New VPN’s

[geno5 1]

Is there any way to get VPN’s for Russia and Albania? YouTube is going full stream ahead on cracking down on preventing Adblocking apps and apks alternatives for YouTube Premium. From what I understand Russia and Albania does not allow YouTube to excessive ads in their countries. Any news and help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

[OpenSourcerer 1410]

For a VPN provider focused on privacy and Net Neutrality, having a VPN server in Russia is counterproductive, so it'll never come. Not sure about Albania.

[xmartymcflyx 5]

The Albanian servers trick no longer works. You'll get ads anyway.

[OpenSourcerer 1410]

But doesn't uBlock Origin work? On the off-change I have to resort to watching something on YouTube instead of an Invidious instance, I'm getting no ads shown whatsoever.

[xmartymcflyx 5]

On 7/12/2024 at 10:35 AM, OpenSourcerer said:

But doesn't uBlock Origin work? On the off-change I have to resort to watching something on YouTube instead of an Invidious instance, I'm getting no ads shown whatsoever.

the app version of YouTube doesn't support adblocking, so it was a good option to use an Albanian exit server to avoid ads, but that was in the past

[geno5 1]

Thanks! 

[starfleet74 0]

On 7/11/2024 at 7:17 PM, OpenSourcerer said:

For a VPN provider focused on privacy and Net Neutrality, having a VPN server in Russia is counterproductive, so it'll never come. Not sure about Albania.

Competitors like Proton have servers in Russia and are able to guarantee privacy. 

[geno5 1]

There’s one VPN that does block YouTube ads on Android & Google TV’s…There’s a Browser that blocks YouTube ads as well! Thanks for your continued support. 

[geno5 1]

…Also there’s a couple of 3rd party apps and apks that also block YouTube ads…But guy’s already know that!

[OpenSourcerer 1410]

On 7/13/2024 at 9:31 PM, xmartymcflyx said:

the app version of YouTube doesn't support adblocking, so it was a good option to use an Albanian exit server to avoid ads, but that was in the past

NewPipe is another very good option, at least for Android.
 

On 7/18/2024 at 2:43 AM, starfleet74 said:

Competitors like Proton have servers in Russia and are able to guarantee privacy. 

Are they, now? They don't guarantee Net Neutrality, though.

[starfleet74 0]

8 hours ago, OpenSourcerer said:

Are they, now? They don't guarantee Net Neutrality, though.

Nothing is blocked, censored or throttled - if that's what you mean.

[OpenSourcerer 1410]

On 7/19/2024 at 9:17 PM, starfleet74 said:

Nothing is blocked, censored or throttled - if that's what you mean.

ProtonVPN may not, but VPNs and VPN usage are generally frowned upon by authorities there. ProtonVPN cannot guarantee that their servers there are not under suspicion of being VPN servers, with all the negatives that come with such a suspicion. Fact is, the legal framework does not support the AirVPN mission statement, so unless the political climate radically changes AirVPN will probably abstain from ever looking too closely at Russian datacenters.

You can always ask, of course, but please exhaust all options you have to watch YouTube "at home" first.

[Staff 9894]

On 7/19/2024 at 9:17 PM, starfleet74 said:

Nothing is blocked, censored or throttled - if that's what you mean.

@OpenSourcerer is right, operating a server in Russia is detrimental and risky for the users. Since 2023 (and for specific cases since June 2024), datacenters / hosting providers are forced to connect their servers and routers to SORM-2 software and hardware equipment, so you have 100% certainty that any server in Russia is closely monitored and wiretapped through advanced Deep Packet Inspection, that all data and metadata are stored and correlated by the surveillance system in Russia, and such data and metadata can be accessed by many entities in Russia without a court order (a court order can be obtained pro-forma ex-post...).

We do not agree with Proton decision (and we do not even understand it), even with SecureCore (a multi hop system) option. Moreover, SecureCore is opt-in, so a naive customer could connect to Russian servers directly. We firmly believe that not running servers in Russia is a correct decision preserving our customers' privacy and personal safety.

Kind regards


 

[geno5 1]

I didn’t realize how bad things are with Russia. Our society and security is better off without their eavesdropping on our intelligence and internet security. Again, thanks for making it clear and keeping our browsing, data, and privacy safe! 

[ScanFarer 9]

On 7/9/2024 at 10:28 PM, geno5 said:

Is there any way to get VPN’s for Russia and Albania? YouTube is going full stream ahead on cracking down on preventing Adblocking apps and apks alternatives for YouTube Premium. From what I understand Russia and Albania does not allow YouTube to excessive ads in their countries. Any news and help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

There’s a patcher for the YouTube app called Revanced. The project is open-source and I find it works quite well. It's pretty nice especially if you prefer the default YouTube UI. It's listed as ReVanced on GitHub.

Newpipe is another good option, prioritizing privacy by not allowing account sign-ins. However, it does let you import YouTube subscriptions. I use Newpipe for downloading YouTube videos on my phone, and YT-DLP for downloading videos on my desktop.

While not ideal from a privacy standpoint, I find YouTube’s algorithm does a decent job at recommending content. Because of this, I prefer using the patched YouTube app on my phone via Revanced. For Firefox or Chrome, uBlock Origin seems to effectively block ads for now. I'm aware of YouTube's recent attempts to combat ad blockers and hope they don’t implement server-side ad injection.

[OpenSourcerer 1410]

12 hours ago, ScanFarer said:

I find YouTube’s algorithm does a decent job at recommending content

The recommendations displayed by NewPipe and Invidious, which are exclusively based on the video you are watching right now, are to be preferred. If you switch the content category, the recommendations will switch completely. Of course, this necessitates willfully watching something else.

YouTube on the other hand recommends you other videos of viewed channels and content of related channels, even if you are viewing a video completely unrelated to that content category right now. It just forcefully drags you back into your filter bubble, which is very far from decent. If it's really ought to be YouTube, a periodic reset of your viewed content, say, once or twice a month, is absolutely necessary (which of course means, never log into your Google account!). And I'm not even talking about the privacy aspect..

[geno5 1]

On 7/23/2024 at 9:59 PM, ScanFarer said:

There’s a patcher for the YouTube app called Revanced. The project is open-source and I find it works quite well. It's pretty nice especially if you prefer the default YouTube UI. It's listed as ReVanced on GitHub.

Newpipe is another good option, prioritizing privacy by not allowing account sign-ins. However, it does let you import YouTube subscriptions. I use Newpipe for downloading YouTube videos on my phone, and YT-DLP for downloading videos on my desktop.

While not ideal from a privacy standpoint, I find YouTube’s algorithm does a decent job at recommending content. Because of this, I prefer using the patched YouTube app on my phone via Revanced. For Firefox or Chrome, uBlock Origin seems to effectively block ads for now. I'm aware of YouTube's recent attempts to combat ad blockers and hope they don’t implement server-side ad injection.

Thanks
 

[4ni4 1]

YT is blocked in Russia my guy :)