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Comment by vatueil | Hacker News Reader

Why the "Middle East"?

AdGuard and similar apps such as Blokada function as local VPNs, as mentioned, so most traffic does not pass through any particular external server.

The AdGuard app does use AdGuard's DNS servers, so DNS traffic passes through their servers in Russia: https://community.spiceworks.com/tools/ip-lookup/results?hos...

AdGuard says they do not log DNS queries.

The company was founded in Moscow in 2009. In 2017, they changed their official headquarters to Cyprus: https://adguard.com/en/blog/the-chronicle-of-adguard/amp.htm...

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> The AdGuard app does use AdGuard's DNS servers

Well, no it does not if you don't explicitly choose AdGuard DNS among other DNS servers. It filters everything locally.

> through their servers in Russia

I see no servers in Russia on the map: https://adguard.com/en/adguard-dns/overview.html

Thanks, I didn't notice the app does not currently enable DNS filtering by default. I do frequently see posts especially on reddit recommending dns.adguard.com, so for a number of users the DNS service may be their main exposure to AdGuard.

You're an AdGuard developer, I take it? Based on your Show HN post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18238503

Would you happen to know why AdGuard's IP addresses point to Russia, if you no longer have servers there?

The link I previously posted is simply a tool to look up AdGuard's DNS address: https://community.spiceworks.com/tools/ip-lookup/results?hos...

Any HN users can look up the same information themselves.

> Would you happen to know why AdGuard's IP addresses point to Russia

The link shows the owner of the AS, not the location of the servers.

The IP address itself belongs to an AS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_system_(Internet)) that belongs to a Russian hosting company, and we have a long term rent contract on this subnet (with a purchase option), and we'll eventually acquire it.

To check where it really leads you should see the output of `traceroute 176.103.130.130`. However, this is also not the best option because AG DNS uses anycast (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anycast), and the route depends on your location.

IIRC traceroute was how I originally looked it up locally. I posted the link for convenience. Perhaps I misinterpreted the results, though.

I'll have to take your word for it that the Russian IP address you use does not mean you have a server there. Thanks for the explanation.

Why the "Middle East"?

Because that's where the company is headquartered: Cyprus, which has Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt for neighbors. The Middle East.

Technically that's not wrong, but Cyprus is an EU and Eurozone country.

Why not just say "Cyprus" rather than using the "Middle East" appellative?

Because it's small. The same way I could use "South America" for Uruguay, or "Eastern Europe" for Slovakia, but "China" for China, and "Russia" for Russia.

The problems with calling AdGuard untrustworthy because it's a "rando VPN in the Middle East" are threefold:

- The app is a local VPN so your data doesn't leave your device, except for their DNS feature.

- Cyprus is in the EU, so it's not what most people would think of as the "Middle East". The boundaries of the Middle East are man-made, not natural, and Cyprus is often considered closer to Europe these days.

- There may be concerns regarding certain states in the region, but implying "Middle East" is a pejorative is a bit crass.

TBH I'm more worried about AdGuard's Russian connections, though an AdGuard developer offered reassurances above.

If you're going to raise concerns about AdGuard, at least make them accurate.

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