Hacker News Reader

Comment by a2128 | Hacker News Reader

On the home page they have a comparison table with other VPN providers, including Mullvad. One of the comparisons is "Require no Personal Data on sign up" and it's a green checkmark for both themselves and Mullvad. Yet when I click sign up, I get asked for a username, an optional email, and password. To imply this is on the same level as Mullvad, where you're already done when you click sign up, feels a bit disingenuous.

View on HN

Nah, that’s just semantics at this point.

Mullvad runs the “random user generator” function for you and just gives you a random number. This lets you run that random generator yourself. If you’re concerned about personal information, the final result is the same.

Mullvad makes it so that you can’t even accidentally give them information they don’t need. This leaves it up to your own discretion. I don’t think it’s disingenuous.

I don't think such important data should be left up to the user's discretion by a supposedly privacy-focused company.

If they're okay with allowing users to enter a personal username, email address, and a password that's probably not unique, and if the attitude is "privacy-concerned people should just know xyz" then I have to wonder what other things they apply this attitude to

> Service (A): pick a random username

> Service (B): click 'here' to generate a random username

(A) is claiming to not require any "personal data". (B) is claiming to not require any "personal data".

I'd agree with both A and B's statement. Neither of them are "disingenuous". (B) makes it bulletproof for the stupidest of the stupidest of users. If you use the username "DreadPirateRoberts" across all online services you use. Then act surprised because someone was able to correlate DPR between service X and service Y, It's not service X or Y's fault. You're just a dumbass. Mullvad didn't want to be even remotely in that business. Whether or not their users are bonafide dumbasses or not, they said "fuck it, you morons don't even get to pick your usernames". Which I'm honestly all for. People are stupid and will often and frequently (including the original DPR) get themselves into trouble by being stupid. But I don't see anything that's disingenuous as OP put it about them marking themselves as "don't require personal information"

>Nah, that’s just semantics at this point.

You talking about the green checkmark?

He's talking about the distinction - anybody concerned with privacy should probably be capable of producing or otherwise finding a random username and password.

I tried it myself and I agree with the reply--it's really not a problem. The email is optional and they provide a "smash keyboard" button to enter a random username. If you don't enter an email, that's it; there's no personal information.

The comparison table is also just wrong, mullvad does have own servers, and mullvad also has RAM-only servers, and the price is also kind of misleading.

Mullvad is always €5, Azire is only €5 if you pay an entire year upfront.

This would make me not choose them.

Mullvad has both rented and owned, same for RAM or storage. Azire went 100%, I think this is what they're trying to highlight.

However a downside is that they'll be quite limited in reacting quickly and ramping up their network, which may happen if they get a significant inflow of users.

> mullvad also has RAM-only servers

What is that supposed to mean? You could have a rack full of PXE-booting machines - or SAN-based storage and technically be honest calling them “RAM-only”.

Are you being serious?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com