ecadre 10 Posted ... Why did I decide to use a VPN. Essentially to sidestep theUK's "Investigatory Powers Act", which, incidentally, it is notillegal to do.What is this? Here's an article from the Independent newspaperabout the acthttp://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/investigatory-powers-bill-act-snoopers-charter-browsing-history-what-does-it-mean-a7436251.htmland the number of government departments and agencies that haveroutine and warrantless access to UK citizens browsingdata. Whatever that may mean at the moment.These are some of the agencies.* Metropolitan Police Service* City of London Police* Police forces maintained under section 2 of the Police Act 1996* Police Service of Scotland* Police Service of Northern Ireland* British Transport Police* Ministry of Defence Police* Royal Navy Police* Royal Military Police* Royal Air Force Police* Security Service* Secret Intelligence Service* GCHQ* Ministry of Defence* Department of Health* Home Office* Ministry of Justice* National Crime Agency* HM Revenue & Customs* Department for Transport* Department for Work and Pensions* NHS trusts and foundation trusts in England that provide ambulance services* Common Services Agency for the Scottish Health Service* Competition and Markets Authority* Criminal Cases Review Commission* Department for Communities in Northern Ireland* Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland* Department of Justice in Northern Ireland* Financial Conduct Authority* Fire and rescue authorities under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004* Food Standards Agency* Food Standards Scotland* Gambling Commission* Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority* Health and Safety Executive* Independent Police Complaints Commissioner* Information Commissioner* NHS Business Services Authority* Northern Ireland Ambulance Service Health and Social Care Trust* Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service Board* Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Regional Business Services Organisation* Office of Communications* Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland* Police Investigations and Review Commissioner* Scottish Ambulance Service Board* Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission* Serious Fraud Office* Welsh Ambulance Services National Health Service TrustI'm not personally interested in accessing geographicallyrestricted websites or services, Netflix, BBC, bittorrent etc.I'm also aware that complete anonymity is not quaranteed, but abit of extra anonymity from advertisers and other trackers iswelcome.What I do not want is to be snooped on by government agencies. Thewhole setup is outrageous. What next? A list of people I speakto? Which newspapers or books I read? The only difference is thatthey have the technical means to start to do this.Of course, in the end we need a political solution. Thetechnological solution is temporary, individual and short term ifthey continue down this route.So, why AirVPN?I liked what I saw of the openess, the discussion forums andthe straightforward nature of the information on thewebsite. Including the honesty about the nature of VPNs.I am by no means wealthy (quite the opposite!), but I like aservice that is open about the way it operates, does not overselland sets realistic prices.I very much like the commitment to free software with the Eddieclient. The drive to make a universal client that can be usedwith any provider that uses OpenVPN shows the different mindsetat AirVPN.I run Debian GNU/Linux and the philosophy of free software is veryimportant to me. Also, because I run Debian I was very happy tosee a VPN service that does not discriminate against GNU/Linux usersThe fact that Eddie can be run as a CLI programme isexcellent. AirVPN seem to properly understand the needs of manyGNU/Linux users with command line capabilities and a proper repofor Debian users.As for the performance of AirVPN. It's fine for me. I don't haveany examples to hold it up against, but I get a connexion thatsatisfies me.There are the occasional "drop-outs", which I would think are parfor the course for a service operated over the internet. I don'tknow what happens. Air, my router, my ISP (Zen internet btw) butthese are reasonably rare and very quickly rectified.Of course, things might change, but if AirVPN stays fundamentallythe way it is, and my browsing data is not exposed to snooping byUK Government agencies I'll be sticking around :-) 7 Lee47, iampd, jean claud and 4 others reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post
OpenSourcerer 1432 Posted ... Also, because I run Debian I was very happy tosee a VPN service that does not discriminate against GNU/Linux users Which VPN service is doing so and in which way? I'd like to know. Fellow Debian user here. Quote Hide OpenSourcerer's signature Hide all signatures NOT AN AIRVPN TEAM MEMBER. USE TICKETS FOR PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT. LZ1's New User Guide to AirVPN « Plenty of stuff for advanced users, too! Want to contact me directly? All relevant methods are on my About me page. Share this post Link to post
ecadre 10 Posted ... Also, because I run Debian I was very happy tosee a VPN service that does not discriminate against GNU/Linux users Which VPN service is doing so and in which way? I'd like to know. Fellow Debian user here. Well, the examples are legion. That is, companies that develop software and/or give support for Windows and OSX users only. Many give GNU/Linux users option to use OpenVPN, but that does not include the capabilities of the software provided for proprietary operating systems, such as "kill switches", server switching, network locks, statistics etc etc. ... and of course you still pay the same rates. Personally, I'd not wish to use their non-free software anyway (I've not found any that are not proprietary), so the free software Eddie client is a double win (triple even, since I like to use it in a tty). 1 OpenSourcerer reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post