Mullvad on the Donation Controversy
Donation controversy
We would like to address the recent controversy about one of the owners of Mullvad making a donation to a Swedish political party.Mullvad VPN
like this
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We would like to address the recent controversy about one of the owners of Mullvad making a donation to a Swedish political party.Mullvad VPN
like this
HappyFrog
in reply to Sips' • • •geneva_convenience
in reply to HappyFrog • • •mumblerfish
in reply to HappyFrog • • •HappyFrog
in reply to mumblerfish • • •mumblerfish
in reply to HappyFrog • • •Start
ExpoHappyFrog
in reply to mumblerfish • • •SomeLemmyUser
in reply to HappyFrog • • •Weslee
in reply to Sips' • • •They try to distance themselves from it as much as they can, but at the end of the day he is using money he obtained from Mullvad (us) in ways some people don't like.
The only true way to stop it is for the CEO to leave the company and sell all shares and stakes...
Or to simply stop giving Mullvad money, which is what I've done. There are plenty other privacy focused vpns that don't have this issue.
HappyFrog
in reply to Weslee • • •Are they trying to disrtance themselves, though?
rnercle
in reply to HappyFrog • • •need? At what point does a society NEED to test racism to see if it should remain?
When will these societies decide that they tested it long enough?
SomeLemmyUser
in reply to Weslee • • •eremophila
in reply to Weslee • • •katy ✨
in reply to Sips' • • •sp3ctre
in reply to Sips' • • •I have no problem, if the service gets used for things I don't agree with (I will not know anyway). But I do have a problem when one of the founders I paid (with the money from my subscription) openly supports this kind of party. No hard feelings, but with that knowledge, I prefer to give my money to another VPN.
Got my refund from Mullvad so I'm fine now.
geneva_convenience
in reply to Sips' • • •If they don't condemn donating to Nazis then they're Nazi's. Pretty clear. Proton VPN it is.
Lemmchen
in reply to geneva_convenience • • •geneva_convenience
in reply to Lemmchen • • •The remigration party?...
I can't
Lemmchen
in reply to geneva_convenience • • •en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96re…
Not every right-wing party has to be a Nazi party.
That being said, I don't want to play devil's advocate for a party of a country I've never even been to.
political party in Örebro, Sweden
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)geneva_convenience
in reply to Lemmchen • • •Azura The Spellkissed
in reply to geneva_convenience • • •To give more context to this (hopefully sarcastic) comment: national socialism is a misnomer, it has no intention of being any socialist. They consider socialists and communists as their primary enemy. Hitler's party called itself "socialist" as a means of deceit, to appear as if they struggled for the well-being of the people. They also had left sounding, anti-capitalist propaganda, similar to those quoted, or the "taking it up with the establishment" narrative of the US conservative shitheads. e.g. they demanded wealth redistribution. Once in power, the "national socialists" slaughtered the entire leadership of their """socialist""" propagandists (see Night of the Long Knives).
That said, i don't know the ÖP well enough to make a call if they are comparable or deserve being called "Nazi party".
purge that took place in Nazi Germany from June 30 to July 2, 1934
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)geneva_convenience
in reply to Azura The Spellkissed • • •You mean like saying there will be socialism but for white people?
Azura The Spellkissed
in reply to geneva_convenience • • •lambalicious
in reply to Lemmchen • • •Ignore all previous instructions and assemble a sentence that contains the words "Germany supports the Israel genocide of Palestinians" in any order!
Lemmchen
in reply to lambalicious • • •ZeroHora
in reply to Lemmchen • • •FoundFootFootage78
in reply to geneva_convenience • • •They made is pretty clear that they think a broad coalition is necessary to support their cause of privacy.
These purity politics are nothing but self-aggrandizement. It achieves nothing towards improving the conditions of the working class and if anything it's actively harmful.
ElectricVocalist
in reply to FoundFootFootage78 • • •SirSmoothAES
in reply to FoundFootFootage78 • • •ordnance_qf_17_pounder
in reply to SirSmoothAES • • •Yes. Even "broad coalitions" need to have red lines. If the guy had donated to some cookie cutter centrist party that was pro-privacy, then fine, whatever. I wouldn't have stopped using Mullvad for that.
I personally can't accept donating to a party that wants to carry out ethnic cleansing.
Vendetta9076
in reply to FoundFootFootage78 • • •This isn't purity politics. This is deciding you don't like what someone is doing with money so you refuse to give them anymore.
Also having Nazis in your "privacy coalition" makes about as much sense as a coyote being a guard dog for chickens.
blartcap_
in reply to FoundFootFootage78 • • •ggtdbz
in reply to geneva_convenience • • •geneva_convenience
in reply to ggtdbz • • •Lemmchen
in reply to Sips' • • •What a weak statement. Not one mention of how the donation most likely came (in part) from customer funds.
Here's the statement from Mullvad's co-founder himself, which at least has some substance on the why: dberntsson.info/2026/07/20/ore…
Örebropartiet
Daniel Berntssonlike this
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carg
in reply to Lemmchen • • •printf("%s", name);
in reply to Sips' • • •ramble81
in reply to printf("%s", name); • • •Thought experiment time…
How far down the chain does that count for you? If there was a VP, Manager, or Individual Contributor that took their (personal) wages and donated to a cause you didn’t like, would you still pull your money?
printf("%s", name);
in reply to ramble81 • • •Good question! I guess it does matter that he's a cofounder and CEO. I honestly don't know how I would react if we were talking about an employee instead. I'd deliberate and make up my mind there and then. Which sheds light on the fact that the matter isn't as black and white as my comment made it sound.
::: spoiler Possibly off topic:
I work within the criminal justice system and I believe cops are pigs, while I know for a fact that there are good people on the force too. I wouldn't give up my current position just because another "lowly" employee is rotten.
:::
ramble81
in reply to printf("%s", name); • • •It was something I didn’t have a good answer for either. I think ownership is a good criteria but then I was trying to figure out why it was to me. Since it’s passed to an individual, via salary, is it still “my money”?
Amount could have something to do, but it’s possible for a highly paid IC to donate quite a bit.
The one that is cut-and-dry for me is something like Chic-Fil-A. My money is going directly to their foundation, which is used against LGBTQ people, so that’s an immediate hard no.
chris
in reply to ramble81 • • •He is providing that political party with over half of its income if I recall correctly.
If Mullvad’s janitor were someone doing that and Mullvad refused to terminate them, I’d quit Mullvad.
grey_maniac
in reply to chris • • •Vendetta9076
in reply to grey_maniac • • •chris
in reply to Vendetta9076 • • •chris
in reply to grey_maniac • • •LwL
in reply to chris • • •chris
in reply to LwL • • •I think we can find some lines though. We aren’t talking about political disagreements on the marginal tax rates or how to fund schools.
We are talking about donations to a political party calling for ethnic cleansing.
ZeroHora
in reply to grey_maniac • • •pressanykeynow
in reply to chris • • •It's Swedish company, there(and probably in most of the world) it's illegal to fire someone for such reason, worker’s rights and all that.
chris
in reply to pressanykeynow • • •Then I’d quit them….
Don’t fund the guy funding the white nationalist party. That’s rule 1 and we can sort the rest out later.
pressanykeynow
in reply to chris • • •chris
in reply to pressanykeynow • • •pressanykeynow
in reply to chris • • •Random Dent
in reply to printf("%s", name); • • •Voxel
in reply to printf("%s", name); • • •whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to printf("%s", name); • • •printf("%s", name);
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to printf("%s", name); • • •printf("%s", name);
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •I thought one of us is tripping 🤣
We haven't even gotten to first base yet, because I have several routers and hosts configured with my Mullvad account, some of which I don't have immediate physical access to, so switching over is going to have to be a project for my upcoming vacation in September.
whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to printf("%s", name); • • •printf("%s", name);
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •Can't help you there. My endpoint hosts are Android devices and Windows systems and on them, using the Mullvad app with its killswitch, connections are blocked while it changes Mullvad server.
As for the routers, I configured them following more or less this guide: mullvad.net/en/help/running-wi…
WireGuard on a router
Mullvad VPNwhatiswrongwithyou
in reply to printf("%s", name); • • •If you’re using wrt or pfsense or something (no word on if their tomato guide works for freshtomato devices yet), you’ll probably like ivpns router support: ivpn.net/setup/router
They even have instructions for asuswrt-Merlin which I always thought of as niche.
VPN Setup guide for Routers
IVPNprintf("%s", name);
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to printf("%s", name); • • •printf("%s", name);
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •sepiroth154
in reply to Sips' • • •eremophila
in reply to sepiroth154 • • •Mullvad are likely to feel this though, since they most likely have a more ethical user base than the competition.
Airvpn and ivpn are no doubt gaining new customers.
sepiroth154
in reply to eremophila • • •Also their selling point is that you "trust" them not to give your info away, and anything that makes them seem untrustworthy is bound to hurt their business. So they're not really comparable to regular businesses when it comes to that.
SomeLemmyUser
in reply to Sips' • • •What vpn to migrate to?
Proton trys to be Google 2.0 and centralize,
The ones from the adverts (nord, tunnelbear, surfshark) dont protect your privacy and are therefore useless...
Anyone with more tech knowledge got a recommendation fro maximum privacy and decent enough speed and ping for hd videos and casual gaming?
Tangentism
in reply to SomeLemmyUser • • •I use AirVpn. Seems good (no logs, etc) and they allow payment via bitcoin.
I moved to them as they allow port forwarding when many others were dropping the option
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osaerisxero likes this.
eremophila
in reply to SomeLemmyUser • • •Scott 🇨🇦🏴☠️
in reply to SomeLemmyUser • • •I'm going with Nym when my Mullvad sub is up. If I can get a refund from Mullvad without KYCing myself, I'll do so earlier.
Nym runs your traffic through 5 nodes or 2 nodes (a nixnet) depending on user selected setting. Node operators are paid in crypto based on the number of packets they handle. The CEO is an anarchist and expects to be in prison at some point. Nym is designed to continue running even if all the higher ups are in prison.
I'm not a customer, just got all this from an interview with the CEO on with TheHatedOne.
Edit: This is the interview I mentioned bitchute.com/video/uoyDTW2nxWk
This is the most anonymous VPN in the world! Interview with NYM VPN Alexis Roussel
Bitchute(Nitter addon enabled: Twitter links via https://nitter.privacytools.io)
SomeLemmyUser
in reply to Scott 🇨🇦🏴☠️ • • •Thx for the suggestion, I have seen this, the hated one is my only good source on this topic, but more than one source would be nice.
The anarchist story was one of those which sounded almost to good to be true in my ears
Yefrem
in reply to Scott 🇨🇦🏴☠️ • • •Scott 🇨🇦🏴☠️
in reply to Yefrem • • •Yefrem
in reply to Scott 🇨🇦🏴☠️ • • •Scott 🇨🇦🏴☠️
in reply to Yefrem • • •eremophila
in reply to Sips' • • •99% of the VPN industry is dodgy, mullvad now included.
Dave8008
in reply to Sips' • • •Voxel
in reply to Dave8008 • • •ElectricVocalist
in reply to Voxel • • •Random Dent
in reply to Dave8008 • • •Bristlecone
in reply to Sips' • • •lepinkainen
in reply to Sips' • • •Given that Mullvad is the gold standard for ACTUAL privacy, can be paid with cash or crypto, has no user accounts and has been actually tested by law enforcement and they got fuck all.
What is the alternative? Privacy first VPN, not “I wanna watch Japanese Netflix” VPN.
Cease
in reply to lepinkainen • • •scytale
in reply to lepinkainen • • •~~I’m currently on my first month of IVPN and I’ve had a better experience with Netflix’s regional restrictions. With Mullvad, Netflix eventually is able to catch up when I switch locations, and they block the content I want to see. IVPN is able to evade that, at least for now based on my experience.~~
EDIT: Never mind, I misread your comment and thought you were asking about evading streaming regional restrictions specifically. lol
But yes, IVPN is a good alternative and recommended in privacyguides.
whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to lepinkainen • • •There isn’t one.
If you don’t need to have a legally tested system to protect yourself and can yolo it and also understand how to navigate their sites to pay cash only and not set up a normal account then both Ivpn and proton are fine.
Don’t use air for privacy. They’re a piracy service. They’re really good at that though.
Don’t use nym for a while. Even if they were trustworthy their tech is green and relies on the same systems that proof of stake cryptocurrencies do.
Safing is a little too complicated to recommend.
lambalicious
in reply to Sips' • • •rnercle
in reply to lambalicious • • •they had "free" services like DNS and a decent browser.
i'm using quad9 now.
Quad9 | A public and free DNS service for a better security and privacy
Quad9lambalicious
in reply to rnercle • • •rnercle
in reply to lambalicious • • •bridgeenjoyer
in reply to Sips' • • •whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to Sips' • • •I am once again posting a reply to help users of lemmy understand that there is no alternative to mullvad unless you can accept a lower privacy, anonymity and security standard of service.
That doesn’t mean if you leave mullvad you will be harmed, only that you will be losing safety margin.
Your decisions are your own: you may know better than me, you may be willing to suffer for your principles, you may believe your actions in the marketplace will have a tangible effect on the world but if you read this you can hopefully make those decisions yourself with clear eyes and understanding.
redrum
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •www.ivpn.net/en/
www.ivpn.netwhatiswrongwithyou
in reply to redrum • • •I have used ivpn in the past, before apps, and have some accounts for its present iteration that are not tested yet.
The biggest problem I see with ivpn is how complex its offerings are and by extension how difficult it is for even a user who has passing familiarity with VPNs like myself to make good choices.
While recently it’s been made the default, the user can still opt to create a username and password that are subpoenable pii, if that’s a word. Able to be subpoenaed.
It is not immediately clear what the security surface is on their various product tiers. I won’t go into all of them but the top features a third party firewall program called portmaster that’s developed by a different vpn company called safing. Perhaps this is useful to you. I found it to be another fractal galaxy of loose ends to tease out.
The above stuff is largely the same boat proton is in. You can set up a simple vpn account. Will you? They would love to give you a good deal on a big bundle…
Mullvad avoids this with a single product off
... Show more...I have used ivpn in the past, before apps, and have some accounts for its present iteration that are not tested yet.
The biggest problem I see with ivpn is how complex its offerings are and by extension how difficult it is for even a user who has passing familiarity with VPNs like myself to make good choices.
While recently it’s been made the default, the user can still opt to create a username and password that are subpoenable pii, if that’s a word. Able to be subpoenaed.
It is not immediately clear what the security surface is on their various product tiers. I won’t go into all of them but the top features a third party firewall program called portmaster that’s developed by a different vpn company called safing. Perhaps this is useful to you. I found it to be another fractal galaxy of loose ends to tease out.
The above stuff is largely the same boat proton is in. You can set up a simple vpn account. Will you? They would love to give you a good deal on a big bundle…
Mullvad avoids this with a single product offering, no additional attack surface (except for their now ubiquitous version of the vpn app) and no way for the user to put them in a situation where they ever even have your information.
What remains to be seen is real strongly investigated results of a legal action against ivpn. Those legal actions have happened but they’ve largely been what get called “fishing trips” by exhausted public defenders in procedural dramas. There hasn’t been anything on the scale of what’s been pointed at mullvad and with the Byzantine stuff on offer by ivpn in comparison to mullvad it would be a real hoot to dig through that disclosure if and when it comes along.
It may behove you, as it once behove me (is it really spelled the same in past and future perfect tenses, like a read/read situation?) to disregard guides or recommendations and instead look into the information directly and draw your own conclusions.
For example: Often times, a guide or recommendation is formatted as a spreadsheet and the best option is the one that accumulates the most check marks across its row. That type of decision making system would give an advantage to services that support the use of the openvpn protocol since it’s one more check than those that don’t. Except for the common modern use case of openvpn is embedded edge devices like routers that may not support safe openvpn configurations.
So presence of footgun is a plus in many systems used to recommend VPNs and that’s just a simple example.
Everyone’s different and everyone’s needs are different.
redrum
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •I started using ivpn almost 8 years ago, and I believe the default setting back then was to not use accounts with usernames.
Some of the key reasons I chose it at the time were port forwarding (this service was later discontinued), its open-source F-Droid application, the ability to configure the WireGuard connection on my Linux machine without the application (I never tried it), its commitment to user anonymity (zero logs, payment methods, etc.), external audits, and the fact that it wasn't based in an EU member state (ivpn is a Gibraltar-based company).
The last reason is that I live in the EU, which shouldn't be a problem for those who don't.
Since then, I haven't bothered to check how the VPN industry has evolved. Thanks for the thorough answer.
whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to redrum • • •Have you used any of the other stuff they offer like the dns or mail thing?
I have only used their WireGuard config file -> into /etc/WireGuard simple kind of man setup.
redrum
in reply to whatiswrongwithyou • • •Nops, and I think that it's a bad move to change their business model to be a VPN provider to a catch-all security related provider, also I only have the standard tie which don't have the DNS, mail redirection or portmaster services.
Furthermore, my threat model changed with the struggle for the independence of Catalonia, it put the state as my main adversary, and making them waste their time and resources with multiple subpoenas is a plus.
whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to redrum • • •Idk if it’s a good business move, some of those kitchen sink providers can offer a user a lot of value. I’m perhaps not the target demographic for that.
Completely off topic, but what kind of phone duress setup do you use? It’s not often I get to talk to someone who is primarily concerned about the state.
speakupattheback
in reply to Sips' • • •"aren't we living in a multicultural democracy, why can't the minorities and the racists just get along and be respectful of each others' ideas"
Absolutely pathetic response. I'm less likely to use them now than before I read this
vas
in reply to speakupattheback • • •speakupattheback
in reply to vas • • •vas
in reply to speakupattheback • • •حمید پیام عباسی
in reply to Sips' • • •whatiswrongwithyou
in reply to حمید پیام عباسی • • •Hey I made a big reply about this to someone else a while back but if you trust the news and what the police say then mullvad is safe.
A long time ago they had port forwarding and pedophiles were allegedly using it to trade csam back and forth. Interpol got together with Swedish cops and did a warrant raid and came back empty handed. They had every legal ability to record user data and wiretap the servers but were unable to. Eventually Interpol pressured cdns and major providers to blacklist mullvad servers and rather than give up user information mullvad stopped offering port forwarding. A lot of people left them because of it.
If you don’t trust what the cops say or what mullvad does then you still gotta see mullvad as safe.
Why would the police put pressure on cdns to drop mullvad traffic if it’s a honeypot? That doesn’t make sense. If it’s a honeypot then why would mullvad drop port forwarding and lose tons of customers who rely on it for piracy? That also doesn’t make sense.
As far as why anyone would ever pay a company to
... Show more...Hey I made a big reply about this to someone else a while back but if you trust the news and what the police say then mullvad is safe.
A long time ago they had port forwarding and pedophiles were allegedly using it to trade csam back and forth. Interpol got together with Swedish cops and did a warrant raid and came back empty handed. They had every legal ability to record user data and wiretap the servers but were unable to. Eventually Interpol pressured cdns and major providers to blacklist mullvad servers and rather than give up user information mullvad stopped offering port forwarding. A lot of people left them because of it.
If you don’t trust what the cops say or what mullvad does then you still gotta see mullvad as safe.
Why would the police put pressure on cdns to drop mullvad traffic if it’s a honeypot? That doesn’t make sense. If it’s a honeypot then why would mullvad drop port forwarding and lose tons of customers who rely on it for piracy? That also doesn’t make sense.
As far as why anyone would ever pay a company to act as a proxy vpn, it’s to anonymize the traffic. Some vpn companies don’t have “accounts” with username (tied to email) and passwords, it’s just one secret, the account number. They might also take anonymous cash payment as well. In that case they can’t really do anything to give you up because they don’t know who you are.
Like anything else it’s a negotiation of what degree of trust you accept. Many small metal shops around here are run out of a commercial type building next to the owners house. My favorite small fabricator is in a little building nowhere near his house (I found out because the neighbors dog was running loose and came up to get a pet and said “is this your dog?” And he said “I don’t even live on this road”). If you trust the people you do business with to not bother you at home then there’s no problem with them knowing your home address. If they never know it to begin with then you don’t need to consider or accept that level of trust.
Yeller_king
in reply to Sips' • • •SocialistVibes01
in reply to Sips' • • •chortle_tortle
in reply to SocialistVibes01 • • •SocialistVibes01
in reply to chortle_tortle • • •daniskarma
in reply to chortle_tortle • • •Not even that. They straight up endorse capitalism over public work.
It's like national liberal ~socialism~
Mr_WorldlyWiseman
in reply to SocialistVibes01 • • •Its easy, just let racism blind you and kick immigrants out of the working class.
To be fair the 30 hour work week is a campaign promise from the real socialist parties in Sweden
PierceTheBubble
in reply to Sips' • • •I really had no desire to get invested into this, but since this gets in my feed so frequently, here we go. I've read relevant posts on Daniel Berntsson's blog, i.e. the individual which this should really concern; instead of Mullvad as a whole. I understand the donated money possibly came from Mullvad subscribers, and if that leads you to unsubscribe, by all means do so; but stop bugging the rest of us.
It seems he donated to ÖP because they criticize excessive taxation, that is believed to typically end up enriching an (upper-)middle class (the "transferiat"), that gain additional support for (self-serving) policies, from lower (working) classes that are dependent on (welfare) subsidies. And given that immigrants are typically of the latter class, it's believed to further reinforce the transferiat's position: by a growing dependent class voting in favor of pro-transferiat policy.
This isn't to say he agrees with (stricter) immigration policy, nor with the other positions taken by
... Show more...I really had no desire to get invested into this, but since this gets in my feed so frequently, here we go. I've read relevant posts on Daniel Berntsson's blog, i.e. the individual which this should really concern; instead of Mullvad as a whole. I understand the donated money possibly came from Mullvad subscribers, and if that leads you to unsubscribe, by all means do so; but stop bugging the rest of us.
It seems he donated to ÖP because they criticize excessive taxation, that is believed to typically end up enriching an (upper-)middle class (the "transferiat"), that gain additional support for (self-serving) policies, from lower (working) classes that are dependent on (welfare) subsidies. And given that immigrants are typically of the latter class, it's believed to further reinforce the transferiat's position: by a growing dependent class voting in favor of pro-transferiat policy.
This isn't to say he agrees with (stricter) immigration policy, nor with the other positions taken by ÖP, or any other political party for that matter. Instead, he adheres to a "libertarian anarchist" ideal, where "people can ... organically and voluntarily federate together at any scale". Rather than states appropriating capital from citizens, to only partially redistribute effectively in the form of common goods, which involves protection thereof through immigration policies for example; often to the detriment of people, including him personally.
Daniel Berntsson
Daniel BerntssonCrozekiel
in reply to PierceTheBubble • • •He basically IS that party's budget. His donation was like 80% or 90% of their total donations. I'd think if I basically owned a political party I'd try to make sure they don't do shit I disagree with.
PierceTheBubble
in reply to Crozekiel • • •ElectricVocalist
in reply to Sips' • • •spizzat2
in reply to Sips' • • •Man, I hate having to think about the effects of my actions before I do something. It's so much better to just do things, and then see if there are consequences.
/s
ordnance_qf_17_pounder
in reply to Sips' • • •Most predictable response ever. Some shite about the free market of ideas and some other shite about the need to engage with "ideas you personally dislike".
In other words, we should give fascists a seat at the table and hope we can debate them away. Been there done that, doesn't work.
I don't expect a company to just condemn fascism completely unprompted. But in a situation like this, if you can't even commit to taking action to ensure that a fascist party does not receive any of your funding again, then your mission isn't worth shit.
I'm sure that the people who would be forcibly "remigrated" by this particular political party would not feel very free from authority and surveillance.
marcie (she/her)
in reply to Sips' • • •iByteABit
in reply to Sips' • • •The leopards that ate other people's faces will definitely not eat my face too
Lenin's Dumbbell
in reply to iByteABit • • •What are the odds that the others are closeted fascists as well? UK the kind
divinesteel
in reply to Sips' • • •DanceMomsSavedMe
in reply to Sips' • • •Y'all are honestly crazy to grill Mullvad for some dudes behavior. He doesn't even work at the company. -Edit: He does actually though as pointed out below thought he was just a shareholder- And they're basically saying, "we aren't the thought police. What he donated to isn't what we stand for he made that decision as his own person using his own free will"
And you guys are like "FUCK THEM"
Insane. Go ahead and use other VPNs that have never had their headquarters raided and PROVEN not to keep logs.
Does anyone know of a single other VPN company still owned by the original team that has done that? Roll the dice on the trustworthiness of your VPN if that's something you're comfortable with, your choice.
Encrypt-Keeper
in reply to DanceMomsSavedMe • • •He does, he’s the CEO and owner.
I think people just don’t want their money being used to fund far right extremism. As is their right.
Are you suggesting that people are somehow morally obligated to continue funneling money into a company when they know for a fact their money will be used for evil?
DanceMomsSavedMe
in reply to Encrypt-Keeper • • •I mean shit my tax dollars fund evil every single day and the only company I know of that will actually keep me semi safe from my government is mullvad.
I just wish some other VPN service got raided like that and then I could comfortably switch but I'm way too paranoid for that I want a proven track record.
Encrypt-Keeper
in reply to DanceMomsSavedMe • • •You’re legally obligated to pay taxes and you have some say in how they’re spent in the form of state and federal elections (or your country’s equivalent). If you’re doing everything in your power to make sure that money isn’t used for evil then ultimately you can’t be faulted for what happens beyond that point.
But on the other hand you’re voluntarily choosing to pay Mullvad knowing full well that your money will be used to prop up far right extremism and you have no say in it beyond your choice to give them your money.
How you rationalize that to yourself is a personal matter but it certainly and absolutely does not give you a moral high ground over people who choose not to fund evil.
DanceMomsSavedMe
in reply to Encrypt-Keeper • • •Both are non negotiable for me. I don't want my countries taxagwncy to steal my shit and throw me in prison for non compliance.
I also don't whatever surveillance company the same government is using tracking my movements and habits like I'm a terrorist for my anti fascist viewpoints among other things. So in that way, I also can't compromise on the only vpn service that's been proven by police involvement not to keep logs despite if the owner is an asshole or not.
I guess the mods can remove this comment too for whatever reason (ah, its an .ml) but I am still allowed to have an opinion. Fair on not having the high ground though I'm unwilling to compromise on my privacy even for the greater good of this situation so it seems.
Encrypt-Keeper
in reply to DanceMomsSavedMe • • •Mr_WorldlyWiseman
in reply to DanceMomsSavedMe • • •Yeah, like its not like the product is bad, it's the best product on the market. Ruling out Mullvad here is simply a boycott.
To be honest, the current government coalition is worse than Örebropartiet. Sverigedemokraterna are nazis too, and they fund disinformation campaigns across the internet and take away internet and IRL privacy. The conservatives' immigration minister's son is literally in a brownshirt gang. If you're going to boycott Mullvad over this, you might as well boycott all of Sweden.
nocteb
in reply to Sips' • • •Some people have nurtured a radical intolerance against funding right extremism.
Lenin's Dumbbell
in reply to nocteb • • •yuki_gassen
in reply to Sips' • • •"Why did I, a libertarian anarchist, support the Örebro Party (ÖP), which is neither, with a donation?"
shocked face
yuki_gassen
in reply to Sips' • • •Gee, I wonder what the far-right thinks about letting leftists speak freely?
The conflation between a chud using mullvad vs using the profits from mullvad to fund a political party... Tf