• WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I don’t know much about Nord’s quality as a service, but I know that they really spearheaded the effort to spread misinformation on how Internet security works (claiming that a VPN would protect the information you enter into a website when HTTPS already does that) via YouTube ad reads. That alone is enough to make me swear off ever using them.

      • Chezus9247@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Urgh. I use Mullvad, it’s just 5€ per month and so far works great. I hope there’s nothing bad I don’t know about it. lol

      • Heavybell@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I’m under the impression https can be defeated by a man-in-the-middle attack if you’re not paying attention. Haven’t looked into it recently to be sure if that’s still the case or a solved issue, though. But that was one reason to use a VPN while on untrusted wifi, supposedly.

        • furry toaster
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          2 months ago

          if you are using http yes, any modern website uses https, in most cases vpn will at least prevent dns hijacking (since unecrypted dns is still the default)

          • Heavybell@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            No, I’m definitely talking about https. Could be this is no longer a thing tho, I need to look it up.

            • furry toaster
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              2 months ago

              afaik there is some metadata leak with https unless you use ECH which most websites do not support

              • Heavybell@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                I think I was thinking of situations where the wifi owner redirects you to their impersonation site with their own cert, but a normal browser will pop up a big warning about that. Also if the site properly uses HSTS and you’ve been there on that machine before, then you’re protected from being directed to a http impersonation site. A VPN will protect you from both (assuming the VPN us trustworthy), but if you’re savvy you don’t need it. But then the type of person who needs the kind of simplified explanation for “why VPN” that you get in ads is not savvy.

    • TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      Nord is a company that spends a lot of money on ads. They pay a lot of youtubers. In general, when a company uses most of their money on ads, they tend to get as much users as possible while not spending a lot of money on quality. I don’t trust those companies.

      Friends of mine say it’s fine. But they don’t have anything else as reference. I can’t say for certain, but Nord isn’t the safest and most private VPN out there. Also some VPN providers log traffic, which can be confiscated with a court order. Again, I’m not sure if this is the case with Nord.

      I myself use Proton, which is completely privacy based. Their company changed to become a foundation to ensure their privacy focus no matter who might be in power in the future. Their prices are fair, their services are good. They don’t spend money on ads, they spend all their effort and resources into making internet a better place.

      As soon as companies are sponsors for many youtubers, I don’t trust them.

      For instance, opera used to be an awesome browser made by a Norwegian team. They sold it to a Chinese company that provides predatory loans in poor African countries, completely destroying family’s lives. They promote the shit out the browser, while it also saves your data and uses your machine to farm crypto. Evil as fuck.

      While the original creators of opera started a new browser which is how they believe it should be: private, your property, full of personalization, no bullshit. It’s called Vivaldi. But they don’t promote it like Opera does. Because they are honest and don’t want to waste resources while they can better use that for improving their product even more.

  • poke@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    You can do better than chrome with Edge. That way two companies are keeping your data secure instead of just one!

  • gon [he]@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    What’s the thing you replaced with NordVPN? Just so I know to avoid it, of course.

    Also, I’m not sure if you’re doing the same, but I collect all data about myself, including metadata, and mail it directly to the NSA. Just saves them the hassle.

        • Eczpurt@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Seems like Obscura uses mullvads exit servers so I would imagine it would be a similar level of anonymity. Can’t speak on feature parity though, that will have to come from someone who has used both services.

        • youmaynotknow@lemmy.zip
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          2 months ago

          I’m on the same boat as you. Have had Nord for 2 years and 10 months, out of which the 10 months has been from me just sharing my link to people that wanted a VPN. I used to like them, then they started pushing bullahit on Android like not allowing me to just refuse notifications. Granted, after a shotload of complaining they finally gave me a link to an apk that did allow me to keep it’s notifications off without constantly nagging me to enable them, but that was the last straw. My subscription finally ends on May 13th. I’m on a family plan on Proton, so now I use that. The only benefits of a VPN for my needs are geoblocks and if I ever need to use a public Wifi, and even then, o usually just VPN into my home via wireguard anyway.

  • theyoyomaster@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    What’s the issue with Signal? I haven’t heard of any actual vulnerabilities from their end, just standard phishing on the user side.

    • Soulphite@reddthat.com
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      2 months ago

      Nothing. It’s rumors and hearsay. Probably the only negative is an alleged data breach, but that is not confirmed.

        • Soulphite@reddthat.com
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          2 months ago

          Some people claiming they log data, but they’re mixing it up with other VPN services that actually have been caught logging data. Some people have a problem with their refund policy, but they’re trying to get one after like 6 months or something stupid like that… come on.

          Stupid little things.

      • youmaynotknow@lemmy.zip
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        2 months ago

        How is NordVPN expensive? I had it for almost 3 years and turned out to be about US$2.80 per month for me.

          • youmaynotknow@lemmy.zip
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            2 months ago

            Ah, wait, you’re right. I never saw that because I usually get services for 1 or 2 years. Those a ridiculously high prices man. Damn!

    • nymnympseudonym@piefed.social
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      2 months ago

      It’s a corporation. It is inherently not private. Your government will always be able to get its data. NSA can be presumed to log its activity, whether or not the corporation itself does.

      • Hazel@piefed.blahaj.zone
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        2 months ago

        Nord was headquartered in Panama specifically so they wouldn’t have to comply with data requests by intelligence agencies.

        Not sure on their current status though.