After the #Mullvad scandal a lot of folks had been looking around for a VPN provider they can trust.
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@rysiek @activistchecklist proton is plagued by the same issues as mullvad, a fascist ceo, why don't they remove that option, i wonder?
not to mention proton *has* in fact handed over customer data and PII to governments in the past, so especially for the activistchecklist it is questionable@samuel@social.whatshouldyoueat.com @activistchecklist@kolektiva.social @rysiek@mstdn.social i personally trust windscribe WAY more than proton
they also have pretty good free plan
and they don't do any ad campaigns to spread the service
and they support anonymous payment, down to even cash-by-mail as a last resort, iirc, also crypto, and completely anonymous "hashed" accounts that do not have an email or password, just a magic token
and apparently their ceo got in trouble w greek courts but the "no logs" held through (and has had some sort of audit)
tho the normal price for paid plans is a bit too high for me personally, they do honor discounted prices for however long you keep paying for, if you get one
but one of the times i've mentioned it, someone raised some negative points too, i forget what, but i guess they're not flawless either, i do remember it wasn't entirely baseless tho -
After the #Mullvad scandal a lot of folks had been looking around for a VPN provider they can trust.
The wonderful @activistchecklist got you covered there:
https://activistchecklist.org/vpn/Not only does it list recommended VPNs and reasons for their recommendation (along with those they don't recommend, and why), but also explains what VPNs are good for, what they are not good for, and why giving VPN advice is so hard.
Clearly a lot of research, care, and thoughtful design went into this.
Love it super site highly recommend
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After the #Mullvad scandal a lot of folks had been looking around for a VPN provider they can trust.
The wonderful @activistchecklist got you covered there:
https://activistchecklist.org/vpn/Not only does it list recommended VPNs and reasons for their recommendation (along with those they don't recommend, and why), but also explains what VPNs are good for, what they are not good for, and why giving VPN advice is so hard.
Clearly a lot of research, care, and thoughtful design went into this.
@rysiek @activistchecklist what scandal, the donation?
Have you read Daniel's statement about it? https://dberntsson.info/2026/07/20/orebropartiet/
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> Their VPN technology is still the best out there, but one of their co-founders recently ruined their stellar reputation by donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to a far-right political party in Sweden.
Idk if I'd call ÖP a far right party, they're a hodgepodge of everything imo. Mullvad doesn't support them, and what their co-founders choose to do with their money is none of my concern (as long as it's legal).
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@rysiek @activistchecklist what scandal, the donation?
Have you read Daniel's statement about it? https://dberntsson.info/2026/07/20/orebropartiet/
@dynom @activistchecklist ah yes the "I support the xenophobic fascist party because I want the mainstream parties to feel the pain, and besides they will never gain power" BS.
That has never backfired, ever.
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@dynom @activistchecklist ah yes the "I support the xenophobic fascist party because I want the mainstream parties to feel the pain, and besides they will never gain power" BS.
That has never backfired, ever.
@rysiek @activistchecklist ditching an entire Service Provider because someone of the team does things that don't align with your world views will narrow the scope of things you can use significantly.
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@rysiek @activistchecklist ditching an entire Service Provider because someone of the team does things that don't align with your world views will narrow the scope of things you can use significantly.
@dynom @activistchecklist this is not "someone from the team", this is a co-founder and an owner of 50% of the company. Your attempt at rhetorical minimization is noted though.
This means that some non-trivial amount of money paid to Mullvad ends up in his pocket, and some of that money then goes to support a fascist xenophobic political party.
That's a direct enough link between my wallet and a fascist party's bank account for me to never pay any money to Mullvad.
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@dynom @activistchecklist this is not "someone from the team", this is a co-founder and an owner of 50% of the company. Your attempt at rhetorical minimization is noted though.
This means that some non-trivial amount of money paid to Mullvad ends up in his pocket, and some of that money then goes to support a fascist xenophobic political party.
That's a direct enough link between my wallet and a fascist party's bank account for me to never pay any money to Mullvad.
@rysiek @activistchecklist right, minimalize, so where do you draw the line, 50%? 25%? 5%?
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@samuel @rysiek @activistchecklist
He's not a fascist CEO. That whole thing was WAY overblown by folks. I'm linking a post on Medium that takes a pretty deep dive on that whole thing. Unfortunately people just keep repeating it without explaining or knowing the details.
As for them handing over customer data, again, any company is going to hand over the data required by laws. The question is, what data do they have stored that could be a problem. Activists can use free accounts for Proton services and never provide any payment information which has been the main issue in various cases.
@bss @samuel @rysiek @activistchecklist
Thank you for the article very good one
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@rysiek @activistchecklist right, minimalize, so where do you draw the line, 50%? 25%? 5%?
@dynom @activistchecklist and where do you draw the line? Do you at all? Would you use a 100% fascist-owned communication tool? Would you use Xitter?
I don't have to commit to a specific line in the sand. We're talking about this specific situation, and to me this specific situation is not acceptable. It seems acceptable to you, okay, whatever, that's your choice.
But if there is no line that you would draw, if you'd use any fascist-owned tool, I don't think we have much to talk about.
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@dynom @activistchecklist and where do you draw the line? Do you at all? Would you use a 100% fascist-owned communication tool? Would you use Xitter?
I don't have to commit to a specific line in the sand. We're talking about this specific situation, and to me this specific situation is not acceptable. It seems acceptable to you, okay, whatever, that's your choice.
But if there is no line that you would draw, if you'd use any fascist-owned tool, I don't think we have much to talk about.
@rysiek @activistchecklist you mention that a percentage in a venture is a relevant element, because "just some in the team" is "minimizing". So i ask about the relevance of that element.
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@rysiek @activistchecklist you mention that a percentage in a venture is a relevant element, because "just some in the team" is "minimizing". So i ask about the relevance of that element.
@dynom @activistchecklist it is relevant, because it is not trivial. But I don't have to commit to a *specific* line in the sand, because there are many more factors that come into that sort of decision.
We make these sorts of decisions all the time. How much salt by % mass is too much in your food? You know when it's too much, and you know when it's not, but giving a specific number is not in any way useful.
You are trying to create a rhetorical trap, and I am not interested in that.
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After the #Mullvad scandal a lot of folks had been looking around for a VPN provider they can trust.
The wonderful @activistchecklist got you covered there:
https://activistchecklist.org/vpn/Not only does it list recommended VPNs and reasons for their recommendation (along with those they don't recommend, and why), but also explains what VPNs are good for, what they are not good for, and why giving VPN advice is so hard.
Clearly a lot of research, care, and thoughtful design went into this.
@rysiek @activistchecklist what a honeypot of a website is that? Use Njal.la . It is not even mentioned in their list, which shows to me they are total beginners at what they are doing or are a honeypot.
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@rysiek @activistchecklist what a honeypot of a website is that? Use Njal.la . It is not even mentioned in their list, which shows to me they are total beginners at what they are doing or are a honeypot.
@rafa @rysiek Yeah honestly I forgot Njalla runs a VPN. It would however be in our "yellow" section because it's never received a public security audit. Njalla is great for hosting and domains especially because they accept Monero. But given that there are other alternatives that have been more rigorously audited, it's not going to make the top of our list.
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@rafa @rysiek Yeah honestly I forgot Njalla runs a VPN. It would however be in our "yellow" section because it's never received a public security audit. Njalla is great for hosting and domains especially because they accept Monero. But given that there are other alternatives that have been more rigorously audited, it's not going to make the top of our list.
@activistchecklist @rafa ping @njalla so how about an audit?
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After the #Mullvad scandal a lot of folks had been looking around for a VPN provider they can trust.
The wonderful @activistchecklist got you covered there:
https://activistchecklist.org/vpn/Not only does it list recommended VPNs and reasons for their recommendation (along with those they don't recommend, and why), but also explains what VPNs are good for, what they are not good for, and why giving VPN advice is so hard.
Clearly a lot of research, care, and thoughtful design went into this.
@rysiek@mstdn.social @activistchecklist@kolektiva.social... Riseup ... have a long history of pushing back on government legal requests.
Didn't Riseup disclosed 2 of its mailbox users' data to the FBI previously? -
After the #Mullvad scandal a lot of folks had been looking around for a VPN provider they can trust.
The wonderful @activistchecklist got you covered there:
https://activistchecklist.org/vpn/Not only does it list recommended VPNs and reasons for their recommendation (along with those they don't recommend, and why), but also explains what VPNs are good for, what they are not good for, and why giving VPN advice is so hard.
Clearly a lot of research, care, and thoughtful design went into this.
@rysiek what happened to Mullvad?
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After the #Mullvad scandal a lot of folks had been looking around for a VPN provider they can trust.
The wonderful @activistchecklist got you covered there:
https://activistchecklist.org/vpn/Not only does it list recommended VPNs and reasons for their recommendation (along with those they don't recommend, and why), but also explains what VPNs are good for, what they are not good for, and why giving VPN advice is so hard.
Clearly a lot of research, care, and thoughtful design went into this.
@rysiek @activistchecklist Having an openly transphobic company in the "maybe good" section makes me distrust the entire list
Proton being in the recommended section, while their Trump-loving CEO donates to fascists and complains of people being triggered, isn't a great look either.
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@rysiek@mstdn.social @activistchecklist@kolektiva.social
... Riseup ... have a long history of pushing back on government legal requests.
Didn't Riseup disclosed 2 of its mailbox users' data to the FBI previously?@Orca @activistchecklist "long history of pushing back" is not the same as "has never ever even once had to disclose some data"
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