Review my startup [styxvpn.com] + free account giveaway | Hacker News Reader

Review my startup [styxvpn.com] + free account giveaway

styxvpn.com

6 pointsevannyx30 comments

On your features page you say "Know that while connected to StyxVPN your privacy is foremost in our minds. We don't keep records of what you do or where you go or what you do and prevent your ISP and anyone else who is curious from doing the same."

How do you plan on withstanding network provider (and their upstream) pressure in response to DMCA notices related to file sharing activity?

As you are operating network equipment (a VPN concentrator) in the US, how are you complying with CALEA and still preserving the privacy of your users?

You operate on a monthly recurring billing model. What prevents a LEA from subpoenaing billing records to determine who is using your service and then comparing traffic patterns with CALEA captures from your network provider and your customer's network providers?

  How do you plan on withstanding network provider (and their upstream) pressure in response to DMCA notices related to file sharing activity?

Throughout our experience in the vpnworld most of the letters generated from this have been spam or bot generated and while we worked for other companies, there responses varied. We will address each on a case by case basis with our in-house counsel and/ /take the appropriate steps to resolve it swiftly.

  As you are operating network equipment (a VPN concentrator) in the US, how are you complying with CALEA and still preserving the privacy of your users?

Through the research of our legal representation we are not a concentrator though that may be the closest designation to what we do. We have found that our model falls outside of any within the CALEA while many of our larger competitors that also are ISP's do not.

  You operate on a monthly recurring billing model. What prevents a LEA from subpoenaing billing records to determine who is using your service and then comparing traffic patterns with CALEA captures from your network provider and your customer's network providers?

Could this happen? Absolutely, though there are no documented cases of this we have found that deal with a personal VPN provider on record and many of our competitors have been in business a great deal longer. I would imagine as well that something like this could be done without subpoena as well through back door channels should their be a particular dire need. There is no perfect privacy whatsoever and as individuals in a free society we must take responsibility for our own actions.

Thanks for the reply.

I guess I don't see how you can terminate VPN connections from users and not be a VPN concentrator but since you have a loophole, best of luck to you!

I have a small pile of routers with 3DES cards for terminating business VPNs at work (ISP) and have pondered offering end-user VPNs but the potential legal hassles weren't worth it to us.

Bonus: Watch American TV on Hulu and Listen to music on Last.fm / Pandora even if you don't live in the US

From a user point of view, I think that's pretty cool. However, are you sure it's legal? I'd think it's greyish at best (but IANAL), and you might get a lot of unwanted attention from the big media companies for advertising this so openly. Are you sure you have the pockets to stand up to them in court even if you are sure that it's legal?

" Bonus: Watch American TV on Hulu and Listen to music on Last.fm / Pandora even if you don't live in the US"

I almost left the site, then it clicked features. Meh. Then I saw those lines and thought WOW, s/he's got something going here.

Take away: Stop listing features and start listing benefits. Otherwise lot of users will miss out on a great app, and you may miss out on your opportunity.

I'm not sure I understand...isn't being able to watch online American TV / listen to American radio a benefit? or do you mean we should replace the features page with "benefits" such as being able to browse US-only websites?

The second; you want to answer not "what does this do" but "how will this impact my life".

"replace the features page with "benefits""

Yes.

We have had many combined years of experience in this field and have decided to push our own offering to simplify ones experience. Regarding the IANAL aspect you can see here http://tinyurl.com/2bd45en where the #1 act in the world understand the stakes and where the true money is made. As for the pockets to stand up to them in Court, I would imagine there aren't many folks that do. We have quality legal minds on staff that are available 24hrs a day

Regarding the IANAL aspect you can see here http://tinyurl.com/2bd45en where the #1 act in the world understand the stakes and where the true money is made.

Oh, I don't doubt that many artists would welcome your service if it leads to a broader, more international audience. Yet I somehow doubt that the labels and their lawyers are necessarily going to be of the same opinion.

Anyway, if I may digress, if you happen to be offering the reverse service at some point, I'd like to watch German RTL Formula One coverage from the US. RTL even offers an iPhone app for that, but they check the user's location and block viewers not residing in Germany... :-(

These arbitrary "market segmentations" are really annoying and not the least in the interest in the viewer (who, sadly, is not the customer...). Good luck toppling them, I'll root for you.

Design wise:

The https://www.styxvpn.com/aboutus.php page could use some better line height in the small paragraph blurbs (something like line-height: 1.5; or so).

Usability wise: It would look more professional to have your email address for support formatted like a normal email. Javascript or even an image would do that for you. Not sure how unexperienced users would understand "support [at] styxvpn [dot] com”

Ps: Would there be a way for users – mac users in particular – to use the service with the built in VPN software?

Any free accounts still floating around? :)

Design is nice. SSL certificate is fine for me (chrome). On the signup page the 'Sign up now' button is off center (http://www.pastethat.com/CemUT). Although you hint at it with Hulu and Pandora, you may want to add that the servers are located in the USA. In the future you could think about adding a server in the UK, BBC iPlayer has very good content.

Thank you for the feedback!

We are planning to expand in Europe (UK, Sweden, Switzerland and possibly Germany) and Asia (HK).

I have added our servers' location to the main page too.

Thanks again!

Any feedback / criticism is most welcome!

I've launched a few days ago and it's currently in beta mode. I'm giving away 30 1-month accounts to HN members. Just send me an email (admin@styxvpn.com) and I'll get your account up and running in few minutes.

We only have US servers at this point, but we're expanding in Europe and Asia in the next few months. There are no speed limits and no transfer limits.

Thank you!

Chrome says: "The site's security certificate is not trusted!" Fix that ASAP.

Thank you!

I ran into the same problem when I used a GandiSSL certificate (Firefox complained, but not Chrome). I'm now using a PositiveSSL certificate.

Are you running the latest version of Chrome by any chance?

We are almost done fixing the SSL problem. Bear in mind that it does not affect the security of your VPN connection. Thank you for pointing it out!

Firefox says the same thing.

I have a 1024x768 screen, and the monitor logo on the right side of the page is extending up and partially blocking 'Sign Up', 'Affiliates', and 'Contact Us'.

Have you tested the website thoroughly on smaller screens?

Yes, I used ViewLikeUS ( http://viewlike.us/?url=www.styxvpn.com&button.x=0&b... )..didn't see any problems. Strange, what browser are you using?

Along the same topic I use a tilling window manager and will often have my screen squashed with terminals to the side. This http://imgur.com/SJVZW.png is what I see.

Chrome on linux.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9215/screenshot1ig.png

it could possibly be my fault, it's the dev channel chrome, '6.0.408.1 dev'

edit: it does the same thing with Firefox 3, so it's not Chrome's fault.

I _think_ it has something to do with the fonts on Linux. I will have to check my nix box.

After navigating to any other page the navigation buttons no longer work. I viewed it on an iPad. Also there are quite a few spelling mistakes on the 'Features' page.

I haven't tested it on an iPad..will try to in the next few days.

Apologies for the spelling mistakes, we should have put more QA in the website :)

Thank you for the feedback!

I think some of these download sites will pay you to get their traffic back. Several lose users due to content sites blocking users. Either that or they can push your app to their users and you do not have to share revenue since users need your app. Great potential, IMHO.

Are you talking about Hulu / Pandora / Last.fm etc?

15 accounts left :)

Love the domain name. Like the site's visual style.

Thank you :)

Greek mythology FTW!

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