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Industry leaders like NordVPN and ExpressVPN may engage in P2P routing (to use residential IPs especially) to unblock services like Netflix and Disney+ [1]. Ho

Industry leaders like NordVPN and ExpressVPN may engage in P2P routing (to use residential IPs especially) to unblock services like Netflix and Disney+ [1]. HolaVPN unapologetically does this too [2]. All of this is discounting the new-age dVPNs like Orchid (not quite the Tor replacement that was promised? [3]) and Mysterium [4]. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21664692 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21664692 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9614993 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9614993 [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15576457 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15576457 [4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14331049 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14331049

kornesh 6y ago
How does residential IPs actual work?
- kbumsik 6y ago
  Maybe ISPs have a list of IPs to assign to residential customers?
- InvaderFizz 6y ago
  TorGuard's "Streaming IP" certainly does. It allows me to use streaming services and sites that are normally blocked for me at my home in Mexico. I just route my entire connection through it on one of my SSIDs/VLANs.
- viraptor 6y ago
  You filter by block's AS. It's not always 100% correct, but with enough people you can collect your own list of most common VPS / hosting companies.
cosmodisk 6y ago
Back at home the company behind NordVPN is touted as a top company.Recenly was reading an article that they'll be moving to new premises, as they've already got 1500 working for them.
- Spooky23 6y ago
  That’s the thing that is so bizarre about VPNs. That’s a big company — why do people trust them?
  - sgc 6y ago
    Most users probably don't trust them much at all, but trust them just enough for the very minimal uses they might need them for. I would not use a consumer vpn if my life or liberty depended on it.
  - missedthecue 6y ago
    How much trust do you really need to lend to them if you're just using it because you want to unblock Netflix or get around your school/work network barriers?
    - Spooky23 6y ago
      Many people think they are buying some sort of security.
      - hansvm 6y ago
        I don't think that's unintentional either. All my targeted ads lately have been for VPNs, and anecdotally every single one has made a huge deal about the dangers of roaming the internet when not "protected" by a VPN. Every single one of my non-tech friends who has asked about security and privacy has had similar misconceptions too.
        Spooky23 6y ago
        They have to. It’s pretty much a grey market business at best.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
gary_0 6y ago
The Internet detects geoblocking as damage and routes around it?
- fpig 6y ago
  It's always good for a VPN to deny any information about the customer to a server, I would imagine that's not what was referred to as sketchy. Making a user indistinguishable from a typical user from country X is just the VPN doing its job correctly. It seems, however, that at least some VPN providers use their customers' bandwidth without their knowledge to route other customers through it. I'd say that qualifies as sketchy. Although on an entirely personal level, I'm not a fan of stuff like going through VPN to use Disney+. I think people should ideally either not watch or pirate geoblocked content. Consuming geoblocked content through VPNs is basically letting such companies get away with discrimination and still get your money.
  - pc86 6y ago
    Isn't the vast majority of geoblocking due to regulations, legislation, or contract agreements? That hardly qualifies as "discrimination."
    - jonathanlydall 6y ago
      It's left over from a time before distribution over the internet was practical, when middle-men added value (local promotion, collection of royalties, etc) to video distrubution. The internet made them largely redundant, but they still had their contracts and pushed to have things like geo-blocking to maintain their "local monopoly" arrangement. When legal options are not readily available to me due to geo-blocking, I have no qualms about pirating instead.
      - pc86 6y ago
        I'm not arguing in favor of geographic blackouts, I'm arguing against them being "discrimination" by any sensible definition of the word. Nobody's sitting in an office somewhere trying to decide which sitcoms to block to most piss off the Armenians.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

kornesh 6y ago

How does residential IPs actual work?

kbumsik 6y ago
Maybe ISPs have a list of IPs to assign to residential customers?
InvaderFizz 6y ago
TorGuard's "Streaming IP" certainly does. It allows me to use streaming services and sites that are normally blocked for me at my home in Mexico. I just route my entire connection through it on one of my SSIDs/VLANs.
viraptor 6y ago
You filter by block's AS. It's not always 100% correct, but with enough people you can collect your own list of most common VPS / hosting companies.

cosmodisk 6y ago

Back at home the company behind NordVPN is touted as a top company.Recenly was reading an article that they'll be moving to new premises, as they've already got 1500 working for them.

Spooky23 6y ago
That’s the thing that is so bizarre about VPNs. That’s a big company — why do people trust them?
- sgc 6y ago
  Most users probably don't trust them much at all, but trust them just enough for the very minimal uses they might need them for. I would not use a consumer vpn if my life or liberty depended on it.
- missedthecue 6y ago
  How much trust do you really need to lend to them if you're just using it because you want to unblock Netflix or get around your school/work network barriers?
  - Spooky23 6y ago
    Many people think they are buying some sort of security.
    - hansvm 6y ago
      I don't think that's unintentional either. All my targeted ads lately have been for VPNs, and anecdotally every single one has made a huge deal about the dangers of roaming the internet when not "protected" by a VPN. Every single one of my non-tech friends who has asked about security and privacy has had similar misconceptions too.
      - Spooky23 6y ago
        They have to. It’s pretty much a grey market business at best.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

gary_0 6y ago

The Internet detects geoblocking as damage and routes around it?

fpig 6y ago
It's always good for a VPN to deny any information about the customer to a server, I would imagine that's not what was referred to as sketchy. Making a user indistinguishable from a typical user from country X is just the VPN doing its job correctly. It seems, however, that at least some VPN providers use their customers' bandwidth without their knowledge to route other customers through it. I'd say that qualifies as sketchy. Although on an entirely personal level, I'm not a fan of stuff like going through VPN to use Disney+. I think people should ideally either not watch or pirate geoblocked content. Consuming geoblocked content through VPNs is basically letting such companies get away with discrimination and still get your money.
- pc86 6y ago
  Isn't the vast majority of geoblocking due to regulations, legislation, or contract agreements? That hardly qualifies as "discrimination."
  - jonathanlydall 6y ago
    It's left over from a time before distribution over the internet was practical, when middle-men added value (local promotion, collection of royalties, etc) to video distrubution. The internet made them largely redundant, but they still had their contracts and pushed to have things like geo-blocking to maintain their "local monopoly" arrangement. When legal options are not readily available to me due to geo-blocking, I have no qualms about pirating instead.
    - pc86 6y ago
      I'm not arguing in favor of geographic blackouts, I'm arguing against them being "discrimination" by any sensible definition of the word. Nobody's sitting in an office somewhere trying to decide which sitcoms to block to most piss off the Armenians.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]