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While I personally trust my ISP more than some random US based entity, that's of course true. The thing with VPN alternatives for me is that the VPN landscape t
by tastroder 7y ago
While I personally trust my ISP more than some random US based entity, that's of course true. The thing with VPN alternatives for me is that the VPN landscape today is already weirdly organized, opaque and would have no real incentive for a free tier.
Short of hosting their own, which consumers will not do, I don't see a scenario where VPN providers end up in a position that's more trustful than your average (Western world) ISP is today tbh.
- incompatible 7y agoI don't think any ISP can really be trusted, in most countries, since they are subject to arbitrary government demands. In Australia, for example, that includes data retention, censorship, and assistance with any kind of spying that may be demanded.
- tastroder 7y agoSure, valid as well. If VPNs get relevant enough to matter to nation state actors none of that really exclusively applies to ISPs anymore though, I feel like we're in a cozy transitioning stage there. They'd either get blocked (see feeble attempts in China) or get the same treatment. Either through similar legislation or technology level interference as we've seen before with the Tor network. At that point it's a game of choosing the nation state control you're most comfortable with in terms of oversight, governmental interference, consumer protection, and business incentive. That'll likely still be my European based ISP over a US VPN to be quite honest, given (theoretically) better consumer protection legislation and generally less equipped/capable surveillance apparatus. Don't get me wrong, VPNs e.g. for access control or untrusted networks are great use cases in my book. I just don't like the snake-oil vibe surrounding VPNs that make it out to be a great way to secure everyday networking for consumers.