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This is so well timed, I just bought a 3-year subscription to NordVPN and they have a 30 day refund policy.

dagurp 7y ago
So did I, 33 days ago :/
KirinDave 7y ago
You should probably ask for a refund, then set up your own VPN. Commerical VPNs are, for the vast majority of cases, simply not a good bet for your privacy. You're changing your network traffic path from a diffuse and byzantine series of paths to once centralized collection point. The payoff for an attack on a VPN rises very quickly. Meanwhile, you're also conditioning yourself to say, "My traffic is secure while my VPN is on." It's not a great combo.
- chickenpotpie 7y ago
  I thinking about spinning up a Digital Ocean droplet and rolling my own right now
  - babayega2 7y ago
    Absolutely. Look for project Streisand.
  - leevlad 7y ago
    I'd keep in mind that cloud providers have well-known IP blocks that can sometimes be rate-limited by various internet sites/services, primarily to combat botting. You might inadvertently get caught in the IP range that's being actively rate limited by e.g. Instagram. YMMV.
  - ignoramous 7y ago
    https://vultr.com https://vultr.com might provide more bang for the buck at $2.50 a month for 500GB in bandwidth.
- rocqua 7y ago
  It works for when you need to use untrusted WiFi, because the alternative is worse. Beyond that, it forms a nice defense against unsophisticated attackers. (e.g. it breaks a single datapoint (ip address) used by Google and FaceBook).
  - KirinDave 7y ago
    Is the alternative actually worse than SSL? Why? And no, it doesn't break analytical by Facebook or Google in any substantial way. I know some people use them to evade Netflix region exceptions, and that's about all they're good for.
    - crazydoggers 7y ago
      You can’t always ensure that all traffic goes over SSL. DNS traffic is an example. I always assume that hostile public networks like free WiFi have agents actively trying to man in the middle any connections they can. If your device has a known exploit and a single connection not going over SSL you drastically increase your exposure on a public WiFi, hence the one use case for VPN.
      - KirinDave 7y ago
        If your privacy concerns include your DNS requests then a commerical VPN isn't a realistic choice. And unlike some rando pseudo-bespoke brand-less coffee shop wifi, commerical VPNs are a big target. > I always assume that hostile public networks like free WiFi have agents actively trying to man in the middle any connections they can. And VPNs just move that problem. If you're not demanding and forcing SSL, you're not actually addressing this problem. > If your device has a known exploit and a single connection not going over SSL you drastically increase your exposure on a public WiFi, hence the one use case for VPN. I regret to inform you that none of these things you've described stop thise sort those attacks. Forcing SSL on your browser is a realistic option for most threat models. If you're at a level where you're actually being surveilled by a nation-state-level actor, a commercial VPN won't help you. Short of that scenario, forcing SSL will cover most cases.
- darkwater 7y ago
  But how can a DIY VPN serve you if you want to, say, avoid geoblocked pages? usually with those VPN services you can choose where your exit node is. I don't feel like using a multi-region setup for this (well, now that i think of it using Terraform + Algo it could be neatly automated...)
  - KirinDave 7y ago
    Run a vpn instance in a different region? Lots of providers do this and it's fairly inexpensive for burst use.
- gzer0 7y ago
  Good way to deploy your own personal vpn on DigitalOcean, google cloud, or any cloud server of your choice really. Took me 5 minutes. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21313902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21313902
tyfon 7y ago
Prepare to have to deal with their "Customer success team", I had to email a few times back and forth before they actually closed and removed my account. There is/was no way to do this in the web interface itself. This was over a year ago though so I don't know if they still operate that way. I got a few good laughs out of that signature :)

So did I, 33 days ago :/

You should probably ask for a refund, then set up your own VPN. Commerical VPNs are, for the vast majority of cases, simply not a good bet for your privacy. You're changing your network traffic path from a diffuse and byzantine series of paths to once centralized collection point. The payoff for an attack on a VPN rises very quickly. Meanwhile, you're also conditioning yourself to say, "My traffic is secure while my VPN is on." It's not a great combo.

chickenpotpie 7y ago
I thinking about spinning up a Digital Ocean droplet and rolling my own right now
- babayega2 7y ago
  Absolutely. Look for project Streisand.
- leevlad 7y ago
  I'd keep in mind that cloud providers have well-known IP blocks that can sometimes be rate-limited by various internet sites/services, primarily to combat botting. You might inadvertently get caught in the IP range that's being actively rate limited by e.g. Instagram. YMMV.
- ignoramous 7y ago
  https://vultr.com https://vultr.com might provide more bang for the buck at $2.50 a month for 500GB in bandwidth.
rocqua 7y ago
It works for when you need to use untrusted WiFi, because the alternative is worse. Beyond that, it forms a nice defense against unsophisticated attackers. (e.g. it breaks a single datapoint (ip address) used by Google and FaceBook).
- KirinDave 7y ago
  Is the alternative actually worse than SSL? Why? And no, it doesn't break analytical by Facebook or Google in any substantial way. I know some people use them to evade Netflix region exceptions, and that's about all they're good for.
  - crazydoggers 7y ago
    You can’t always ensure that all traffic goes over SSL. DNS traffic is an example. I always assume that hostile public networks like free WiFi have agents actively trying to man in the middle any connections they can. If your device has a known exploit and a single connection not going over SSL you drastically increase your exposure on a public WiFi, hence the one use case for VPN.
    - KirinDave 7y ago
      If your privacy concerns include your DNS requests then a commerical VPN isn't a realistic choice. And unlike some rando pseudo-bespoke brand-less coffee shop wifi, commerical VPNs are a big target. > I always assume that hostile public networks like free WiFi have agents actively trying to man in the middle any connections they can. And VPNs just move that problem. If you're not demanding and forcing SSL, you're not actually addressing this problem. > If your device has a known exploit and a single connection not going over SSL you drastically increase your exposure on a public WiFi, hence the one use case for VPN. I regret to inform you that none of these things you've described stop thise sort those attacks. Forcing SSL on your browser is a realistic option for most threat models. If you're at a level where you're actually being surveilled by a nation-state-level actor, a commercial VPN won't help you. Short of that scenario, forcing SSL will cover most cases.
darkwater 7y ago
But how can a DIY VPN serve you if you want to, say, avoid geoblocked pages? usually with those VPN services you can choose where your exit node is. I don't feel like using a multi-region setup for this (well, now that i think of it using Terraform + Algo it could be neatly automated...)
- KirinDave 7y ago
  Run a vpn instance in a different region? Lots of providers do this and it's fairly inexpensive for burst use.
gzer0 7y ago
Good way to deploy your own personal vpn on DigitalOcean, google cloud, or any cloud server of your choice really. Took me 5 minutes. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21313902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21313902

tyfon 7y ago

Prepare to have to deal with their "Customer success team", I had to email a few times back and forth before they actually closed and removed my account. There is/was no way to do this in the web interface itself. This was over a year ago though so I don't know if they still operate that way. I got a few good laughs out of that signature :)