Virtual Private Networks...do you use them?

[Input Nirvana]

If you use a VPN, do you use free or paid? What VPNs have you tried and what do you like?

[missalaire]

My bf uses a paid VPN (Private Internet Access) and he likes it well enough so far, says the speeds are ok. What are you looking to use one for?

http://www.reddit.com/r/VPN/comments/19atgi/privateinternecaccess_says_they_do_not_keep_logs/

[Input Nirvana]

What are you looking to use one for?

http://www.reddit.com/r/VPN/comments/19atgi/privateinternecaccess_says_they_do_not_keep_logs/

http://mashable.com/2013/02/25/six-strikes/

[Input Nirvana]

A couple highly rated freebies:
http://www.anchorfree.com
http://proxpn.com

[badcop]

i setup a vpn at my small office using windows server 2012 with a static IP from the cable company.  not a bad setup if you have the hardware laying around.

Active directory
DDNS
VPN
Fileshare
Print server

[Krogenar]

I've always wanted to give a VPN a try, but never tried -- I figured the lag would be too much.

[Glod]

What use of VPN would you be refering to? I have to rely on Cisco AnyConnect to connect to my work office from my home office and i hate how its so proprietary, someone made a openconnect client for linux but thats about it. and I use Vypr VPN for private browsing on computer/phone as it comes with my giganews membership. pretty cool stuff to dodge ip tracking

[nar]

I mainly use VPNs for spoofing my location, US, Japan etc... for places that give you the, You can't access this site from your country BS.

Though funny enough the most used VPN I have is the VPN I set up at my house to let me access the full internet while in China.

[pby]

I use a paid vpn to act as a proxy so I can watch hulu. I also use hamachi so I can play older games with my friends over the net

[sth]

http://btguard.com works great, two exit points available too so if you want you can exit out of CA and still watch netflix

[IvanIvanovich]

Only AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and Cablevision are implement this CAS system, so I see not using any of their service the best plan.

[quickcrx702]

I own a small IT consulting firm, so I use VPN to connect to my customer's networks all the time.  I would never pay for a VPN, that's just silly, you might be paying someone to spy on you.  If you VPN to a network you don't control, you have no idea if they are sniffing your traffic.  Yes it's encrypted over the internet to the remote end, but from the remote VPN network they could be monitoring everything you do because you are routing all of your traffic through them to get out to the internet.  Proceed with caution.  LOL @ nar, I used VPN the last time I was laid off to collect unemployment before deciding to start my own company because I got tired of layoffs.  It was like the 3rd time I got laid off, because of the crappy economy. I took off to the Philippines for a while, so I VPN'd so that when I filed online would show up as a local IP address and not be suspicious, and also for the you can't access this site from your country BS.  Glad that part of my life is done.  Now I create jobs, instead of hoping I don't get laid off six months after starting a new job.

[Burz]

Incidental triggering of copyright infringement scanners is a truly worrisome prospect. Now that 6 strikes is in effect you can count on it being abused and callously mis-applied. VPNs will come under scrutiny under this law, so the only real alternative short-mid term is to use VPNs that are complete end-to-end, and better that its anonymized.

I2P fills the bill here, if you are content interacting only with other I2P users; the good news is that it has been growing steadily and someday might conceivably challenge the norm of in-the-clear Internet access for everyday use. Tor could conceivably fit the bill here, but last I checked it was only suitable for interacting with web pages (and even so, 98+% of its use is not end-to-end, but used to access naive sites); plus, it doesn't have the routing architecture to handle P2P which is the main aim of the 6 strikes law.

As the name implies, I2P is intended to be robust enough to handle even P2P traffic. My experience suggests it works well but won't set any speed records. A download that took 90 minutes over bare bittorrent would realistically take 90 hours over an I2P torrent-- you have to be more patient.


In other news: The editors at Bloomberg recently announced that profits at the largest financial institutions are due to "corporate welfare".

[tp4tissue]

PRIVATE TRACKERS..... Problem Solved.

[IvanIvanovich]

6 strikes is not a law, it's something that is being implemented voluntarily by those ISP to appease their media providers, as you will note they are also all involved in cable/iptv broadcasting.

[Burz]

I stand corrected... However there are other countries where such a scheme is law, no?

PRIVATE TRACKERS..... Problem Solved.

But you have to trust them completely. Not so with fully anonymized torrents (like I2P... not the kind where only tracker info is piped through Tor).

[funkymeeba]

Only AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and Cablevision are implement this CAS system, so I see not using any of their service the best plan.

That idea tends to work better when there are alternatives.

[tp4tissue]

I stand corrected... However there are other countries where such a scheme is law, no?

PRIVATE TRACKERS..... Problem Solved.

But you have to trust them completely. Not so with fully anonymized torrents (like I2P... not the kind where only tracker info is piped through Tor).

Nothing is fully anonymized...

I rather bet on the hopes that there's a GUY who will press the delete button and or hammer to harddrive client data..

Because with the encrytion people, they're just in it for the experiment..

With the Private tracker people, it's something known as P2P Passion.

[Burz]

I rather bet on the hopes that there's a GUY who will press the delete button and or hammer to harddrive client data..

Has that ever really happened? Even hushmail turned against its users.

Because with the encrytion people, they're just in it for the experiment..

I think you mean 'anonymity people' (VPNs are based on encryption too). If they lose their taste for experimentation, their users have far less to worry about.

At this stage, I'd rather be dealing with precautions than with passion.

[IvanIvanovich]

Yes there are other countries that have national monitoring and filtering and if politicians on the payrolls of RIAA/MPAA have their way the US will too.

In most places there is at least one other ISP choice. Though you might not have the higher speeds, it is a trade off of being slower all the time, or just some of the time when they decide to throttle your connection speed. It could be irrelevant I suppose in the end speed wise but you don't have to deal with getting nastygrams telling you are a bad person for using torrents.

[lazerpointer]

Signed up for a month of privateinternetaccess.com to try it out

I had a co-worker explain to me that the "six strikes" arrangement won't work in any case, because your ISP is not legally allowed to share what exactly you're doing on your internets. I'm using the VPN anyways lol.

[Burz]

Signed up for a month of privateinternetaccess.com to try it out

I had a co-worker explain to me that the "six strikes" arrangement won't work in any case, because your ISP is not legally allowed to share what exactly you're doing on your internets. I'm using the VPN anyways lol.

In the amoeba-like corporate world, that is no impediment to them. ISPs have been merging with Hollywood studios, so they can at least try to detect (or electronically hallucinate) infringement on the content they do own. Also, the USA has a history of 'deputizing' investigation outfits that are run by private industry-- the BSA can raid your home or business, for instance, because most local law enforcement take their claims at face value.

[lazerpointer]

I think he was referring to the Exclusionary Rule. The people who obtained evidence that someone was doing something illegal, obtained that information by crossing their constitutional rights. So that evidence can be voided.

[Burz]

I think he was referring to the Exclusionary Rule. The people who obtained evidence that someone was doing something illegal, obtained that information by crossing their constitutional rights. So that evidence can be voided.

That's what I had inferred. However, conduct and attitudes within the establishment notwithstanding, when the content and the links are owned by the same entity then they can pursue you constitutionally.

[lazerpointer]

I can't deny it does scare me. A little money invested in the encrypted VPN tunnels is a good security measure in any case.

[Noko]

I've had a seedbox for about 3 years now.  Only private trackers are permitted but you get great speeds and are able to build great ratios.
Originally I got one as I was spending a year in France (which had just introduced a 3 strikes law at the time) but kept it going after I came back simply because it was so convenient.
Personally I think it's a better solution than using a VPN.

[Input Nirvana]

It seems to me that VPN in various forms should be getting more used/popular due to concerns of general privacy, and of course security. I'm sure I'm not secure enough as it is. But I don't use things like social media/names/pics because it makes me feel uncomfortable. Plus, who wants peeps from the past having a finger on what/where you are now? Kinda creepy.

[Input Nirvana]

As far as free VPNs go, I'm seeing that data transfer rates are quite slow...prohibitively slow for any sizable amount of information. The daily/monthly maximum is anywhere from low to reasonable. And some have restrictions on torrents and other items. I haven't looked at very many, but this has seemed to be somewhat consistent so far. Some seem ok for certain usage, but not for others. Paid may be the only all encompassing solution, or a Seedbox, which I'm also unfamiliar with.

[Trent]

ipredator.se

Cheap, and no snooping.  Enjoy!

[daerid]

Only VPN I use is for work.

I stopped torrenting stuff a while ago, once I started making enough money to legally purchase my content/apps/games.

[BucklingSpring]

Funny - this thread showed up just when I got interested in the matter.

I also recently registered to a VPN service just to spoof my IP for Netflix.

Meanwhile I learned about DD-WRT - A custom firmware to beef up many different routers. One of the neat feature is the implementation of OpenVPN. Which work with many VPN providers.

So I bought an Asus RT-N16 router with load of CPU power and memory (you need at leas 8Mg of flash to get the OpenVPN feature)
Then I set the WAN Interface of the router to connect to the VPN provider with OpenVPN.

And finally hooked up my Network aware media devices on the lan/WiFi Interface of that router.

Now my TV (somewhere in Canada) loads Netflix USA which has a much broader selection than its Canadian counterpart.

[tp4tissue]

Funny - this thread showed up just when I got interested in the matter.

I also recently registered to a VPN service just to spoof my IP for Netflix.

Meanwhile I learned about DD-WRT - A custom firmware to beef up many different routers. One of the neat feature is the implementation of OpenVPN. Which work with many VPN providers.

So I bought an Asus RT-N16 router with load of CPU power and memory (you need at leas 8Mg of flash to get the OpenVPN feature)
Then I set the WAN Interface of the router to connect to the VPN provider with OpenVPN.

And finally hooked up my Network aware media devices on the lan/WiFi Interface of that router.

Now my TV (somewhere in Canada) loads Netflix USA which has a much broader selection than its Canadian counterpart.

none of this will work, you need a seed box...

[Input Nirvana]

I just bought a Motorola SB6141 modem with my Apple Airport Extreme router...can't use DD-WRT with the Apple router. Read a lot of good things about OpenVPN.

I'm currently trying to get ProVPN to work on my iMac.


SEEDBOX:
Is this something you do in your home or a service?

[tp4tissue]

I just bought a Motorola SB6141 modem with my Apple Airport Extreme router...can't use DD-WRT with the Apple router. Read a lot of good things about OpenVPN.

I'm currently trying to get ProVPN to work on my iMac.


SEEDBOX:
Is this something you do in your home or a service?

You go to homeless people and pay them 20% ontop of their government checks.

Use said checks to buy Visa prepaid cards...

Then use prepaid cards at a public library 2 towns away from you to pay for yearly seedboxs in sweden..


No way they'll catch you.

[Input Nirvana]

Thanksssss....

[sth]

you also have to consider that some ISPs may not participate in CAS  but they do actively shape/throttle your traffic based on dpi or broader traffic patterns. clear is a great example of an ISP that does this... hence why i use a VPN...

[Input Nirvana]

A lot of good reasons for VPN...I'm sure more will be popping up in the near future.

[BucklingSpring]

Now my TV (somewhere in Canada) loads Netflix USA which has a much broader selection than its Canadian counterpart.

none of this will work, you need a seed box...

If you are making a joke. I don't get it.
And the setup I describe works. I have been watching Netflix USA on my new "SMART" TV since I installed and configure the router with the VPN.
Or maybe I forgot to mentioned the TV has a Network port?

[Input Nirvana]

Dunno what he means....may just be flak.

I'm at a point where I'm thinking cruising the innernet without VPN is haphazard. At the very least it seems VPN should be a must for banking, any commerce, personal emails, etc. (Although if you are on an HTTPS website that should be more secure.)

Perhaps the cost of VPN is a part of life like insurance, credit/ID theft/fraud protection, etc.

[Burz]

Dunno what he means....may just be flak.

I'm at a point where I'm thinking cruising the innernet without VPN is haphazard. At the very least it seems VPN should be a must for banking, any commerce, personal emails, etc. (Although if you are on an HTTPS website that should be more secure.)

Perhaps the cost of VPN is a part of life like insurance, credit/ID theft/fraud protection, etc.

The biggest security boost you get from a VPN is while you're using non-HTTPS sites over a publicly-shared Wifi (not cellular) connection because the opportunities for exploitation are many in that situation.

If you share your home or office connection with any number of Windows systems having dubious levels of security/maintenance, then a VPN can help security for much the same reasons as it helps with public Wifi.

OTOH if you trust your home LAN a great deal, you can set up your router or other system with your own VPN server (using OpenVPN or similar) and then configure your mobile devices to always route through it. That would give you added security while traveling. The downside is that you have to connect to your home IP address which might change on occasion, though that can be solved with an external service like Dynamic DNS.

[Input Nirvana]

The biggest security boost you get from a VPN is while you're using non-HTTPS sites over a publicly-shared Wifi (not cellular) connection because the opportunities for exploitation are many in that situation.

If you share your home or office connection with any number of Windows systems having dubious levels of security/maintenance, then a VPN can help security for much the same reasons as it helps with public Wifi.

OTOH if you trust your home LAN a great deal, you can set up your router or other system with your own VPN server (using OpenVPN or similar) and then configure your mobile devices to always route through it. That would give you added security while traveling. The downside is that you have to connect to your home IP address which might change on occasion, though that can be solved with an external service like Dynamic DNS.

I'm referring to "being on the web" in general, not wireless/wifi. I have no idea how much to trust my home LAN, wireless or not. I use a Apple router and I have Comcast as an internet provider. I don't know if they block OpenVPN, I've been trying to use ProXPN but it won't connect, and I've got HotShield working but I'd like something better. There's more to look into I guess.

And I want to get a few movies/music too. There, I said it out loud.

[Burz]

I'm referring to "being on the web" in general, not wireless/wifi. I have no idea how much to trust my home LAN, wireless or not. I use a Apple router and I have Comcast as an internet provider. I don't know if they block OpenVPN...

Heck no, they wouldn't block a home VPN. I have used OpenVPN on Comcast.

Probably there was some specific technical issue with your VPN setup.

As for trust of your home LAN, you just have to think about how much you trust: A) your ISP, B) your router, C) the computers connected to your router. But mainly, its the level of confidence you have that your home system(s) are not infected.

[Input Nirvana]

I'm referring to "being on the web" in general, not wireless/wifi. I have no idea how much to trust my home LAN, wireless or not. I use a Apple router and I have Comcast as an internet provider. I don't know if they block OpenVPN...

Heck no, they wouldn't block a home VPN. I have used OpenVPN on Comcast.

Probably there was some specific technical issue with your VPN setup.

As for trust of your home LAN, you just have to think about how much you trust: A) your ISP, B) your router, C) the computers connected to your router. But mainly, its the level of confidence you have that your home system(s) are not infected.

I think Hotspot Shield uses OpenVPN in it's workings...I see OpenVPN running while Hotspot is active.
My use of VPN would extend from home to over the web to it's absolute maximum extension. Not much point in using a system and not have coverage end-to-end.

Thanks for the clarification on this...being Mac I know there is floating around to hurt my system, but that means effectively nothing. It only takes one violation to wreck havoc.

ISP trust? Little to zero of course. My Airport router? Meh, about the same as my computer and iPhone I guess. But I have recently moved from a home in a conservative area to an apartment in Silicon Valley. A few more threats I'm assuming.