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InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)JU
justinalanbass @kbin.social
Posts 0
Comments 18
The truth about VPNs?
  • Eh don't bother. You weren't as anonymous as you thought using port forwarding if you're doing anything bad enough to warrant NSA attention. Most users probably are not. Mullvad is just being honest about their limitations here.

  • The truth about VPNs?
  • Well, your VPN knows your address so this advice is pointless. Unless you only access your VPN through a totally anonymous ISP at a totally random location on the planet each time, probably impossible due to KYC laws, you are certainly not anonymous.

  • The truth about VPNs?
  • They're pretty exposed already, and in my opinion their targets probably can't do much to protect themselves unless they are part of a foreign government, like the Kremlin. But yea they haven't gone after piracy yet.

  • The truth about VPNs?
  • The NSA has unlimited legal power in this context. They can legally go to any US VPN, copy all traffic onto their massive servers, and use it as they want. They probably already do this, although that claim is unverifiable. That traffic contains your IP address and the websites you've viewed, clear data of torrents you've downloaded, etc. Mullvad, being outside its jurisdiction, is possibly safer, but presumably since they operate servers in the United States at least those could be sniffed. There is precedent for all of this.

    While it's unlikely for you to specifically be targeted, my point is that you can never be truly anonymous on the internet.

  • The truth about VPNs?
  • That sentiment isn't so much about piracy, but general security. Do keep in mind that the NSA can easily sniff your VPN traffic, even through logless Mullvad in theory, and access your account information to correlate and deanonymize you via subpoena. This is done routinely, and there are thousands of illegal subpoenas done yearly with no repercussion. Fortunately it seems the NSA is only going after heinous criminals, but that could also change. To be truly NSA safe is nearly impossible - did you know your password can be determined by a simple audio recording of you typing it? The NSA has frequently snuck into private residence to install keyloggers as well. What will a VPN matter in such a case?

    So a VPN might prevent a DCMA notice from your ISP, but if the NSA starts caring about piracy y'all are out of luck.

  • Continuing to use Reddit (A thought)
  • Even if it works at first and was legal, you will be fighting Reddit, who will be changing their page format in a breaking way faster than you can get your browser plugin to work again. No need to bring Reddit down, looks like fediverse growth is not slowing for now, and it's all the people you want on your social media website. Enjoy this for what it is.

  • Two of the biggest Reddit communities reopened in the funniest way possible
  • I would prefer a peaceful revolution, no need to DDOS them. I prefer to take the moral high ground and let the community figure out for itself how much they care about the content they produce, and which platform is most appropriate to retain control. There might always be a place for Reddit, but if they want draconian control let it be over data they produce.

  • Is it illegal/poor taste to port content from Reddit over to Lemmy?
  • Given the precedent that search engines frequently return results from other search engines, then this would seem to be legal. But since Reddit actually hosts the data, they would most likely use legal means/DCMA to take down the bot. The real question is, can you afford as many lawyers as Reddit? Probably not. But maybe if the strategy is just to pull people over in the short term, it could work. I'm not going to do it, not worth the risk to myself.

    I think like other posters said, it's best to keep the content separate. I feel a lot more positivity coming from Kbin/Lemmy. It's as if a million trolls cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I'm appreciating this for what it is, let's hope it stays that way.