39 - Uncomfortable Truths about the VPN Industry with Viktor Vecsei

Gabriel Custodiet speaks with Viktor Viksei from IVPN. This candid and wide-ranging conversation covers some of the dirty secrets of the VPN industry, fundamental questions about how VPNs work and how we can trust them, and pretty much everything else you wanted to know about VPNs. They explore whether IVPN is a good option (hint: it is).

Links → https://twitter.com/vonthedock  (Viktor Viksei) → https://www.ivpn.net/  → Article Viktor mentions: https://www.ivpn.net/blog/who-owns-your-vpn-you-should-find-out/  → https://www.eff.org/pages/cover-your-tracks  → https://www.privacyguides.org/  → https://www.youtube.com/c/techlore  → https://www.ivpn.net/blog/ 

WATCHMAN PRIVACY → https://watchmanprivacy.com  (Yes: I offer consulting) → https://twitter.com/watchmanprivacy  → https://escapethetechnocracy.com/ 

CRYPTO DONATIONS →8829DiYwJ344peEM7SzUspMtgUWKAjGJRHmu4Q6R8kEWMpafiXPPNBkeRBhNPK6sw27urqqMYTWWXZrsX6BLRrj7HiooPAy (Monero) →https://btcpay0.voltageapp.io/apps/3JDQDSj2rp56KDffH5sSZL19J1Lh/pos (BTC)

Timeline

0:00 – Beginning

3:01 – What does a VPN do?

6:46 – How your ISP can harm you

10:12 – The other ways you are tracked online; VPNs not silver bullet

15:13 – Tor vs VPN

21:03 – How can we trust a VPN company?

26:05 – Explosive VPN industry growth: good or bad?

31:16 – Dirty secrets of the VPN industry

35:28 – Affiliate programs and paying for reviews

42:42 – Importance of VPN jurisdiction

48:30 – What does IVPN have to give to law enforcement?

51:00 – Can local governments attack VPN servers?

54:24 – Rapid fire IVPN question: logging, audit, open-source, etc

57:00 – Consequences of paying with a credit card

59:38 – IVPN server count; does it matter?

1:00:55 – Bare metal servers vs. virtual servers

1:02:03 – How many devices for IVPN?

1:02:32 – Router-level VPN; P2P torrenting discrimination

1:04:21 – Speed of IVPN

1:07:44 – Any services that IVPN has trouble with?

1:09:48 – Small needle in a haystack VPN argument

1:11:57 – Will IVPN still be around in 5 years?

1:15:50 – IVPN prices

1:18:08 – Multi-hop for VPNs

1:20:39 – Viktor final thoughts