Sens Ask Gabbard to Tell Americans That VPN Use Subjects Them to Surveillance | Hacker News Reader

Sens Ask Gabbard to Tell Americans That VPN Use Subjects Them to Surveillance

techdirt.com

40 pointsc42011 comments

This is almost certainly much less interesting than it sounds. It's effectively saying that if you're in the US, your network path is probably from one part of the US to another for many of your communications. (eg: Utah to Palo Alto, New York to Virginia, etc) These communications would not be surveilled.

But, if you send 100% of your communications through a consumer VPN and therefore much of your network traffic originates outside the US, your traffic might end up getting automatically collected.

In other words, if you're outside of the US your VPN traffic is fair game for interception and storage.

If you're inside the US and use a VPN, they'll assume you're from outside of the US: Intercep and store.

To be fair… this has been known for a long time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM

No, if you're outside the US and a us citizen, your traffic is not fair game (although they do assume pretty freely if it's not immediately obvious).

If your traffic originates or terminates in the us it is not fair game

The point is that the vpn obfuscates your origin. Which is the point of a vpn so acting surprised is a little silly.

Related: Using a VPN May Subject You to NSA Spying (12 points) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47548968

Does not using a VPN free you from surveillance?

THEORETICALLY the government has _some_ restrictions against monitoring US citizens (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/soci...), and it sounds like none of those are deemed to apply if you're using a VPN, per the original article.

Many VPNs are owned and operated by organized crime, intelligence services from all kinds of nations, and cops. The idea that a VPN somehow protects you does not enjoy a rational basis.

In the same way that wearing a full-face mask frees your from recognition, yes.

It also frees you from going unnoticed, and from entering many buildings.

There is a logical counterpoint, which is that if a foreign user uses a US VPN, it immunizes them from surveillance to the extend their connection to the VPN stays secure.

There is no choice but to use a foreign VPN to access certain sites, specifically certain crypto and prediction market sites that otherwise remain inaccessible.

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