refuse to make a real statement. It's not good, but it's a step up from Mullvad.