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If I was in charge of intel ops for any country with a decent budget, first thing I would do is build or buy a VPN company. You have a self-selected group of p

If I was in charge of intel ops for any country with a decent budget, first thing I would do is build or buy a VPN company. You have a self-selected group of people with something to hide. What could be more ideal to gather kompromat?

bryanrasmussen 5y ago
most often though the thing they're hiding is watching movies and shows they couldn't get in their country otherwise. But the great thing about the vpn is some people leave it on and forget about it. So then you invest in a free porn service.
- consumer451 5y ago
  > most often though the thing they're hiding is watching movies and shows they couldn't get in their country otherwise. Sure, but the .0001% of users who use grindr while trying to hide their preferences, and hold a position of influence in government or a corporation make the whole effort worthwhile. As a bonus, the op is actually profitable because the 99.9999% of people you don't care about, and don't have to spend man-hours on, are actually paying for all the man-hours that you spend on the people of interest! The intel flywheel is up and spinning! edit: this is all conjecture.
Ansil849 5y ago
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of VPN services. Why would someone you care about targeting use your specific one? Or is the point that you're just conducting a massive dragnet operation to see what you find? In that case, it's probably way cheaper to just send agents out to search people's trash every night /s.
- srg0 5y ago
  There are hundreds of vpn services, but as the topic article tells us more and more of them are owned by the same entity. And this same entity tries to obscure this fact. And this same entity under a different name was allegedly "involved in browser hijacking, malicious software bundlers, adware, and other monetization methods" (Crossrider past). This same entity is registered in a country with influential and capable intelligence services, and not particularly known for its privacy laws. And if you google names behind this entity, you'll find mentions of bribery, jail time, gambling industry, and Israeli intelligence. I don't see why you put /s on your post.

bryanrasmussen 5y ago

most often though the thing they're hiding is watching movies and shows they couldn't get in their country otherwise. But the great thing about the vpn is some people leave it on and forget about it. So then you invest in a free porn service.

consumer451 5y ago
> most often though the thing they're hiding is watching movies and shows they couldn't get in their country otherwise. Sure, but the .0001% of users who use grindr while trying to hide their preferences, and hold a position of influence in government or a corporation make the whole effort worthwhile. As a bonus, the op is actually profitable because the 99.9999% of people you don't care about, and don't have to spend man-hours on, are actually paying for all the man-hours that you spend on the people of interest! The intel flywheel is up and spinning! edit: this is all conjecture.

Ansil849 5y ago

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of VPN services. Why would someone you care about targeting use your specific one? Or is the point that you're just conducting a massive dragnet operation to see what you find? In that case, it's probably way cheaper to just send agents out to search people's trash every night /s.

srg0 5y ago
There are hundreds of vpn services, but as the topic article tells us more and more of them are owned by the same entity. And this same entity tries to obscure this fact. And this same entity under a different name was allegedly "involved in browser hijacking, malicious software bundlers, adware, and other monetization methods" (Crossrider past). This same entity is registered in a country with influential and capable intelligence services, and not particularly known for its privacy laws. And if you google names behind this entity, you'll find mentions of bribery, jail time, gambling industry, and Israeli intelligence. I don't see why you put /s on your post.