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VPNs in general tend to be super shady. Many vendors surreptitiously use user nodes as exit nodes and route traffic in suspect ways. VPN software stack is sur

VPNs in general tend to be super shady. Many vendors surreptitiously use user nodes as exit nodes and route traffic in suspect ways. VPN software stack is surely a major target for state and non-state actors to monitor and exploit.

internetter 3y ago
Hola VPN, for instance, is famous for using the extensions as "exit nodes"
salad-tycoon 3y ago
So does this mean then that if someone appears to be using my IP to do illegal thing x y z police/lawyers would come at me first? If so, would simply having an account and exe file be enough to argue “my wifi is open, I didn’t download all that XYZ!”
- eddythompson80 3y ago
  By the time the police comes at you because of your home IP, they usually have collected a lot more evidence than that. That's why torrenting from your home without a VPN usually just results in a letter from your ISP saying "we know what you're doing. cut it out". No body has ever been convicted with their home IP as the only evidence.
  - greyface- 3y ago
    https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/04/04/472992023/when-a-dark-web-volunteer-gets-raided-by-the-police https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/04/04/47... Convicted? No. Raided? Yes.
    - eddythompson80 3y ago
      Of course, you get raided most likely once they have sufficient evidence that they'll be able to collect incriminating evidence. Your IP might be enough to get a warrant, but they'll need a lot more to build a case in court. Hence the raid, confiscation of servers, etc.
- autoexec 3y ago
  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/unprotected-wi-fi-getting-owners-in-trouble/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/unprotected-wi-fi-getting-owner...
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
jjbinx007 3y ago
I think one major problem is VPNs are advertised or promoted as if they're synonymous with antivirus software. I partially blame the myriad YouTubers who happily push these to their fans to supposedly protect their privacy and protect their computers from harm.
- gurchik 3y ago
  Until recently, eyeglass manufacturers were marketing blue light filtered lenses (which don't even filter much blue light anyway) as a way to prevent macular degeneration, until regulators shut it down. VPN providers shouldn't be allowed to claim that VPNs protect you from malware or that they do a better job at protecting data in transit than vanilla SSL.
  - kaplun 3y ago
    Hey, I have such glasses, and here in France at least they are still marketed. Do you have any reference pointing out the fact that they do not work? (Are they even worse than regular glasses?)
    - gurchik 3y ago
      > they are still marketed They're still marketed as a way to prevent macular degeneration?
  - KnobbleMcKnees 3y ago
    Any source on the blue light filtering not working? I didn't get the filter on my latest glasses and feel like my eyes fatigue more quickly, but I'm aware that could just be aging or a change in monitors, lighting, etc. which have occurred since my last subscription update.
    - gurchik 3y ago
      The lenses I'm talking about are the ones that are completely or nearly completely clear. Here's a photo of the "Everyday" blue light lenses on Zenni Optical as an example. They are marketed as blocking 16x more blue light than normal lenses. https://static.zennioptical.com/marketing/campaign/blokz/2023/LP/carousel/standard-lg.png https://static.zennioptical.com/marketing/campaign/blokz/202... How could it be blocking any significant amount of light in the visible spectrum and still be clear? I'm sure the "16x" claim is true, but normal lenses block a small amount of light. 16 times nearly zero is still nearly zero. It's just a marketing gimmick. Zenni Optical also sells lenses which are orange. I'm sure that actually does block a significant amount of blue light, but I also know from my experience visiting optician offices that many consumers are buying the first kind. I'm aware of studies which link blue light to eye fatigue and disruption of the circadian rhythm but I'm skeptical that blocking 5% of blue light or whatever could have a perceptible medical effect. With that being said, I don't feel strongly about claims like the 16x thing if its actually true (just a bit misleading). My comment above was mostly about the claims that they prevent macular degeneration which there is no evidence for. And regulators are right to jump in before it gets too bad, otherwise why stop at macular degeneration? Just say your lenses prevent hair loss and skin cancer while you're at it.
jangxx 3y ago
Does this also work if you're using the generic OpenVPN client to connect to the VPN? I've used a bunch of different VPN providers over the years, but they usually just offer an OpenVPN configuration that you can use with the normal client. I'm not aware of this also allowing them to send traffic the other way, but maybe it does?
- lyu07282 3y ago
  afaik no that's impossible without modifications of the customers OpenVPN software itself (they would need firewall/iptable rules for NAT, impossible to set via OpenVPN config). That's exactly why it's a bad sign if a VPN provider doesn't just give you VPN configuration files.

internetter 3y ago

Hola VPN, for instance, is famous for using the extensions as "exit nodes"

salad-tycoon 3y ago

So does this mean then that if someone appears to be using my IP to do illegal thing x y z police/lawyers would come at me first? If so, would simply having an account and exe file be enough to argue “my wifi is open, I didn’t download all that XYZ!”

eddythompson80 3y ago
By the time the police comes at you because of your home IP, they usually have collected a lot more evidence than that. That's why torrenting from your home without a VPN usually just results in a letter from your ISP saying "we know what you're doing. cut it out". No body has ever been convicted with their home IP as the only evidence.
- greyface- 3y ago
  https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/04/04/472992023/when-a-dark-web-volunteer-gets-raided-by-the-police https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/04/04/47... Convicted? No. Raided? Yes.
  - eddythompson80 3y ago
    Of course, you get raided most likely once they have sufficient evidence that they'll be able to collect incriminating evidence. Your IP might be enough to get a warrant, but they'll need a lot more to build a case in court. Hence the raid, confiscation of servers, etc.
autoexec 3y ago
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/unprotected-wi-fi-getting-owners-in-trouble/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/unprotected-wi-fi-getting-owner...

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

jjbinx007 3y ago

I think one major problem is VPNs are advertised or promoted as if they're synonymous with antivirus software. I partially blame the myriad YouTubers who happily push these to their fans to supposedly protect their privacy and protect their computers from harm.

gurchik 3y ago
Until recently, eyeglass manufacturers were marketing blue light filtered lenses (which don't even filter much blue light anyway) as a way to prevent macular degeneration, until regulators shut it down. VPN providers shouldn't be allowed to claim that VPNs protect you from malware or that they do a better job at protecting data in transit than vanilla SSL.
- kaplun 3y ago
  Hey, I have such glasses, and here in France at least they are still marketed. Do you have any reference pointing out the fact that they do not work? (Are they even worse than regular glasses?)
  - gurchik 3y ago
    > they are still marketed They're still marketed as a way to prevent macular degeneration?
- KnobbleMcKnees 3y ago
  Any source on the blue light filtering not working? I didn't get the filter on my latest glasses and feel like my eyes fatigue more quickly, but I'm aware that could just be aging or a change in monitors, lighting, etc. which have occurred since my last subscription update.
  - gurchik 3y ago
    The lenses I'm talking about are the ones that are completely or nearly completely clear. Here's a photo of the "Everyday" blue light lenses on Zenni Optical as an example. They are marketed as blocking 16x more blue light than normal lenses. https://static.zennioptical.com/marketing/campaign/blokz/2023/LP/carousel/standard-lg.png https://static.zennioptical.com/marketing/campaign/blokz/202... How could it be blocking any significant amount of light in the visible spectrum and still be clear? I'm sure the "16x" claim is true, but normal lenses block a small amount of light. 16 times nearly zero is still nearly zero. It's just a marketing gimmick. Zenni Optical also sells lenses which are orange. I'm sure that actually does block a significant amount of blue light, but I also know from my experience visiting optician offices that many consumers are buying the first kind. I'm aware of studies which link blue light to eye fatigue and disruption of the circadian rhythm but I'm skeptical that blocking 5% of blue light or whatever could have a perceptible medical effect. With that being said, I don't feel strongly about claims like the 16x thing if its actually true (just a bit misleading). My comment above was mostly about the claims that they prevent macular degeneration which there is no evidence for. And regulators are right to jump in before it gets too bad, otherwise why stop at macular degeneration? Just say your lenses prevent hair loss and skin cancer while you're at it.

jangxx 3y ago

Does this also work if you're using the generic OpenVPN client to connect to the VPN? I've used a bunch of different VPN providers over the years, but they usually just offer an OpenVPN configuration that you can use with the normal client. I'm not aware of this also allowing them to send traffic the other way, but maybe it does?

lyu07282 3y ago
afaik no that's impossible without modifications of the customers OpenVPN software itself (they would need firewall/iptable rules for NAT, impossible to set via OpenVPN config). That's exactly why it's a bad sign if a VPN provider doesn't just give you VPN configuration files.