December 7, 2021
Very interesting article. They evaluated 16 services for privacy and security tested by Consumer Reports. Mullvad, IVPN, and Mozilla VPN
came out on top.
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics-computers/vpn-services/mullvad-ivpn-mozilla-vpn-top-consumer-reports-vpn-testing-a9588707317/
Very interesting article. They evaluated 16 services for privacy and security tested by Consumer Reports. Mullvad, IVPN, and Mozilla VPNTorrentfreak covers this and reports which ones do not share data.
came out on top.
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics-computers/vpn-services/mullvad-ivpn-mozilla-vpn-top-consumer-reports-vpn-testing-a9588707317/
On 08/02/2026 03:18, Marcus90@guess.com wrote:
Torrentfreak covers this and reports which ones do not share data. Personally, I chose AirVPN and it has served me well, so far.
Very interesting article. They evaluated 16 services for privacy and
security tested by Consumer Reports. Mullvad, IVPN, and Mozilla VPN
came out on top.
Marcus90@guess.com wrote:
December 7, 2021
Very interesting article. They evaluated 16 services for privacy and
security tested by Consumer Reports. Mullvad, IVPN, and Mozilla VPN
came out on top.
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics-computers/vpn-services/mullvad-ivpn-mozilla-vpn-top-consumer-reports-vpn-testing-a9588707317/
One interesting remark in that article is "The bottom line: You
shouldnrCOt use a VPN unless you trust it more than you trust your ISP."
Thanks for posting that link. Very informative. 80)>
On 2026-02-08, John C. <r9jmg0@yahoo.com> wrote:
Marcus90@guess.com wrote:
December 7, 2021
Very interesting article. They evaluated 16 services for privacy and
security tested by Consumer Reports. Mullvad, IVPN, and Mozilla VPN
came out on top.
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics-computers/vpn-services/mullvad-ivpn-mozilla-vpn-top-consumer-reports-vpn-testing-a9588707317/
One interesting remark in that article is "The bottom line: You
shouldnrCOt use a VPN unless you trust it more than you trust your ISP."
Thanks for posting that link. Very informative. 80)>
Note that this is a 4 years old article. Surely the market has changed
enough that it is not valid anymore, except for how it reveals that most
of the service providers are not trustworthy.
As I see it, there are two different reasons for using a VPN service:
1) To bypass geofencing. In order to watch the Danish movies on the DR
website (Danmarks Radio - the public broadcaster of Denmark), I need
to have a Danish IP address. Having never tried this, I do not know
how rigidly they enforce this by potentially blocking the exit nodes
of VPN providers. They might just want to formality of being able to
say they are doing "something".
2) To cloak yourself for real anonymity. In which case you probably need
TOR.
By the way, for the purposes of (1) above, I really need the VPN client
to be in my Roku TVs. But I don't think that is feasible.
On 2026-02-09 15:19, Lars Poulsen wrote:
On 2026-02-08, John C. <r9jmg0@yahoo.com> wrote:
Marcus90@guess.com wrote:
December 7, 2021
Very interesting article. They evaluated 16 services for privacy and
security tested by Consumer Reports. Mullvad, IVPN, and Mozilla VPN
came out on top.
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics-computers/vpn-services/mullvad-ivpn-mozilla-vpn-top-consumer-reports-vpn-testing-a9588707317/
One interesting remark in that article is "The bottom line: You
shouldnrCOt use a VPN unless you trust it more than you trust your ISP." >>>
Thanks for posting that link. Very informative. 80)>
Note that this is a 4 years old article. Surely the market has changed
enough that it is not valid anymore, except for how it reveals that most
of the service providers are not trustworthy.
As I see it, there are two different reasons for using a VPN service:
1) To bypass geofencing. In order to watch the Danish movies on the DR
website (Danmarks Radio - the public broadcaster of Denmark), I need
to have a Danish IP address. Having never tried this, I do not know
how rigidly they enforce this by potentially blocking the exit nodes
of VPN providers. They might just want to formality of being able to
say they are doing "something".
2) To cloak yourself for real anonymity. In which case you probably need
TOR.
By the way, for the purposes of (1) above, I really need the VPN client
to be in my Roku TVs. But I don't think that is feasible.
Wold not work having it on the router? But then you need to point the TV
to it, somehow.
I suppose, I could install the VPN and the route to the foreign server
on a Linux box on the LAN, and make THAT the default router for the
TVs. Maybe DHCP can hand the server-specific route to the TV, the same
way it hands each TV its stable IP address at power-on time.
December 7, 2021
Very interesting article. They evaluated 16 services for privacy and >security tested by Consumer Reports. Mullvad, IVPN, and Mozilla VPN
came out on top.
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics-computers/vpn-services/mullvad-ivpn-mozilla-vpn-top-consumer-reports-vpn-testing-a9588707317/
On Mon, 9 Feb 2026 19:40:19 -0000 (UTC), Lars Poulsen
<lars@beagle-ears.com> wrote:
I suppose, I could install the VPN and the route to the foreign server
on a Linux box on the LAN, and make THAT the default router for the
TVs. Maybe DHCP can hand the server-specific route to the TV, the same
way it hands each TV its stable IP address at power-on time.
I haven't heard of a network-capable TV or streaming device that *only* understands DHCP and has no capability to manually configure its network settings. Are you saying you have an example of that particular unicorn?
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics-computers/vpn-services/ mullvad-ivpn-mozilla-vpn-top-consumer-reports-vpn-testing-
a9588707317/
She holds an undergraduate degree in social sciences from Shimer
College and a master's degree in journalism from the Walter Cronkite
School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State
University.
On 2026-02-10, Char Jackson <none@none.invalid> wrote:
On Mon, 9 Feb 2026 19:40:19 -0000 (UTC), Lars Poulsen >><lars@beagle-ears.com> wrote:
I suppose, I could install the VPN and the route to the foreign server
on a Linux box on the LAN, and make THAT the default router for the
TVs. Maybe DHCP can hand the server-specific route to the TV, the same >>>way it hands each TV its stable IP address at power-on time.
I haven't heard of a network-capable TV or streaming device that *only*
understands DHCP and has no capability to manually configure its network
settings. Are you saying you have an example of that particular unicorn?
Oh, it can be manually configured all right ... within the very narrow
limits of setting
- IP address
- network mask and
- default router.
But it will not allow me to do the equivalent of
route add -net w.x.y.z/bits gw h.i.j.k.l
So if I designate the default route to be the VPN, Amazon will (maybe)
see that I am in Europe and refuse to show movies that are not available >there.
Mozilla, (which I couldn't stop thinking would be free, since Firefox
is free. Is it free?)
Why does Mozilla VPN exist? Why should I get it rather than Mullvad?
Marcus wrote:
This topic seems to have generated more interest than the *article* is
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics-computers/vpn-services/
mullvad-ivpn-mozilla-vpn-top-consumer-reports-vpn-testing-
a9588707317/
worth.
- the author of the article is no expert
- the date of the article is stale 4+ y/o
- VPNs get more attention than they deserve
Yael Grauer--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
She holds an undergraduate degree in social sciences from Shimer
College and a master's degree in journalism from the Walter Cronkite
School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State
University.
... and that prepares her as an 'expert' in either cybersecurity or VPN >evaluation?
I'm not saying that VPNs are useless to everyone, just that 'most of'
the VPN user's basis for such use are 'circumspect'.
I only use one when I'm out of the country trying to get a US website
that I can't otherwise get, or vice versa.
In alt.comp.software.firefox, on Tue, 10 Feb 2026 14:40:18 -0800,
Mike Easter <MikeE@ster.invalid> wrote:
- VPNs get more attention than they deserve
The only reason I can think for your 3rd point here is that they are
not needed for security, yes?
They are very much about security.
Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:<questioning>
They are very much about security.
Just because something is 'about security' doesn't mean one should bewell, Or... four legs good, two legs bad.
'doing it'; as in 'security good; insecurity bad'.
Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
They are very much about security.
Some (types of, situations of, uses of) security is good or very
good or very necessary.
Some (etc) security is an unnecessary and inconvenient burden.
All the VPN services IrCOm aware of use encryption. You may call this
rCLan unnecessary and inconvenient burdenrCY, but it comes as a
standard part of the service.
Why you (probably) don't need a VPN
Security experts say you no longer need a VPN rCo here's why
Do I Need a VPN? How to Know If You Should Use a VPN
The main disadvantages of using a VPN are slower internet speeds,
potential blocking by websites/services, increased mobile data
usage, and security/privacy risks if you choose a bad provider
On Wed, 11 Feb 2026 08:36:18 -0500, micky wrote:
In alt.comp.software.firefox, on Tue, 10 Feb 2026 14:40:18 -0800,
Mike Easter <MikeE@ster.invalid> wrote:
- VPNs get more attention than they deserve
The only reason I can think for your 3rd point here is that they are
not needed for security, yes?
They are very much about security. The idea started with IPSec, which
is a truly mind-boggling set of mechanisms for setting up secure
layer-3 connections between networks. Other VPN apps were created as
simpler alternatives to this -- yes, even OpenVPN, with its slightly bewildering array of options, is simpler than IPSec.
And now we have WireGuard, which tries to make things about as simple
as they can be.
Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
All the VPN services IrCOm aware of use encryption. You may call this
rCLan unnecessary and inconvenient burdenrCY, but it comes as a
standard part of the service.
It depends.
[references about not needing a VPN omitted]
I feel totally safe without using a VPN.
On Thu, 12 Feb 2026 15:02:30 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
I feel totally safe without using a VPN.
If yourCOre doing connections between separate LANs, that is routinely
done with a VPN these days.
For example, I regularly run a VPN connection between my office and a clientrCOs LAN. I wouldnrCOt do that without encryption.
But these are saying you donrCOt need a VPN at all, not that you need a
VPN without encryption.
Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
But these are saying you donrCOt need a VPN at all, not that you need
a VPN without encryption.
My original premise was that some people may benefit from a VPN and
some people don't (usually) need that. I wasn't trying to rebut your
point that all VPNs do encryption.
On Thu, 12 Feb 2026 11:42:55 -0800, Mike Easter wrote:
Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
But these are saying you donrCOt need a VPN at all, not that you need
a VPN without encryption.
My original premise was that some people may benefit from a VPN and
some people don't (usually) need that. I wasn't trying to rebut your
point that all VPNs do encryption.
Encryption is a key part of the security feature of VPNs. If you were
trying to say the security aspect of a VPN is unnecessary, then that
must mean that the encryption part is unnecessary. The two go
together.
On Wed, 11 Feb 2026 17:11:06 -0800, Mike Easter wrote:
Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
They are very much about security.
Some (types of, situations of, uses of) security is good or very
good or very necessary.
Some (etc) security is an unnecessary and inconvenient burden.
All the VPN services IrCOm aware of use encryption. You may call this
rCLan unnecessary and inconvenient burdenrCY, but it comes as a standard
part of the service.
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