5 ms·

It's also worth noting that PIA supports several free software projects.

kuschku 9y ago
Or, to phrase it differently: PIA outright bought a great number of previously community-run projects, and is concentrating power. Freenode and Snoonet, two major IRC networks, are now owned by them.
- AsyncAwait 9y ago
  I was actually primarily talking about their donation to the Krita Foundation [1], but yeah, it's good to be aware of the above, even if thus far I haven't seen anything nefarious from them. [1] - https://krita.org/en/item/krita-foundation-update https://krita.org/en/item/krita-foundation-update
- fapjacks 9y ago
  Yes, and interestingly, the Freenode staff had previously disabled Tor access to the Freenode network for over a year or so because of "attacks" which they claimed they could not handle. This was a pretty flimsy excuse once I finally found someone that knew the technical details, and though I chased the "right" people down several times to ask why Tor access had not been enabled, I never got a good answer. Cue PIA taking over Freenode, and within a couple of weeks, Tor access to Freenode was once more enabled. I've been a happy PIA customer for some years now, but that left such a huge and positive impression on me. I'm not completely sure the two things are simply correlated, but after talking to all those Freenode staffers over the years about it, I can't imagine it wasn't pushed by PIA.
- calcifer 9y ago
  Enough. You do this on every mention of PIA and you have been told to stop or get banned [0]. I don't know why you are on this crusade when there is not even the slightest hint of wrongdoing [1] so please, easy on the conspiracy theories. Disclaimer: Happy PIA customer. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14911509 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14911509 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14911915 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14911915
  - crankylinuxuser 9y ago
    Wow, what's going on there? :/ Case of sour grapes for that user? My only beef is I thought PIA would be a kickass gig to work at. Alas, never heard back from my resume. They post in the monthly thread. Still interested, if any of you PIA people are watching :D
  - godelski 9y ago
    (not the person you were responding to) To be honest, my only problem with them is their customer service. And their phone app. My connection is half speed on my phone. :( They also have some strange problems with the linux app (which I wish they would open source). Otherwise I'm really happy with them.
    - tonyztan 9y ago
      Have you tried using a standard OpenVPN client (on your phone, on Linux, etc.) with PIA profiles?
      - godelski 9y ago
        I actually haven't. I will try later and report back. But I have a 60/30 connection (down/up) and am getting 26/5, after messing with settings (which strangely is using TCP instead of UDP). And yes, this is under 5G, and I've tried multiple servers. As for the Linux side, their app just needed some better instructions on their site, and then works fine. So I'm not really upset on that, just had to argue with tech support for awhile to get transferred to somebody that knew what I was talking about.
  - barbs 9y ago
    Just discovered - you can get a 63% off a 2-year subscription in (presumably) the next 24 hours https://stacksocial.com/sales/private-internet-access-vpn-2-yr-subscription?aid=a-09r4335q https://stacksocial.com/sales/private-internet-access-vpn-2-...
    - mirimir 9y ago

Or, to phrase it differently: PIA outright bought a great number of previously community-run projects, and is concentrating power. Freenode and Snoonet, two major IRC networks, are now owned by them.

AsyncAwait 9y ago
I was actually primarily talking about their donation to the Krita Foundation [1], but yeah, it's good to be aware of the above, even if thus far I haven't seen anything nefarious from them. [1] - https://krita.org/en/item/krita-foundation-update https://krita.org/en/item/krita-foundation-update
fapjacks 9y ago
Yes, and interestingly, the Freenode staff had previously disabled Tor access to the Freenode network for over a year or so because of "attacks" which they claimed they could not handle. This was a pretty flimsy excuse once I finally found someone that knew the technical details, and though I chased the "right" people down several times to ask why Tor access had not been enabled, I never got a good answer. Cue PIA taking over Freenode, and within a couple of weeks, Tor access to Freenode was once more enabled. I've been a happy PIA customer for some years now, but that left such a huge and positive impression on me. I'm not completely sure the two things are simply correlated, but after talking to all those Freenode staffers over the years about it, I can't imagine it wasn't pushed by PIA.
calcifer 9y ago
Enough. You do this on every mention of PIA and you have been told to stop or get banned [0]. I don't know why you are on this crusade when there is not even the slightest hint of wrongdoing [1] so please, easy on the conspiracy theories. Disclaimer: Happy PIA customer. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14911509 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14911509 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14911915 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14911915
- crankylinuxuser 9y ago
  Wow, what's going on there? :/ Case of sour grapes for that user? My only beef is I thought PIA would be a kickass gig to work at. Alas, never heard back from my resume. They post in the monthly thread. Still interested, if any of you PIA people are watching :D
- godelski 9y ago
  (not the person you were responding to) To be honest, my only problem with them is their customer service. And their phone app. My connection is half speed on my phone. :( They also have some strange problems with the linux app (which I wish they would open source). Otherwise I'm really happy with them.
  - tonyztan 9y ago
    Have you tried using a standard OpenVPN client (on your phone, on Linux, etc.) with PIA profiles?
    - godelski 9y ago
      I actually haven't. I will try later and report back. But I have a 60/30 connection (down/up) and am getting 26/5, after messing with settings (which strangely is using TCP instead of UDP). And yes, this is under 5G, and I've tried multiple servers. As for the Linux side, their app just needed some better instructions on their site, and then works fine. So I'm not really upset on that, just had to argue with tech support for awhile to get transferred to somebody that knew what I was talking about.
- barbs 9y ago
  Just discovered - you can get a 63% off a 2-year subscription in (presumably) the next 24 hours https://stacksocial.com/sales/private-internet-access-vpn-2-yr-subscription?aid=a-09r4335q https://stacksocial.com/sales/private-internet-access-vpn-2-...
  - mirimir 9y ago