VPN Provider

[Bann32]

Hi I would like to setup a VPN, to be able to share media files and such with a few friends can anyone recommend a provider?

[GastonJ]

When yoiu say share and VPN, what exactly do you mean and for what O/S? If you mean you want to set up encrypted file transfers between yourselves then look for an FTPSSL daemon, there's a few about - that way all transfers will be encrypted.

As above, it depends what you want it for and on.

[Bann32]

To send a few files and id like to be able to connect to my network using a friends pc, so i can connect to my dreambox and watch sporting events at a friends house on his pc.

For example if i type the local address of my dreambox in firefox, it gives me a file to download so i can watch it in vlc player.

That and it would also make it easier for setting up wakeuponlan so i can wake my pc up and connect using teamview or simular

[GastonJ]

Have you checked whether you router already supports VPN? it may well do, depends on what make it is, some do some don't. If it does then your best bet is to use that. You can use something like OpenVPN - HOWTO (http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/documentation/howto.html)

[kuwaiti]

to do that you dont need VPN
vpn 2 kinds 1 for local network secure , 2 for internet to hide ur ip

you need to set up your network pc as nas server so you can access it online from your friend pc


sorry i guess that what u want

[Bann32]

yeah more or less

[ChaLeeBoy]

I use HideIPVPN (premium German VPN) L2TP/IPsec, and am very happy with it. I use it for anonymous browsing and I also secure my VOIP calls etc.

[Bann32]

I use HideIPVPN (premium German VPN) L2TP/IPsec, and am very happy with it. I use it for anonymous browsing and I also secure my VOIP calls etc.

Thanks for that they look pretty good, but why did you choose the german one, it seems the most expensive?

im just curious as I would like the usa option for netflix.

[ChaLeeBoy]

Thanks for that they look pretty good, but why did you choose the german one, it seems the most expensive?

im just curious as I would like the usa option for netflix.

You get what you pay for. My choice provided all I need and the speed is good, the price $7.99 per month. Not what I would call a fortune.

[TheCoder]

..... 2 for internet to hide ur ip

Thats really not what they're for !

VPN's are basically for security only. Granted they can prevent your ISP from knowing your end destination and tracking you but they certainly aren't guaranteed to protect you if your doing something illegal. End destinations can also often gather your IP due to data 'leakage' within various protocols.

ALL VPN providers need to keep connection logs which describe various actions including time of connection, source IP, destination IP and data colume transferred. This is required for there normal operation (so they know how much of your allowed bandwidth is used etc). On top of this all VPN's operated in US or EU territories are obliged to keep fairly detailed transaction logs for law enforcement purposes.

If you want to hide your IP then you really need to consider multi-vpn bouncing (tor or onion rings) but even those are open to various forms of statistical analysis if your thinking of hacking the pentagon !

btw, Germany now has some pretty nasty laws for vpn operators, meaning law enforcement can quickly aquire just about any info they require with little more than a mouse-click. Holland is somewhat more liberal so is usually a better choice.

[ChaLeeBoy]

Thats really not what they're for !

VPN's are basically for security only. Granted they can prevent your ISP from knowing your end destination and tracking you but they certainly aren't guaranteed to protect you if your doing something illegal. End destinations can also often gather your IP due to data 'leakage' within various protocols.

ALL VPN providers need to keep connection logs which describe various actions including time of connection, source IP, destination IP and data colume transferred. This is required for there normal operation (so they know how much of your allowed bandwidth is used etc). On top of this all VPN's operated in US or EU territories are obliged to keep fairly detailed transaction logs for law enforcement purposes.

If you want to hide your IP then you really need to consider multi-vpn bouncing (tor or onion rings) but even those are open to various forms of statistical analysis if your thinking of hacking the pentagon !

btw, Germany now has some pretty nasty laws for vpn operators, meaning law enforcement can quickly aquire just about any info they require with little more than a mouse-click. Holland is somewhat more liberal so is usually a better choice.

I don't need the ultimate in encryption, I am not a terrorist. My VPN only keeps connection logs for the maximum of 3 days, no other logs are kept. The very minimum in fact.

I read the German authorities couldn't crack the encryption used by Skype, to track terrorists. So I don't know about their laws being nasty, might have been pre the laws enactment I suppose, not sure.

I had a VPN in Holland but I prefer the German one and I haven't had a problem.

Only paedophiles and terrorists need fear, and thankfully I am neither. :)

At the end of the day, if the state wants you badly enough they will get you, whatever precautions you take. Keeping that in mind when using any VPN is the best policy.

I act according to the limitations.

[Bann32]

Its mainly to prevent the capping of speed on internet and of course privacy to more or less a degree, im not a multinational criminal or any of the above.

I do download files off the internet and with the recent changes in American law and the fact I believe in an individuals right to privacy, I thought I would get one, its been on the to do list for a while

[Orrell Scotty]

Maybe you could use hamachi. It sets up a sort ot temporary vpn.

[ChaLeeBoy]

The UK Gov't want to get up close and personal with it's citizens data, email, phone, sms the whole nine yards.

I use a VPN mainly to be a bit more trouble to them, I like to be a pain, f*ck the system as they say.

[TheCoder]

The UK Gov't want to get up close and personal with it's citizens data, email, phone, sms the whole nine yards.

I use a VPN mainly to be a bit more trouble to them, I like to be a pain, f*ck the system as they say.

Unfortunately, the laws presently being enacted by the UK Govt are mostly generated by the EU so are prevelant in all EU countries with the UK presently being one of the less regulated options. Germany is probably the most regulated of the EU countries (the Germans tend to implement all EU laws to the letter and beyond). France and Italy are also quite regulated but they tend to ignore EU laws most of the time unless it suites them. Ireland is also now heavily regulated. The only EU country that now makes any noise about 'privacy' is Holland.

Regardless of what they say, any VPN operator that has their offices within the US or EU keep logs far longer than 3 days. When they mention 3 days what they tend to mean is no full conversation log is kept more than 3 days (there's actually no good reason for them to have this log anyway except for snooping). Actual connection logs (which say which IP connected to what and for how long) have to be kept for a minimum of 3 years - thats the law !

VPN operators outside US/EU juristiction also tend to keep connection logs for a minimum period of 3 months just so they can run their business. If no logs were kept then they would find billing and other routine management difficult !

Also bear in mind the last hop of any vpn servce (the one from the vpn provider to the destination IP) is, by necessity, unencrypted. This fact allows anyone monitoring a vpn to relatively easily monitor what the vpn clients are actually doing. Statistical analyis of vpn service inputs/outputs is a fairly common tool used in intelligence gathering and can give the monitoring party almost total access to unencrypted data from what most would assume to be an encrypted datastream.

[ChaLeeBoy]

Unfortunately, the laws presently being enacted by the UK Govt are mostly generated by the EU so are prevelant in all EU countries with the UK presently being one of the less regulated options. Germany is probably the most regulated of the EU countries (the Germans tend to implement all EU laws to the letter and beyond). France and Italy are also quite regulated but they tend to ignore EU laws most of the time unless it suites them. Ireland is also now heavily regulated. The only EU country that now makes any noise about 'privacy' is Holland.

Regardless of what they say, any VPN operator that has their offices within the US or EU keep logs far longer than 3 days. When they mention 3 days what they tend to mean is no full conversation log is kept more than 3 days (there's actually no good reason for them to have this log anyway except for snooping). Actual connection logs (which say which IP connected to what and for how long) have to be kept for a minimum of 3 years - thats the law !

VPN operators outside US/EU juristiction also tend to keep connection logs for a minimum period of 3 months just so they can run their business. If no logs were kept then they would find billing and other routine management difficult !

Also bear in mind the last hop of any vpn servce (the one from the vpn provider to the destination IP) is, by necessity, unencrypted. This fact allows anyone monitoring a vpn to relatively easily monitor what the vpn clients are actually doing. Statistical analyis of vpn service inputs/outputs is a fairly common tool used in intelligence gathering and can give the monitoring party almost total access to unencrypted data from what most would assume to be an encrypted datastream.

The VPN I use assured me that the only logs they keep were kept only 3 days max, and only then for troubleshooting.

I think it says as much on the HideIPVpn site if I remember right.


What information do you store?


We do not store any information except connection logs for 3 days for troubleshooting.


Source (http://www.hideipvpn.com/faq/#q9)

Can't say for sure if that is Kosher though, can anyone be sure?

Do you reckon the Tories will get this information collection legislation through? I have my doubts. As far as I am aware the data to be held is only the connection logs, if you can believe that.

I am not the paranoid type, and I wouldn't think the state machine would be interested in some middle aged Grandpa blowing off hot air about politics and sat TV. (Me) ;)

We don't live under a Marxian totalitarian regime, not just yet anyway.

Let's say, for example, I make a VOIP call using my VPN to tunnel the traffic. I thought my data would be safe from here to the VPN server (Germany) then wide open (unencrypted) to the VOIP provider (Switzerland) and open to the receiver, unless he was using a VPN too.

So if you are right about everything you have said, what is our best option? For privacy or mere nuisance value.

[TheCoder]

The VPN I use assured me that the only logs they keep were kept only 3 days max, and only then for troubleshooting.

They almost certainly mean full conversation logs, which they actually dont need to be taking at all but which most vpn providers operating in the EU now do so (for legal reasons). The quote "We do not store any information except connection logs for 3 days for troubleshooting." I suspect is designed to be deliberatelly misleading as it can be interpreted a number of ways !

Connection logs are something very different, these are details of your originating IP and which VPN IP was leased to you and for how long. These logs are required for the vpn to properly operate and will be kept at least as long as the billing period. Without these logs the vpn service could not properly handle billing. Most VPN providers simply call this 'billing' information in the hope you'll believe the blurb that they aren't logging. The truth is that if they operate within the EU then they are legally obliged to keep sufficient information to enable a client back-trace for a period of not less than 3 years !

[Bann32]

Well you certainly know your stuff, when did it change though because I read this some time ago, but thought I would add the link here as its relevant, or are they just talking shit?


http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-providers-really-take-anonymity-seriously-111007/