I’ve been pretty paranoid about my privacy on the internet, and I just want to make sure I’m at least 90% safe. I can’t buy anything since I don’t have the money, and I just want to make sure that I pick the best free VPN for me. Can anyone help? Thanks!
Is there any reason or evidence you have been paranoid about privacy? For instance, if you accept all cookies at every webpage you go, and dont have multiple anonymous email providers for various important and not important uses, nothing changed except the apparent source IP.
If you are that concerned you should pay for a service. Protons VPN appears to be decent. Its been going for years and there haven’t been any stories to contradict their claims on logs etc. They can be subpoenaed to acquire IP addresses (as is normal under most European nations)
I tried the free version - safe I think but for me unusably slow. Paid for the premium version for a couple of years but there are some problems with how I want to use the VPN, so I think I’m moving to Mullvad VPN - Free the internet. Might not be better, but Mulvad is half the cost.
Ya protonVPNs perfect for privacy and security by using the latest encryption protocals and stickung to there policy…i pay for it now i got a great plan too i get like unlimated everything with 7-8 differnet TOR Nodes as well to really beef up your privacy…if only u could attach ypur own OBFS4 bridges too one oh i guess i do that with Orbot and have the ultimate protection
Set up that outgoing SOCKS5 proxy try freeproxyupdate.com there good they were better but it seams they are now missing like half the older types of sercers for some reason
It is unlike the other free vpn, which are skinned honeypots and proxy, which collects everything… that is as per them.
Not really! It’s just a fear I have of the internet sometimes, just making sure nothing happens to my ip or something lol
This is the perfect answer.
NO! Under current swiss law Proton VPN cannot be compelled to log IP addresses. Your comment is wrong!
Switzerland is not “most European nations”.
I see! Thanks, i appreciate the info <3
How can you be sure of this?
Theybare not like the others?
Because of theyr claims?
Thank you.
Greetings
Theres precedent that they have done so in the past.
So no reason to believe they wont in future.
They can easily change the ‘default’ to ‘non-default’ and record the IP if required.
Its a business decision not a fucking holy commandment. Calm down dear!
Theres precedent that they have done so in the past.
The link is to an article about ProtonMail, not about ProtonVPN.
I’m not an attorney, but I wonder of Swiss law treats a VPN service differently than an email provider…
It’s important not to confuse the various Proton services. Proton Mail is considered to be a communication service, and in most countries (including Switzerland), communication services are regulated to some extent. Privacy isn’t a blank check to break the law with impunity, and unless you are based 15 miles offshore in international waters, you need to comply with the law.
That being said, Swiss law is very restrictive, and there are a LOT of hurdles that one needs to jump through to get a court order. And even with a court order (and has been proved multiple times in court), there is no way to break Proton Mail’s encryption. Privacy is not the same as anonymity, and due to the way the internet works, if anonymity is what you are going after, you have to exercise proper infosec and take preventive measures, such as using Tor or VPN…
And…getting to the topic of VPN. Under Swiss law, the treatment of VPNs is different. So VPNs can indeed be no-logs. No-logs VPN, is also possible in other countries as well. What makes Switzerland different, and possibly unique, is that within the current Swiss legal framework, Proton VPN also does not have forced logging obligations. So, a no-logs US VPN could for instance, get a NSL (National Security Letter) to start logging particular users, but that’s not possible in Switzerland.
Finally, it’s worth noting that in October 2021 (after the case you mentioned), Proton won in court against the Swiss government and as a result, email services cannot be considered telecommunications providers, and consequently are not subject to the data retention requirements imposed on telecommunications providers. You can find more details here: https://proton.me/blog/court-strengthens-email-privacy
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/10y49ln/comment/j7wftho/
Mail not VPN. Any known E-Mail provider would be compelled to do the same.
Yes they do. There are definitive differences between email and vpn. With harsher law for email (email is classed as telecoms). However I have read the business and human discussions Protonmail had when this kidnap case was abound. I am therefor making a personal opinion that under certain circumstances ProtonVPN would also assist an investigation.
I understand under swiss law they are not ‘bound’ to do this as a VPN provider.
Are you saying if someone was being held hostage and Protonmail VPN COULD acquire the assailants IP address… they wouldnt help?
Im pretty sure they would make a business and human decision on that.
Just an opinion. I take your correct point on board with the differences between VPN and Mail.
Yes, on one occasion Proton Mail had to give out IP addresses. However, after that happened, they got a court order to say they could no longer be compelled to do that for any of their services, and apologised profusely.