[tor-talk] Escape NSA just to enter commercial surveillance?

juan juan.g71 at gmail.com
Sat Jan 16 20:48:47 UTC 2016


On Fri, 15 Jan 2016 23:34:00 -0700
Mirimir <mirimir at riseup.net> wrote:

> On 01/15/2016 01:11 PM, juan wrote:
> 
> I like your attitude, juan, but recommending proxies is dangerous :(


	I'm not really recommending anything, just making some
	observations. 



> 
> > 	Fact remains : in the vast majority of cases a single
> > ordinary proxy will prevent a company like facebook from
> > 	learning where you are or who you are. 
> 
> It's possible. But most users will not know how to test, and will just
> blindly assume that they're safe.


	Well, that may be so, but that's a general problem. People
	ahould study the systems they use.


> 
> > 	I think VPNs are routinely used by people who share files -
> > 	something considered a 'crime' by the criminal mafia knonw
> > as 'government' - and yet the identity of those people isn't
> > 	compromised. 
> 
> VPN services, as long as they don't leak or fail open, are actually
> fairly safe for torrenting and streaming. But those are not "crimes".
> You get sued for copyright violation. When there are "crimes"
> involved, LEA go after VPN services and their ISPs, and all bets are
> off.

	Not meaning to get into an academic discussion, but...

	https://www.lib.purdue.edu/uco/CopyrightBasics/penalties.html

	"Copyright infringement is the act of violating any of a
	copyright owner’s exclusive rights" 

	"Infringer pays ... damages and profits."

	"from $200 to $150,000 for each work infringed." 

	"pays for all attorneys fees and court costs." 

	" infringer can go to jail." 

	Again, this is a 'crime' only because the government criminals
	say so but regardless, it can be a dangerous and costly activity
	and resisting the 'authority' of the government criminals will
	get you murdered in no time. 

	I do agree that if you use a VPN to do something that upsets
	the government mafia more than 'piracy' does, then the risks are
	even higher. 

> 
> > 	...and using the bittorrent network is more risky than
> > logging into NSA-Facebook.
> 
> That's debatable. It depends on what you're doing on Facebook.

	Well, I'm thinking about typical use cases like posting
	picutres of cats =) 

	Posting anything more outrageous, like a pair of tits, is a
	crime punishable by the facebook police.



 
> I agree that Facebook's real-name policy renders this rather
> pointless. If you're a Chinese dissident, how does it help to
> circumvent GFW and hide your location when you reveal your real name?


	If you are a 'chinese dissident' why would you bother posting on
	facebook anyway? 	
	

> I used to have a Facebook account, but it disappeared when I couldn't
> provide a working number for text verification :(


	Well, truth be told, it seems to be possible to register
	accounts from argentina without giving any real information.
	Then again, I've done that using my local ISP, not a proxy.


> 
> <SNIP>
> 



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