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Another "free" Google service that blinds lay people from objectively considering the cost vs. benefits of online privacy/anonymity (since "free" tends to make

by r0h1n 13y ago

Another "free" Google service that blinds lay people from objectively considering the cost vs. benefits of online privacy/anonymity (since "free" tends to make us act irrationally). Instead, consider paying the equivalent of a cup or two of coffee and buy yourself a real VPN subscription. Even if you must get yourself a free VPN, consider someone other than Google, a company that already has so much data on your digital lives.

StavrosK 13y ago
Did you read the article? It's not a Google service. Why buy a "real" VPN subscription instead of running things through a friend, which is way more decentralized and harder to surveil en masse?
- r0h1n 13y ago
  I did. I also went to the uProxy site which mentions it was seeded by Google Ideas. Also, >> One of the ways uProxy connects you through your friends, is by connecting to existing chat networks, such as Facebook or Google Hangouts. uProxy can use a chat network to discover new friends and setup peer-to-peer proxying from your friends. If a user does so, then the chat network can see that the user has uProxy installed. A user's chat contacts may also see this. So Google funded uProxy; it will be able to see who your VPN "host" is via Google Hangouts; and lastly it controls one of the two browsers on which this plugin runs, Chrome. That's too much Google for me, personally.
  - lallysingh 13y ago
    .. So don't use it on hangouts and run it on Firefox. Scan the source for any "call home code."
    - r0h1n 13y ago
      This isn't about me. I already use a different VPN. I don't use Hangouts or Google+. Those rare Google services I do use, I use sparingly. My point was the average Internet Joe or Jane needs to look beyond "free" services and be willing to spend some money buying better alternatives. One of the reasons we're all so compromised on the Internet today is our collective blindness towards the hidden "costs" of free services.
      - lallysingh 13y ago
        I agree with your point on the costs of free services. I'm happy to pay myself. In some parts of the world, it's very tough to transfer money to a circumvention or anonymizing service without getting in trouble. But if a user is both unable to assess the security of the system them self, and unwilling to trust another's analysis, the funding model is irrelevant. Source is the gold standard, IMHO, even if that's still not terribly helpful.
- Lewisham 13y ago
  This is a key point: VPNs provide an obvious point of failure, and are easily shut down and/or monitored by repressive regimes. The big concern is not that the VPN is shut down, but that those who connect to it are being monitored, and will get a visit from the secret police. It's P2P so that you have clear endpoints, so repressive regimes can't ascertain whether it's a VPN or not. It's also helpful in that you might well trust a friend in another country over a VPN company.
cromwellian 13y ago
Speaking of lay people who don't objectively evaluate things, you posted this before you even learned the details of what uProxy was. You saw the word "Google" and hit reply.

by r0h1n 13y ago

StavrosK 13y ago

Did you read the article? It's not a Google service. Why buy a "real" VPN subscription instead of running things through a friend, which is way more decentralized and harder to surveil en masse?

r0h1n 13y ago
I did. I also went to the uProxy site which mentions it was seeded by Google Ideas. Also, >> One of the ways uProxy connects you through your friends, is by connecting to existing chat networks, such as Facebook or Google Hangouts. uProxy can use a chat network to discover new friends and setup peer-to-peer proxying from your friends. If a user does so, then the chat network can see that the user has uProxy installed. A user's chat contacts may also see this. So Google funded uProxy; it will be able to see who your VPN "host" is via Google Hangouts; and lastly it controls one of the two browsers on which this plugin runs, Chrome. That's too much Google for me, personally.
- lallysingh 13y ago
  .. So don't use it on hangouts and run it on Firefox. Scan the source for any "call home code."
  - r0h1n 13y ago
    This isn't about me. I already use a different VPN. I don't use Hangouts or Google+. Those rare Google services I do use, I use sparingly. My point was the average Internet Joe or Jane needs to look beyond "free" services and be willing to spend some money buying better alternatives. One of the reasons we're all so compromised on the Internet today is our collective blindness towards the hidden "costs" of free services.
    - lallysingh 13y ago
      I agree with your point on the costs of free services. I'm happy to pay myself. In some parts of the world, it's very tough to transfer money to a circumvention or anonymizing service without getting in trouble. But if a user is both unable to assess the security of the system them self, and unwilling to trust another's analysis, the funding model is irrelevant. Source is the gold standard, IMHO, even if that's still not terribly helpful.
Lewisham 13y ago
This is a key point: VPNs provide an obvious point of failure, and are easily shut down and/or monitored by repressive regimes. The big concern is not that the VPN is shut down, but that those who connect to it are being monitored, and will get a visit from the secret police. It's P2P so that you have clear endpoints, so repressive regimes can't ascertain whether it's a VPN or not. It's also helpful in that you might well trust a friend in another country over a VPN company.

cromwellian 13y ago

Speaking of lay people who don't objectively evaluate things, you posted this before you even learned the details of what uProxy was. You saw the word "Google" and hit reply.