Mullvad (VPN provider) to permanently remove port forwarding feature entirely,

[Night457]

The moment I turn on a vpn, it's lowID only and limited torrenting ability, and no way around it.

Wow, I had no idea! That makes a huge difference. For emule and torrenting, I guess using no VPN at all is better than using one without port forwarding. And if I am not emuling and torrenting, what the hell do *I* need the privacy from a VPN for, anyway? Nothing that I can think of! I would be spending a lot less time online, too.

[goku33]

At least they still give us old users 1 month of port forwarding (all ports will be deactivated July 1). This way I still added a month more to my account.

[msdwjdeenvdqtgt]

I have been using https://cryptostorm.is for couple of years now. It is quite reliable and provides high speeds consistently, and more importantly, offers port-forwarding too.

[pillowbaker]

Thank you msdwjdeenvdtqtgt, I have not heard of this one. I'll try to see if I can find more about them. I don't recall seeing anything about them when looking up vpns before. Their prices seem pretty reasonable. Anyone have any info about cryptostorm?

[goku33]

Thank you msdwjdeenvdtqtgt, I have not heard of this one. I'll try to see if I can find more about them. I don't recall seeing anything about them when looking up vpns before. Their prices seem pretty reasonable. Anyone have any info about cryptostorm?

I hadn’t heard much of them before myself but looks like they’re a small vpn provider that§ been around for quite a while now

Might read some of the posts about it on Reddit:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=cryptostorm+site%3Areddit.com

[goku33]

IVPN is following Mullvad with removing port forwarding feature. AirVPN says they don’t plant to remove it (but who knows if all users switch to Air and they have to deal with all the abuse cases as well):

https://www.ivpn.net/blog/gradual-remov ... orwarding/

[Night457]

I am becoming confused about the supposed purpose of VPNs. I thought they were for Internet privacy. Am I right?

But a VPN with port forwarding affords a kind of privacy that law enforcement can not break? So ... they harass the VPNs that provide port forwarding until they eliminate the feature?

So then the VPN provides a privacy that is not quite so private, right? I have even read that supposedly there are VPNs that do not allow torrenting.

That leaves what exactly? Using a VPN for access to Netflix in another country? I know Netflix does everything it can to subvert that ability and many VPNs can not handle that, either. (And I do not want to even access Netflix in my own country, but that is just me personally.)

So again ... if VPNs provide a privacy that is not so private, what is the point of them then? It seems it is rapidly heading toward me saving some more money by cutting more useless services. Hmm.

[mimzy]

Well, there are two sides of privacy. Without port forwarding, you know who you connect, but they don't know you. With port forwarding, you don't know who you connect. A la buying drugs anonymously vs. selling drugs anonymously. I think LEA considers distributing illegal material (selling drugs) bigger crime than using illegal material (buying drugs). That's why port forwarding is a bigger problem for them than just using VPN.

[Night457]

That is a helpful analogy, thank you. It is just a shame that I only want to have HighID while eMuling and don't want to be a drug dealer. If I was a modern-day Tony Montana I could buy most anything I wanted and would not need eMule.
[Image]
I guess if I lose the ability to get HighID, I will dispense with a VPN entirely. Then they can come get me if they really want -- since apparently, I am an uninteresting target and am probably safe anyway.

[goku33]

That is a helpful analogy, thank you. It is just a shame that I only want to have HighID while eMuling and don't want to be a drug dealer. If I was a modern-day Tony Montana I could buy most anything I wanted and would not need eMule.


I guess if I lose the ability to get HighID, I will dispense with a VPN entirely. Then they can come get me if they really want -- since apparently, I am an uninteresting target and am probably safe anyway.

Another option could be in the future to rent our own VPS (virtual private server) with Wireguard/vpn installed and run our own vpn. Unless you pay your server provider with crypto, you obviously will not have the full anonymity of a vpn provider. But running your own vpn in a privacy respecting country at a good cloud/network provider could already be enough for the people that are fearing DMCA complaints from torrents etc.

On a serious note, I am angry and perplexed that people allegedly used the port forwarding feature for hosting/distributing illegal things. To use @mimzy‘s analogy: There are enough darknët marketplaces where people can sell and buy their drugs. Why the fuck do they have to (ab)use the port forwarding feature and ruin it for everyone else in the process..!?