Reminder: Sign Up For Private Internet Access, Support Techdirt & Get Sneak Peeks At Our Upcoming Articles
from the don't-miss-out dept
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Hey folks — as a reminder, we’ve partnered up with Private Internet Access, one of the best VPNs out there (I use it), to offer a special deal to Techdirt readers who are looking for a VPN. If you sign up via this special link, you’ll (1) get a great VPN service, (2) support Techdirt, and (3) get a free one-year subscription (normally $15) to the Techdirt Crystal Ball, which gives you early access to posts before they’re officially live on the site. When you sign up, you’ll get a coupon sent to you that you can then use in our Insider Shop for a free Crystal Ball subscription (along with some First Word/Last Word credits that you can use to promote certain comments). And, you’ll get a Techdirt Insider badge on your profile to let folks know that you support Techdirt (which we really, really appreciate). Check it out now.
Filed Under: crystall ball, techdirt
Companies: private internet access
Comments on “Reminder: Sign Up For Private Internet Access, Support Techdirt & Get Sneak Peeks At Our Upcoming Articles”
Hey Guys,
I love techdirt’s articles but really you should stop promoting PIA which does not live up to its name AT ALL, as it it does not provide the privacy it claims.
Amongst other things PrivateInternetAccess
– Sets 9 cookies, 5 of them associated with various tracking services
– Contains 6 external trackers
– Utilizes 5 external analytical services
– 3rd party hosted email
for details:
https://medium.com/@yegor/hypocrisy-plaguing-major-vpn-providers-b4613b82f795#.nhn70f1wm
cheers.
Re: Re:
If you don’t know how to block cookies and scripts, a VPN aint gonna help you.
Re: Re:
I love techdirt’s articles but really you should stop promoting PIA which does not live up to its name AT ALL, as it it does not provide the privacy it claims.
Hmm. Reading through that article, the complaint seems to be that they use tracking services on their own website, which has nothing whatsoever to do with how safe or good the VPN service is. And if tracking services are a problem (1) we use some too and (2) there are easy ways to block them totally unrelated to VPN service.
So, yeah, it seems like a weird, misplaced complaint.
Great VPN service!
I’ve been using PIA for over a year now (after researching a bunch of various VPNs and reading lots of info both here and on the /r/vpn subreddit).
I’ve had zero issues with their service and always get good speeds and have a large list of exit points to choose from throughout the US and abroad.
Can’t recommend them enough!
In response to the guy above me who mentioned PIA sucks because of cookies, dude, if you’re going to use a VPN you need to at least turn on private browsing too, isn’t that the whole point? I’m not sure of all these trackers and analytics you’re talking about (are you saying they insert stuff into your html streams? Even if they did, shame on you for not using https!) As far as the 3rd party email, can’t speak to that, I dont use it.
PIA has been recommended to me by multiple places and people online and I love their “do not log” policy, zero complaints!
I don’t think the author of the article you linked has a firm grasp on what a VPN is and what it does.
While it might be a little disconcerting to some to learn that a VPN service runs their own web site like any business, their web site doesn’t have much to do with the VPN service itself.
But I will agree with the author that a privacy-related business should set the standard even with their public facing web sites. My problem with the article is trying to conflate privacy issues of a provider’s web site with the service you are actually paying for.
Unless you purchased a VPN account just to visit the VPN provider’s web site haha…
VPN Question
If I set up a VPN tunnel from my home network to the one at the office (firewall appliance to firewall appliance), the two networks are effectively joined. (Although on different subnets.) This is great for doing remote tech support on many machines.
But not only can I see devices on the office network from home, devices at home can be seen from the office. Even devices blocked at the firewall from communicating over the internet, can be reached via the VPN.
Is that PIA VPN also going to be two-way? If I connect to a PIA VPN tunnel from my home firewall appliance, is PIA (or the internet) then able to scan my home network?
Or to put it another way, should I connect to the VPN ONLY from one specific PC?
If you’re connecting the VPN at the router level, you should have a router with a good, built-in SPI firewall. Get a 20 dollar TP-Link router, flash DD-WRT to it, configure it properly and you can run your VPN just like you’re running it now, without your home network visible to your work network.
But yeah, you could run just one home PC with a VPN using something like PIA’s handy app and tinker with the firewall settings on that PC.
Either way it’s a firewall issue…
I signed up three posts ago
I signed up on July 18th after reading the post below you made a while back talking about how valuable it was while traveling abroad. You’ve had 2 promotions since then. 🙁
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160712/23114534953/private-internet-access-leaves-russia-following-encryption-ban-seized-servers.shtml
-30 Heifers agree. Techdirt is a good place to buy T-shirts.
Nice, selling us out to an unsafe VPN
Read the website, but see no mention of a “chameleon” (rotating IP addresses from a single server) feature.
Does it exist with this service?
I’d write them, but don’t want to risk a sales pitch while purposely eluding the question.