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I think it's sensible to use Cloudflare Tunnel for this purpose if you care about security and still need it to be free. It's run by a $21B company that has a l

by tpmx 3y ago

I think it's sensible to use Cloudflare Tunnel for this purpose if you care about security and still need it to be free. It's run by a $21B company that has a lot to lose if they get caught doing anything bad with your data. https://blog.cloudflare.com/tunnel-for-everyone/ https://blog.cloudflare.com/tunnel-for-everyone/ They have being doing this for 2+ years as a marketing exercise, afaik. Downside: Their documentation honestly isn't the easiest to go through if all you want to do is to setup something ngrok-like.

kybernetikos 3y ago
> run by a company that has a lot to lose if they are caught doing anything bad. More and more these days I'm finding myself shut off from websites, and seeing the cloudflare page telling me that they've decided that I'm not allowed to visit them. The page gives me no way to argue that they've got it wrong, it suggests that I contact the site if I think that cloudflare have blocked me from it incorrectly, but that's pretty hard considering that they've just blocked me from it. It's not minor sites either, yesterday trying to access discord.com got me the cloudflare page from my desktop. Apparently my mobile internet connection isn't good enough for cloudflare either, since an enormous number of sites trigger the page on that. Cloudflare are one of the most disturbing things about the modern internet.
- tpmx 3y ago
  ...caught doing anything bad [with your data] is so obviously what I meant. But hey, technically you found a hook! You probably have a good point about Cloudflare's effect on open web access on the internet, but.. that's not really what we are talking about here, is it?
  - kybernetikos 3y ago
    > but.. that's not really what we are talking about here, is it? I suppose I better make the link that I saw more clear. A lot of people use cloudflare services because they are free. I've done it myself. And in many case that would be fine. Cloudflare are in a unique position - partly through the reach those free services have given them, they now have an unusual level of power over the internet. Using cloudflare services gives them more power. I think before anyone uses a free cloudflare service, they should absolutely think about whether they're going to use that power wisely. This is particularly the case when there are good, free open source alternatives such as the service posted here, that you used as a jumping off point to talk about the cloudflare service.
    - tpmx 3y ago
      I see an open source client connecting to a service run by a private person with no full name disclosed. The source code of the service is published as open source, but that is not necessarily exactly what is running. If this can be shown to be incorrect I'm happy to correct this post.
      - kybernetikos 3y ago
        https://github.com/localtunnel/server https://github.com/localtunnel/server MIT license
        tpmx 3y ago
        Updated.
- RockRobotRock 3y ago
  Just for the record using Cloudflare Tunnel doesn't mean you are using their WAF products (blocking) AFAIK
RockRobotRock 3y ago
I have been really digging Cloudflare tunnel. For my self hosted apps, I used to expose everything through a reverse nginx proxy listening on 80 and 443, but this is much more convenient. Their Zero Trust stuff is cool too, although not something I'm looking to pay for.
v3ss0n 3y ago
The open source alternative 8s zork by ziti
PeterStuer 3y ago
Doing bad things with your data certainty does not seem inversely correlated to the market cap of the company doing it. They might have 'a lott to lose', but they also have a lott of lawyering and a lott of political clout protecting their rackets.
thelastparadise 3y ago
> $21B company that has a lot to lose if they get caught doing anything bad with your data Say what? Companies get caught doing this all the time and nothing seems to happen.

by tpmx 3y ago

kybernetikos 3y ago

> run by a company that has a lot to lose if they are caught doing anything bad. More and more these days I'm finding myself shut off from websites, and seeing the cloudflare page telling me that they've decided that I'm not allowed to visit them. The page gives me no way to argue that they've got it wrong, it suggests that I contact the site if I think that cloudflare have blocked me from it incorrectly, but that's pretty hard considering that they've just blocked me from it. It's not minor sites either, yesterday trying to access discord.com got me the cloudflare page from my desktop. Apparently my mobile internet connection isn't good enough for cloudflare either, since an enormous number of sites trigger the page on that. Cloudflare are one of the most disturbing things about the modern internet.

tpmx 3y ago
...caught doing anything bad [with your data] is so obviously what I meant. But hey, technically you found a hook! You probably have a good point about Cloudflare's effect on open web access on the internet, but.. that's not really what we are talking about here, is it?
- kybernetikos 3y ago
  > but.. that's not really what we are talking about here, is it? I suppose I better make the link that I saw more clear. A lot of people use cloudflare services because they are free. I've done it myself. And in many case that would be fine. Cloudflare are in a unique position - partly through the reach those free services have given them, they now have an unusual level of power over the internet. Using cloudflare services gives them more power. I think before anyone uses a free cloudflare service, they should absolutely think about whether they're going to use that power wisely. This is particularly the case when there are good, free open source alternatives such as the service posted here, that you used as a jumping off point to talk about the cloudflare service.
  - tpmx 3y ago
    I see an open source client connecting to a service run by a private person with no full name disclosed. The source code of the service is published as open source, but that is not necessarily exactly what is running. If this can be shown to be incorrect I'm happy to correct this post.
    - kybernetikos 3y ago
      https://github.com/localtunnel/server https://github.com/localtunnel/server MIT license
      - tpmx 3y ago
        Updated.
RockRobotRock 3y ago
Just for the record using Cloudflare Tunnel doesn't mean you are using their WAF products (blocking) AFAIK

RockRobotRock 3y ago

I have been really digging Cloudflare tunnel. For my self hosted apps, I used to expose everything through a reverse nginx proxy listening on 80 and 443, but this is much more convenient. Their Zero Trust stuff is cool too, although not something I'm looking to pay for.

v3ss0n 3y ago

The open source alternative 8s zork by ziti

PeterStuer 3y ago

Doing bad things with your data certainty does not seem inversely correlated to the market cap of the company doing it. They might have 'a lott to lose', but they also have a lott of lawyering and a lott of political clout protecting their rackets.

thelastparadise 3y ago

> $21B company that has a lot to lose if they get caught doing anything bad with your data Say what? Companies get caught doing this all the time and nothing seems to happen.