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this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2024
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Meanwhile, VPN providers be like "come on download stuff 😉😉😉", wouldn't that be a much easier case for them to prove willful disregard for piracy?
A day is going to come when the VPNs are going to be targeted for regulation.
It's only a matter of time before someone shoots up a school with a 3D printed gun or Epstein's a terabyte of child porn to a Senator's office or some other silly bullshit, and then VPNs will become the whipping boy for our litany of problems.
In autocratic states where VPNs are blocked, they use VPNs that are harder to detect. So by the time they decide to criminalize VPN use in the free (read slightly less un-free) world, we'll still have a cornucopia of options.
It's like FBI trying to ban encryption or get it regulated when we already have encryption technology that is deniable.
Paying for the VPN that's harder to detect with my credit card which is very easy to detect.
https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/the-fbi-is-secretly-breaking-into-encrypted-devices-were-suing
Devices are already riddled with backdoors imposed by federal authorities. The only real way to avoid them is to obtain a device not designed or assembled within the NATO block.
Incidentally, import of these devices has become increasingly difficult, on the grounds that these devices may have backdoors implemented by foreign governments.
In case you weren't aware, it's actually pretty easy to pay for a VPN in unmarked funds. Most will allow for BTC transactions, but some VPNs will even allow you to use giftcards for a place like Target.
This is the dumb guy panacea for committing every financial crime. You'd never even know the block chain is a public ledger.
Mullvad even lets you send them an envelope with cash in it, with no identifying info other than your account number.
this smells distinctly russian for some reason, anyway, just use open source software and hardware, the protection net while not perfect, is entirely open, and theoretically, capable of perfect safety.
Of course, disregard everything Snowden and Assange leaked. Your devices are secure, citizen. Carry on.
my brother in christ you literally referred to it as the NATO block.
What makes you think chinese devices don't have backdoors for example? It's also likely russian devices do, though idk how many if any they produce. We do know that russian malware often has a russian locale kill switch because apparently they're a little silly like that.
nice quote blocks
Time to get on it privacy coin bandwagon
Considering how many corporations rely on VPNs for their workers, I don't think this would gain much traction.
A number of countries are experimenting with registration of VPNs and blocking of TOR traffic.
And there are more than a few VPN series that are explicitly or implicitly compromised by the security services in their own countries.
I wouldn't try planning to do the next 9/11 on a ProtonVPN, for instance. The NSA is all over that shit.
Well,
a) even the labels and studios pirate stuff that isn't theirs. They don't really believe what they preach.
b) All that content they produce involves unethical treatment of the actual creators and technical staff who are under-compensated, and often lose all rights to their own creative work. and
c) regional blocks are just marketing bullshit, and is the primary thing VPNs advertise they'll circumvent for you.
Can you elaborate on point a?
Famously the music for that famous 'you wouldn't download a car' anti piracy disclaimer was stolen and used without permission from the creator.
https://torrentfreak.com/sorry-the-you-wouldnt-steal-a-car-anti-piracy-ad-wasnt-pirated-170625/ ?
I'll look that up
Yeah, but ISPs are rich and VPN providers are not. The most recent numbers I can find for Cox (2020) show $12.6 billion in revenue.
I've had VPNs email me that they'll terminate my account if they find me pirating again after getting notified of DMCA. That was a few years ago by the same VPN I'm still with and have been pirating ever since. I haven't gotten any more emails so either I didn't get caught again or they're just not notifying me any more.
I didn't want to lose the VPN though since it gives me a long term IP and allows incoming port for torrenting