From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

I know not everyone can access the built-in free VPN yet, and I'm
grateful it's there.

The VPN icon in the toolbar takes a bit too much space for my liking,
but if I customise the toolbar to remove it, I can't see any other
method to activate it via the menu bar or a keyboard shortcut, am I
missing something?

Maybe there could be a button added into about:networking or something?

--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> writes:

I know not everyone can access the built-in free VPN yet, and I'm
grateful it's there.

The VPN icon in the toolbar takes a bit too much space for my liking,
but if I customise the toolbar to remove it, I can't see any other
method to activate it via the menu bar or a keyboard shortcut, am I
missing something?

Maybe there could be a button added into about:networking or something?

You could check what this is set to in about:config :

browser.ipProtection.enabled true

If it is set to false you may have turned it off. Toggling it on and off
made the button appear and disappear for me.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox


Richmond wrote:

Andy Burns writes:

if I customise the toolbar to remove it, I can't see any other
method to activate it via the menu bar or a keyboard shortcut, am
I missing something?

You could check what this is set to in about:config :

browser.ipProtection.enabled true

If it is set to false you may have turned it off. Toggling it on and off
made the button appear and disappear for me.

Of the various browser.ipProtection.* settings

.added and .enabled are true (i.e it is "available")
.userEnabled is false (i.e it is "off")

This is how I want it most of the time, but I have no convenient way to
change it to "on"

--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

On Fri, 1 May 2026 15:14:52 +0100, Andy Burns wrote:

I know not everyone can access the built-in free VPN yet, and I'm
grateful it's there.

Does the free VPN require Mozilla account?
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

JJ wrote:

Does the free VPN require Mozilla account?

Yes it does, I already had one for bookmark/tab syncing.


--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

JJ wrote:

Does the free VPN require Mozilla account?

Yes it does, I already had one for bookmark/tab syncing.

The free VPN bundled inside Firefox must be crippled.

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/1s2ik4l/introducing_firefoxs_builtin_vpn_ip_protection/

50GB quota per month. Presumably speed severely throttles thereafter
rather than just abruptly killing all connectivity by Firefox.

In contrast, Microsoft's Edge with its VPN offers only 5 GB/month. Edge bypasses its VPN for streaming content as that could quickly consume the monthly quota.

https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/built-in-vpn/

No mention of what happens to Firefox's connections when the 50GB
monthly quota gets consumed. Or how many exit nodes they have. Or in
which countries.

Mozilla wants money for their full VPN service.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/products/vpn/
Monthly subscription: $9.99/month
Yearly subscription: $59.88 ($4.99/month for 12 months)
Unlimited data.
500 servers (exit nodes?) in 30+ countries.
Device-level VPN for up to 5 devices (not just within Firefox).

The Firefox inbuilt VPN might be okay for most users. If they don't
also VPN route streaming data, the inbuilt VPN isn't fully protective.
I didn't have time to find a feature-by-feature comparison on the
Firefox inbuilt VPN, and Mozilla's VPN service.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

VanguardLH wrote:

the inbuilt VPN isn't fully protective.

Its usefulness for me isn't down to protection, just a simple way to
change my source IP to check if a given website may have taken a dislike
based on where I'm coming from...
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

On Fri, 1 May 2026 17:29:38 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

The Firefox inbuilt VPN might be okay for most users. If they don't
also VPN route streaming data, the inbuilt VPN isn't fully protective.

So the inbuilt VPN not a true VPN? i.e. mere proxy? Just like Opera's
built-in "VPN", and all those so called "VPN" browser extensions?
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

JJ <jj4public@gmail.com> wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:

The Firefox inbuilt VPN might be okay for most users. If they don't
also VPN route streaming data, the inbuilt VPN isn't fully protective.

So the inbuilt VPN not a true VPN? i.e. mere proxy? Just like Opera's built-in "VPN", and all those so called "VPN" browser extensions?

From what I've read, so far, Mozilla is using Mullvad's VPN service.
Mullvad has 500+ exit nodes in 30+ countries, so that is what Mozilla
also claims.

Besides Mullvad using RAM-only servers (which is only protection against invasion provided the servers can be turned off before a foresenic team
get access and control), and a decent number of exit nodes spread across
a decent number of countries (but is not the highest counts as other
VPNs have more), they also provide DAITA protection.

https://mullvad.net/en/vpn/daita

However, I do not know which of the above are available for Mozilla's
contract to use their VPN service. I'm sure Mozilla gets the RAM-only
servers, but maybe as not as many exit nodes, and DAITA might be a paid
feature that requires use of Mullvad's local app on your client host.
Mullvad says DAITA is a feature of their app. Mozilla doesn't have you installing anything to use their embedded VPN in Firefox.

Bouncing through more nodes in a route necessitate a slower overall
throughput of packets. VPNs are slower than your own direct route.
DAITA works by confusing AI analysis at websites by adding "noise"
(dummy) traffic. That's more traffic that is unrelated to the traffic
between the website and you.

Mozilla states their VPN uses Wireguard. Well, Wireguard and OpenVPN
are used by Mullvad (https://mullvad.net/en/help/why-wireguard).
Mozilla didn't invent their own VPN. They contracted with Mullvad for
their VPN service. Mozilla added code in Firefox to eliminate the need
for a global client running on the user's host, but the VPN is only
active within the context of Firefox. However, what is not known is how
many features of Mullvad are rolled into Mozilla's code in Firefox.
After all, Mozilla isn't even informing its users that they use Mullvad.

While encrypted VPN routing can provide lots of privacy, only part of
the traffic is encrypted. The packets still need to specify to where is
the connection, and I don't think that part of the traffic is encrypted.
I suspect that's how DAITA works.

As far as a website detecting you are using a VPN, DAITA isn't needed
for that. There are blacklists of VPN exit nodes, just like there are
for Tor exit nodes. The mapping has already been done, and gets
updated. All the website needs do is compare is compare the IP address
of the endpoint connecting to their server to see if it is on the VPN
and Tor mappings. That's why you hit a refusal at some websites stating
you are visiting them using a VPN. They know you're using a VPN. That
is not hidden from them.

The bestvpn article mentions Mullvad doesn't route (protect) streaming
content. Online videos and movies are a LOT of data, and could quickly
consume the user's monthly bandwidth quota, or Mullvad's servers. The
bestvpn article has a Cons section on Mullvad, and streaming is
mentioned under "3. Limited Streaming Optimization". While Mozilla has contracted to use Mullvad's VPN service, and because it is free inside
of Firefox, I'm sure Firefox users are not getting all features
available from Mullvad. Mozilla is footing Mullvad's bill ... for now.
If you want more features, you pay Mozilla for their VPN full service,
or you pay Mullvad, or some other VPN provider.

Under item 4 in the bestvpn article, "Essentially, if you want to
connect to a location using Mullvad, you better hope itrCOs in Europe or
the USA. Otherwise, thererCOs a high likelihood Mullvad doesnrCOt cover it."

My use of a VPN is not about privacy. I don't care if a website knows I visited them, how often, and what I looked at there. My only use of a
VPN (Proton free) is to circumvent geofencing. Other users are more
sensitive about their privacy, and willing to suffer less reliable and
slower connections to gain more privacy. Sacrifice one for the other.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

VanguardLH wrote:

From what I've read, so far, Mozilla is using Mullvad's VPN service.
Mullvad has 500+ exit nodes in 30+ countries [...]
However, I do not know which of the above are available for Mozilla's contract to use their VPN service.

On the few occasions that I've used the Mozilla VPN, the exit node has
been in my own country, so apparently it's not helpful to those wanting
to 'move' to a different country for TV streaming.


--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> writes:

VanguardLH wrote:

From what I've read, so far, Mozilla is using Mullvad's VPN service.
Mullvad has 500+ exit nodes in 30+ countries [...] However, I do not
know which of the above are available for Mozilla's contract to use
their VPN service.

On the few occasions that I've used the Mozilla VPN, the exit node has
been in my own country, so apparently it's not helpful to those
wanting to 'move' to a different country for TV streaming.

I just tried it out, and it put me in the USA. (I am in the UK). That
could be random though. Using ProtonVPN free I can select USA and stream
US television, but I am using an out of date client, I am not sure the
latest client permits it. It's useful to have a few alternatives ready
though, like Opera, ProtonVPN free, ProtonVPN browser extension,
TOR. With age verification it might become increasingly useful to avoid
giving ones driving licence and passport to some corporation with a
leaky database.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

VanguardLH wrote:

From what I've read, so far, Mozilla is using Mullvad's VPN service.
Mullvad has 500+ exit nodes in 30+ countries [...]
However, I do not know which of the above are available for Mozilla's
contract to use their VPN service.

On the few occasions that I've used the Mozilla VPN, the exit node has
been in my own country, so apparently it's not helpful to those
wanting to 'move' to a different country for TV streaming.

With a full/paid VPN, you get to specify the region for the exit node.
I use Proton VPN (free). While it has 5 countries for exit nodes, I
don't get to pick the region. All I can do is request a move to a
different exit node, but I cannot specify where. By default I get an
exit node in the USA, because it is the fastest one. There have been
times when I asked for a different exit node, and gotten another one in
the USA, or one in Canada, or overseas (Norway, Japan, etc). There is a
delay between when I can change the exit node. First change has no
delay, second change (even if it ends up being in the same region)
incurs a 45-second delay, third change incurs a 10-minute delay. By
then I usually give up and forget trying to un-geofence the website. So ProtonVPN Free is okay most of the time, but it is cumbersome when it
doesn't select an exit node that is not geofenced. The paid version
lets me pick the exit region, but I don't use a VPN often enough to
warrant having to pay for one. Even if I paid, I wouldn't leave the VPN enabled all the time. A VPN is nice, but not essential for me.

The Mullvad local app probably lets you pick the region for an exit
node, but that's only with their paid subscription. So, I doubt the
inbuilt VPN using Mullvad inside of Firefox has any configurable
options. Mozilla is just letting you hide your own WAN-side IP address,
and doesn't look geared to circumventing geofencing.
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

Andy Burns wrote:

I know not everyone can access the built-in free VPN yet, and I'm
grateful it's there.

The VPN icon in the toolbar takes a bit too much space for my liking,
but if I customise the toolbar to remove it, I can't see any other
method to activate it via the menu bar or a keyboard shortcut, am I
missing something?

Maybe there could be a button added into about:networking or something?

To use the Mozilla VPN, you must have a Mozilla account. No thanks.
--
John C. I filter crossposts, various trolls & dizum.com. Doing this
makes this newsgroup easier to read & more on-topic. Take back the tech companies from India & industry from China.

--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.comp.software.firefox

"John C." <r9jmg0@yahoo.com> writes:

Andy Burns wrote:

I know not everyone can access the built-in free VPN yet, and I'm
grateful it's there.

The VPN icon in the toolbar takes a bit too much space for my liking,
but if I customise the toolbar to remove it, I can't see any other
method to activate it via the menu bar or a keyboard shortcut, am I
missing something?

Maybe there could be a button added into about:networking or
something?

To use the Mozilla VPN, you must have a Mozilla account. No thanks.

Have you found a VPN that doesn't require an account?
--- Synchronet 3.21f-Linux NewsLink 1.2