More than “mildly infuriating”, this is deeply depressing.
(And seeing TikTok two times there don’t make things better…)
How good is adguard VPN? Got a good deal on 5 years of it.
Its a shame so many people are trying to go for Proton since they expressed support for a Trump pick
Wasn’t it just the CEO?
Nope. They shared this from the company account on Bluesky and Mastodon.
What’s a good non-EU alternative, if it gets to that point?
For VPN, so many but I’m using Windscribe (based in Canada)
They make some pretty good arguments there.
they literally claimed that the republicans, who are bankrolled by big tech and want to gut net neutrality and encryption, would be good for the internet and privacy
While I am deeply disappointed by the message, their actions in the industry have still been generally positive over the years and their services remain one of the only reasonable alternatives to google, apple, and microsoft’s cloud services. Outside of the VPN, Their UX still needs work before I can say its ready for the average person - but It’s still good enough for most people here who have some base level of technological literacy.
Though I am now looking for and hoping for an alternative to crop up somewhere.
cozying up to a five eyes country isn’t a good look for a privacy company
I for one, while being as anti-trump as it gets, do not judge a company and their service based on the political view of an individual that works there. Yes there are some principle decisions that one can make but the software itself is good and the service they offer.
i mean andy doesnt just work there hes the literal ceo and 1/5th of the board
I wish USA was as free as Venezuela to allow TikTok. It sucks living under a fascist terror empire.
“as free as Venezuela”
My brother in Christ, I have news for you.
I wonder if people know why they are downloading and using a VPN. Especially when you’re talking about the more sketchy ones.
To avoid region locking. Anything else regarding security is just bogus talk they trying sell you.
Considering that there is a ton of censorship there I think they definitely know why.
Source?
It’s my understanding the issue isn’t Venezuelan officials censoring, so much as other countries blocking access from Venezuelan users.
Ok, tankie. The government is even censoring the Venezuelan Mastodon instance
It is very likely Venezuela censoring.
What are you basing this assumption on?
Reports on the Venezuela government
Is that because of the political situation? Like repression, internet censorship… Or an unrelated trend?
Yeah, is political. We can enter twitter (not that I care) and other sites.
Just read the government is currently also on a VPN banning spree. I guess that list is going to change frequently now, if people continue with watching Youtube, Instagram and Twitter.
My top apps are all shopping apps, discount apps, WhatsApp, ChatGPT, TEMU, video streaming and TikTok is there, too. VPN comes further down along with dating apps and then it gets quite random. Guess in Germany our biggest worry is to save some money when grocery shopping…
You are the third person from a different third country to mention Temu. What on earth is so good about Temu? Legit question 😭
Temu has a pretty sketchy history and some how manages to be so much worse than Amazon.
Then why is so famous around the globe? 😭
Because people like cheap stuff. Need a phone case? Harry Potter merchandise knockoffs, socks, a brush for your arts project? TEMU has that for $0.61, delivered to your door.
And as far as I know it’s sponsored by the Chinese government. They chip in with forced labor camps. And they also invested massively in advertising and making it a thing.
I wouldn’t buy from them. As far as I know the app is also spying on the users etc. But yeah, enough people seem to buy stuff there. I suppose it’s cheap and convenient and people don’t care. It’s kind of depressing. I agree.
Isn’t Alibaba the same shit?
Well, at least the No. 1 spot is a trustworthy VPN.
Yeah, but the other two… (And fucking TikTok there twice! TWICE!)
at least its proton vpn instead of the scammy ones.
Apparently the CEO of proton is a big trumper now :(
And?
Trusting shady people with your internet traffic and email is generally a bad idea.
They are not “shady” as a company and you know that, you are just doing a political protest
Nothing wrong with that
Should I still be using Surfshark? I only use it because it’s fast.
Careful who you trust, proton is trump scum
Just found out today. this is why we cant have nice things.
You fell for a sensationalising post.
Is it wrong?
If you mean that Proton is a scum you are writing something that is false. Proton is doing many things that are usefull and right. Should I elaborate?
I didn’t write anything, I just asked if the message about proton’s head supporting Trump was false.
Weird… No response.
Maybe you should have worded the question like that from the beginning. It is hard to tell what you mean otherwise.
No, you just didnt read. The sequence was
- Someone else says proton is pro trump
- You say they fell for a sensationalizing post
- I asked but is it wrong, though
This isn’t confusing or ambiguous.
Venezuela is one of those countries that just constantly seems to be in a bad state. I can’t imagine living under a government that disrespects its people.
As it turns out unalienable rights are totally alienable
Self-centered USAmericans thinking Venezuela is the way it is because of them, ha. The USA has just followed in Venezuela’s footsteps, electing a dictator
May i ask how is the censorship in venezuela?
It looks like TikTok is still available so it’s better than USA.
Tiktok isn’t banned in Saudi either. Does that make us better than the USA, too?
Tiktok being banned in the US is pretty authoritarian, but using it as the only metric is BS.
Is not north Korea nor China, I can assure you that.
So it’s not too bad? with how corrupt venezuela is, you’d think they would censor a lot of things. That’s how it works in most corrupt countries including mine at least.
It is very weird. The normal thing here is to throw shit at the government, at least at street level. I have heard that in social networks they are much tougher, I just have not experienced it because I no longer use the Mainstream social networks. There are blockades and restrictions, but they are punctual rather than general.
It seems to me they know that if they were to go full North Korea or China, it would be counterproductive for them, since people are already fed up. China is restrictive, but at least it is prosperous in its own way; and North Korea has decades of propaganda educating its population. Here there is neither.
Hi! I used to live in a US city with lots of recent Venezuelan immigrants. They would tell me about how difficult things were in Venezuela, but that they missed it a lot. Their faces would light up when I would ask them about things they liked about home. They also seemed to have hope that things in Venezuela would improve and they could move back. It must be really difficult to leave one’s country to another for economic and political reasons. They didn’t truly want to leave, so they miss home, never really acculturate, and feel alienated. I have been to several other countries myself for extended periods. Many of them were well-developed and welcoming of Americans. Some even had characteristics that I found better than in the US. Regardless, I found myself missing home a lot.
I don’t know if it makes any difference what I tell you, but wanted you to know that the recent Venezuelan immigrants I’ve met in the US still have their heart in Venezuela.
It is difficult to eliminate Venezuela from one’s heart. Every brother and sister who leaves dreams of coming back, because for us there is nothing like our homeland…
I’m Brazilian and I know that feeling. “There’s no place like home.”
That’s very admirable of you guys. Unfortunately we in other third world countries are completely submissive, and will allow ourselves to be pushed around. I mean, we are pretty prosperous in KSA too, but it’s not worth living like a slave imo.
I don’t know about state violence in venezuela, but i’ll assume it’s like ours/other countries. So stay safe.
Have you been to any of those places? It feels weird to use North Korea as a comparison.
No. To be frank, it is a quick and superficial comparison trying to take as a reference countries with a “similar” ideological alignment to Venezuela.
Although that too is questionable, because, from what I have researched, Maduro’s government is only “socialist” in name.
Isn’t tiktok free? Why would you need a lite version. Is it for old phones that can’t run much?
Yes, is for old phones and such. A mutual told me the main app is bad optimized, and a lot of smartphone here are very VERY old. Mine have like 5 years or so, I think that’s like 5 decades in more “develop” countries.
Third-world shenanigans, you know.
Proton VPN is one of the few great ones, along with Mullvad and Windscribe
They just came out in support of the Republicans today, sadly.
They as Proton did not.
Their current CEO did.
Massive difference, this may be their personal opinion but surely it does not speak for the whole company.
They shared this from the company account.
I did not realoze that, cancelling this shit now.
