5 ms·

So what's next? The banning of payments to VPNs?

falcolas 12y ago
Given the following quote: > a key concern was that MEGA has a unique model with its end-to-end encryption which leads to “unknowability of what is on the platform It's not outside the realm of possibility.
- narrowrail 12y ago
  Everyone seems to be taking Mega's statements as truth without question at all. Banning payment to VPNs would severely cripple lots of businesses in the U.S. and around the world. I don't believe it's a possibility, at all.
  - forthefuture 12y ago
    I don't know the current levels of VPN usage, but I'd seriously doubt that there are any industries at all that rely upon people using someone else's IP. Using a VPN to get around content blackouts / licensing agreements in your country is not legal, so I'm sure you don't mean that.
    - ab5tract 12y ago
      Under what legal precedent can you declare that using a VPN for those purposes is illegal? I'm curious about actual cases, laws, and rulings. Is the claim that the DMCA anti-circumvention laws make it illegal? You do know that the DMCA is only a law in the US right? Which in general is the country people VPN _to_, not _from_?
      - icebraining 12y ago
        By circumventing such restrictions, the user violates the terms of the license granted by the site, and is therefore committing copyright infringement, except in the countries where just downloading is permitted.
    - DanBC 12y ago
      > but I'd seriously doubt that there are any industries at all that rely upon people using someone else's IP. A VPN is not a proxy. Plenty of businesses rely on VPNs to keep their staff communications safe when those staff are working away from the office. This is not an unusual or weird requirement only used by the security paranoics -- it is everyday standard practice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network > A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network, such as the Internet. It enables a computer or network-enabled device to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if it were directly connected to the private network, while benefiting from the functionality, security and management policies of the private network.[1] A VPN is created by establishing a virtual point-to-point connection through the use of dedicated connections, virtual tunneling protocols, or traffic encryptions. Major implementations of VPNs include OpenVPN and IPsec.
      - Dylan16807 12y ago
        That's an internal VPN though, not a service with customers.
        DanBC 12y ago
        There are plenty of services with customers that cater to small businesses who don't have the staff to set up and run their own software. A websearch for business VPN returns dozens of providers for businesses.
  - falcolas 12y ago
    > Banning payment to VPNs would severely cripple lots of businesses I don't believe this banning would be broad enough in scope, at least not in the near future, to affect many actual businesses. These takedowns could easily be very narrowly targeted at VPNs which advertised themselves almost exclusively on torrent trackers hosting links to RIAA movies. This premise would still be reasonable even without Mega's comments, it's based on the actual legal assaults we've already seen applied to many different mass storage providers, taken to its next logical step. Doesn't even require slippery-slope arguments.
  - Dylan16807 12y ago
    It would be very uncharacteristic and damaging to their business for them to lie in a situation like this. I'm perfectly willing to believe that PayPal is bullshitting them.
    - res0nat0r 12y ago
      Yeah, because Kim Dotcom has always been such a reliable and standup guy.
owly 12y ago
It could happen... We could see Box, Spideroak and any Dropbox end to end encryption plugins lose payments too.
Buge 12y ago
Some vps have already been banned.
mike_hearn 12y ago
No that is already happening https://torrentfreak.com/mastercard-and-visa-start-banning-vpn-providers-130703/ https://torrentfreak.com/mastercard-and-visa-start-banning-v...

Given the following quote: > a key concern was that MEGA has a unique model with its end-to-end encryption which leads to “unknowability of what is on the platform It's not outside the realm of possibility.

narrowrail 12y ago
Everyone seems to be taking Mega's statements as truth without question at all. Banning payment to VPNs would severely cripple lots of businesses in the U.S. and around the world. I don't believe it's a possibility, at all.
- forthefuture 12y ago
  I don't know the current levels of VPN usage, but I'd seriously doubt that there are any industries at all that rely upon people using someone else's IP. Using a VPN to get around content blackouts / licensing agreements in your country is not legal, so I'm sure you don't mean that.
  - ab5tract 12y ago
    Under what legal precedent can you declare that using a VPN for those purposes is illegal? I'm curious about actual cases, laws, and rulings. Is the claim that the DMCA anti-circumvention laws make it illegal? You do know that the DMCA is only a law in the US right? Which in general is the country people VPN _to_, not _from_?
    - icebraining 12y ago
      By circumventing such restrictions, the user violates the terms of the license granted by the site, and is therefore committing copyright infringement, except in the countries where just downloading is permitted.
  - DanBC 12y ago
    > but I'd seriously doubt that there are any industries at all that rely upon people using someone else's IP. A VPN is not a proxy. Plenty of businesses rely on VPNs to keep their staff communications safe when those staff are working away from the office. This is not an unusual or weird requirement only used by the security paranoics -- it is everyday standard practice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network > A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network, such as the Internet. It enables a computer or network-enabled device to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if it were directly connected to the private network, while benefiting from the functionality, security and management policies of the private network.[1] A VPN is created by establishing a virtual point-to-point connection through the use of dedicated connections, virtual tunneling protocols, or traffic encryptions. Major implementations of VPNs include OpenVPN and IPsec.
    - Dylan16807 12y ago
      That's an internal VPN though, not a service with customers.
      - DanBC 12y ago
        There are plenty of services with customers that cater to small businesses who don't have the staff to set up and run their own software. A websearch for business VPN returns dozens of providers for businesses.
- falcolas 12y ago
  > Banning payment to VPNs would severely cripple lots of businesses I don't believe this banning would be broad enough in scope, at least not in the near future, to affect many actual businesses. These takedowns could easily be very narrowly targeted at VPNs which advertised themselves almost exclusively on torrent trackers hosting links to RIAA movies. This premise would still be reasonable even without Mega's comments, it's based on the actual legal assaults we've already seen applied to many different mass storage providers, taken to its next logical step. Doesn't even require slippery-slope arguments.
- Dylan16807 12y ago
  It would be very uncharacteristic and damaging to their business for them to lie in a situation like this. I'm perfectly willing to believe that PayPal is bullshitting them.
  - res0nat0r 12y ago
    Yeah, because Kim Dotcom has always been such a reliable and standup guy.

owly 12y ago

It could happen... We could see Box, Spideroak and any Dropbox end to end encryption plugins lose payments too.

Buge 12y ago

Some vps have already been banned.

mike_hearn 12y ago

No that is already happening https://torrentfreak.com/mastercard-and-visa-start-banning-vpn-providers-130703/ https://torrentfreak.com/mastercard-and-visa-start-banning-v...