UK servers?

[dellawee 13]

Now that the UK has passed a internet logging law for ISPs operating in the UK will airvpn continue to offer vpn exits in the UK? I don't know if this applies to data centers or just home internet ISPs but this news is a little concerning to me. I personally don't use UK servers but I like to think every server provided will be safe and without logging.  

 

http://www.zdnet.com/article/snoopers-charter-expansive-new-spying-powers-becomes-law/

[LZ1 662]

Hello!

 

If Air deems it a threat to their service and thereby their customers, you can rely on them to find a fix: even if that means momentarily shutting down UK servers, as they did with French servers recently. That said, you'll have to get a comment from Air Staff to be absolutely sure what the plans are . I'm just saying that Air is always keeping an eye on things. I hope that answers it for you.

[serenacat 83]

It would make a statement to move VPN service exits to EU neighbours such as Netherlands or Ireland as a response to extended state surveillance in the UK. If Scotland becomes independent to remain in EU, also may be suitable. It is unclear how much industry will relocate from England. It may have to rely on running tax avoidance finances and money laundering in ex pirate havens for the lumps and scum that floats on top, and fishing in the Atlantic weather for the peons.

 

[NaDre 154]

If I was unable to access BBC, not just for streaming in a browser (which typically uses HDS) but also with ripping tools (like get_iplayer and youtube-dl, which typically use HLS), I would have very little reason to use AirVPN any more. As it is I find that although my browser can stream from non-UK servers, the ripping tools fail. So if there is no server of any kind there ...

[Ricnvolved1956 51]

NaDre-- It's a pretty depressing and infuriating state of affairs what has happened in England. I'm hoping Scotland eventually tells London to suck it. If Air has to take it's servers out of the U.K at some point, perhaps relocating them in Ireland will help subscribers such as yourself. In the meantime, MAYBE it's safe to route your internet traffic through the U.K servers but I personally don't trust them now with the passage of that new snooping law.

 

I'm sure the tech gurus here at Air are far more knowledgable about which countries are good candidates for locating servers, but I'm wondering if the following would be possible: Iceland; Venezuela; Bolivia; India; Greece; Finland; Norway; Bulgaria; Serbia; Bela Rus. (Those last 3 have rather authoritarian governments, but maybe something could be worked out? Again, just humble suggestions. By the way, is the possibility of having servers in Portugal again completely out of the question now?)

[ɹoɹɹǝ 26]

It will be interesting outcome for the UK hosting industry. I know there are some privacy providing companies based in UK and even before the new laws came into effect UK was always known as an enemy to the open internet. I rarely use servers in UK because of the immense spying and blatant disrespect towards internet users. I know Air is very trustworthy on how they operate their servers, we are sure they do not log but we cannot be certain that the UK is not spying on the traffic that is exiting the server(s). It truly is a nightmare.

[Ricnvolved1956 51]

Error-- I've had the same concern as you about whether GCHQ has the capability of spying on internet traffic exiting Air's U.K servers. It's highly unlikely I'll route my online traffic through the U.K servers anymore. (Same goes for Ukraine.) May there be a special place in hell for all of the British government officials who made the new spying law possible... and my genuine sympathy for the private internet users in the U.K now forced to deal with that outrage.

[ɹoɹɹǝ 26]

I remember Edward Snowden saying that the UK monitors all incoming/outgoing connections to/from UK. The whole situation is very uncomforting

 

UK surveillance agencies illegally kept data on British citizens' communications, spying court finds

[Ricnvolved1956 51]

For the record-- I've just deleted the OpenVPN profiles for U.K., Ukraine, and France. Added the new severs in Belgium.

[NaDre 154]

Idealism is a fine thing. And I too have concerns about mass surveillance of the internet. But I think the great majority of the customers here (note that I said customers, not members) are not paying for this service out of idealism. Like it or not. In the end AirVPN, as a business, must consider that. And I am sure that they will.

[Ricnvolved1956 51]

NaDre-- Choice is a great thing. I agree with what you say. The Air staff can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think AirVPN's idealism and business principles are mutually exclusive. As an idealistic customer, I love having a "buffet" of servers to choose from when I'm online. And with that freedom of choice, I no longer have the U.K., Ukrainian, and French server profiles in my OpenVPN app. However, if Air establishes servers in France again, then I will add the profiles to my choices. But I really am done with going through their U.K and Ukrainian servers.

[ɹoɹɹǝ 26]

Idealism is a fine thing. And I too have concerns about mass surveillance of the internet. But I think the great majority of the customers here (note that I said customers, not members) are not paying for this service out of idealism. Like it or not. In the end AirVPN, as a business, must consider that. And I am sure that they will.

 

I somewhat agree. To be clear, we are being idealistic about the situation. Air, has already proven that they will rather cease operations in countries which laws collide with their mission (https://airvpn.org/faq/locations/). It is important to remember that some use the service to simply unlock UK services and I do think this plays a factor in the decision. But as you said, in the end, Air will form their own conclusion and that is fine because they have kept us safe so far

[greenclaydog 6]

 

Idealism is a fine thing. And I too have concerns about mass surveillance of the internet. But I think the great majority of the customers here (note that I said customers, not members) are not paying for this service out of idealism. Like it or not. In the end AirVPN, as a business, must consider that. And I am sure that they will.

 

I somewhat agree. To be clear, we are being idealistic about the situation. Air, has already proven that they will rather cease operations in countries which laws collide with their mission (https://airvpn.org/faq/locations/). It is important to remember that some use the service to simply unlock UK services and I do think this plays a factor in the decision. But as you said, in the end, Air will form their own conclusion and that is fine because they have kept us safe so far

I suppose the important question is now that the UK has implemented this law, does it still fall under AirVPN's mission? Personally i do not think so. I know it's hard for them to shut servers down to protect their users privacy, but i feel leaving them on would be exempting the UK from the same rules other countries have had servers withdrawn for. But as users its our responsibility whether or not we take that risk regardless of what AirVPN decides. 

[Ricnvolved1956 51]

I can't help but laugh with grim, cynical sarcasm at the nonstop Russia bashing in western media when it's clear that several western governments are striving to take the lead as the REAL Big Brother. Stalin must surely be chuckling through his mustache at what is happening.

[dellawee 13]

I personally feel it is not safe to pass traffic though the UK but, from what I've read, Air provides internal routing options effectively giving two hop connections. If air only provides user certificate data to the first hop and has that server use its own cert to authenticate with the final hop (preventing the final hop from having the users cert and effectively knowing the user), then it may be ok to use a fully monitored server. Keep in mind, this is assuming that the final hope vpn server is actually compromised because only the server can definitively provide who is doing what from a server with a number of simultaneous users (assuming its just doing passive ip logging, not timing and traffic correlation attacks). This is similar to how tor operates (never trusting the exit node) but using tor to connect directly to a compromised vpn server will not protect you because the vpn would still know your cert which can be correlated with your account or at the very least activity across multiple days. Again, I do not think using a UK server is a good idea but a compromise may be for air to forcefully or strongly suggest a two hop connection for any user wanting to exit though a UK server.