I Stopped Taking VPN Sponsorships for 2 Years...Did You Even Notice?

[@MysteryMii]

Real ones remember TunnelBear before LTT dropped them for PIA after they were bought out by McAfee.

[@ishaqahmed._]

wow i forgot they used to take sponsorships from TunnelBear. good days

[@moonkehh]

wow, i feel old

[@pedro4205]

TunnelBear was almost a part of LTT

[@TheQuickSilver101]

That feels like forever ago

[@Kylian381]

That long eh? Man we are getting old

[@SpeedWeed97]

Personally what i hate about vpn ads is the stupid fake discounts, that shit should be illegal

[@MuttleyGames]

It is in Europe...

[@randykeith1203]

​@@MuttleyGames everywhere else is fair game tmk

[@hawksnake3372]

I love the notion of ~85% off when you sign up for a 5 year plan. Mfs out here with absolutely no commitment issues, just signing up for half a decade of service from a company that’s only a few years old.

[@CREDLACE]

I believe it is INDEED illegal in Canada and Australia (at least according to IH) So yeah, Americabro, CAPITALISM AHOY!

[@staringinward]

@@hawksnake3372 I signed up for Nord using that deal when they first started and still have a subscription. I emailed them and said I'd like to extend it indefinitely and they gave me another 4 years with a Dedicated IP for 25 bucks a year. For how versatile it is at the cost and how well it works for me vs. all the others its a steal.

[@syrusxd]

saying "this video isn't sponsored by PIA" to increase credibility that your opinions are your own, then saying "PIA is our exclusive VPN partner and here's our affiliate link" while simultaneously not mentioning any other good VPN providers feels pretty misleading as a viewer

[@careem3463]

Exactly. I just don't get it, why tf would you post anything like this when you have controversy background like they do? Why just not reject idea before the script is even written? On the 15th second of the video I already have that taste in my mouth that even if that video is not ad itself, like they said, I already know that conclusion will be setup for next 5000 videos sponsored by some VPN shit. Why just not skip this part.

[@furythree]

This is assuming the alternatives passed the criteria they outlined for PIA to qualify as their partner. They basically provided a laundry list for the viewer to look for in other providers too. I dont think its linus job to do all your homework for you And an affiliate link is not a sponsorship. It's just their reccomendation that they can benefit from providing after doing the vetting KZbinrs use amazon affiliate links all the time. Doesnt mean it's an amazon sponsored video

[@baboonaiih]

Omg grow up

[@Wooskii1]

Yeah I kinda feel ya, I already got the vibe that taking a PIA sponsorship was not only already back on the table but it's been wanted/ missed/ ready & waiting for even longer. I was just hoping to hear something about the competition, specifically which VPNs to avoid and why, or which ones seem to be run in a good way (ram)/ location (BVI) but I got little more than "Trust me bro" and "We're sticking with PIA". I guess I mean the video felt less like an informative guide to VPNs, and more like just another ad for PIA.

[@syrusxd]

@@furythree while you aren't wrong, I do think its worth considering that they get paid when you sign up for PIA, and as they said in the video, they will soon be paid directly by PIA for sponsor segments. While the video doesn't have clear talking points, a writer might be more inclined to speak favorably of the company and leave out controversies, as well as not promote other good VPN options, in order to benefit PIA (and therefore, themselves as PIA may want to pay more/stay longer).

[@GileadMaerlyn]

2:15 I did that back in the 2000's. Thanks Hamachi.

[@RayRayIsCoolio]

now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time 👴🏻

[@szalaigabor1714]

That name is responsible for me becoming an engineer. (Thanks Minecraft: Tekkit & Hamachi & friends)

[@WyattOShea]

Same

[@nanielwolf5768]

Radmin vpn is cleaner, jumped to it :)

[@NETBotic]

Remember the days of people saying Hamachi wasn't secure because people were using it the wrong way?

[@amithmkini]

One thing I hate about VPN marketing is the pricing page with a countdown clock at the top offering "Limited offer". Even PIA does this bullshit. Linus, I know you are against this (see PC Speed up tools video), can you ask PIA to remove them (along with the absurd 85% off marketing)?

[@acuteaura]

it has a dual purpose, not only can they sell themselves as an awesome deal, they can also charge you all that money you supposedly saved upon auto-renewal.

[@flamingscar5263]

Bring it up on the LTTforms, they have an entire section dedicated to complaing about sponsors

[@kingchangling]

i checked the site and ran the number. they offer a 1 month plan at 11.95. for 3 years thats 430.20 USD if you paid each month per month. so while its an absurd deal saying 83% off, it isnt incorrect that you are actually saving money by subscribing for 3 years. i mean a lot of services that have monthly chargers and yearly charges usually throw in some sort of discount for when you subscribe yearly vs monthly.

[@caffeinesippingman]

Where can I save %85!?! /s

[@manuelwitrago6511]

​@@caffeinesippingman...by switching to geckos!!!subscribe NOW!!! joke.

[@c6m]

It’s hard to believe the actual controversy leading to PIA getting dropped was forgotten. It wasn’t Tom Scott’s video, that was Oct 2019. PIA getting bought by former malware peddlers Kape and the unsavoury characters that came with it was the actual story that led to them getting dropped in WAN show Feb 7 2020 (btw the unlisted QnA with them has the crypto hack link in the description lol) Kape (who are one of those 24 companies) doesn’t appear in this script and the no logs cases were from before that buy out. This is critical information when talking about safety in a less-free jurisdiction because the leadership is totally different. This isn’t meaningless nuance, missing this point is negligent. Bringing up this track record without the track record of the acquirer is dishonesty I don’t remember ever seeing in an LTT video before, it’s obscene. Teddy’s history is clearly alluded to here, so I have to assume Kape’s record came up in research. How doesn’t it get spoken about? The Deloitte audits are great counter arguments! There’s an interesting video here if it was about why to trust PIA despite Kape! But that’s a hard script to write, and honestly this video just felt like a ritual to preempt arguments before accepting VPN sponsorships again, and the eagerness to have an affiliate link in this video really drove that point home. FWIW I don’t mind VPN sponsorships, I do mind revisionist history and critical questions being sidestepped knowingly or unknowingly (and I don’t know which is worse). I used to trust LMG a lot, but this has me really reevaluating that in a way I didn’t expect.

[@layth888]

This I also remember kape being the sole reason why they dropped them like how they dropped tunnel bear when Mcafee bought them. They were probably asked which VPN they recommend and alot of them used PIA so I get the idea of going with PIA but I dont want the justfications of why you are taking PIA to be that they are different from the rest more so that out of the ones that are easily accessible and easy to use this is the one we have been using and it has worked great for us. But the transparency and the way you do this type of journalism is extremly important. The way the scirpt was written you would think that PIA isnt part of those 24 companies. The track record like you talked about was before the acquisition. And open source doesnt mean safe. it means it has the ablity to be reviewed. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth i dont mind VPNs sponsherships but this felt a bit biased with some intent to make PIA look much better. The video did leave some indirect messaging like the deloitte audits as counter arguments but again the full context was not given here

[@yeetisnomore]

I was def worried about Kape, and really glad someone brought it up in comments. Thanks dude!

[@MrJcTTK]

@@Celphirio i thought they said that they did pay for it

[@turtlelore2]

​@Celphirio just putting it out there, but why are you still watching then? By the metric that most of you guys put out, literally every single KZbin channel would be considered bad. Sponsorship = bad Not enough detail = bad Association with scandal = bad Getting money = bad I'm not saying ltt is perfect. But getting angry at someone for playing the game that is set up for them isn't going to solve anything. You don't have to like the real world, but you have to live in it.

[@DeinonychusCowboy]

This is a really weird aggressive take vs "it has literally been half a decade and the complex details were forgotten or difficult to distill into a video" dude. Hanlon's razor. Also chill out.

[@schnow265]

Mullvard allows you to mail them your subscription in cash. Yes, MAILING.

[@BronyumHexofloride]

Or pay with Monero

[@guyman7776]

I used to use Mullvad for a while but man them dropping port forwarding is a huge bummer that I had to drop them.

[@mostsaneperson]

although it’s not tied to billing info your address is still on it tho

[@pixelPantsuu]

@@mostsaneperson put a different address on it?

[@seraph535]

Sadly if I tried that, the post workers would probably take the cash out of the envelope before it got to Mullvads post box

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

Tom Scott very specifically worked with a VPN provider only when they approved a script that wasn't false. He always wanted to work with VPNs. His original VPN takedown script was SUPPOSED to be sponsored by a VPN company, but they refused.

[@Andreas0427]

@@juanmondragon They kept trying to change the script, Tom even says so in the video: "I found a company that was willing to sponsor the video. Unfortunately, they kept asking for changes, and we disagreed on those, so at the last minute I have had to blank their name out."

[@ArthurRichardSole]

​@@juanmondragonTom's first VPN video was meant to be sponsered by a VPN company. They wanted a lot of last minute changes to the script they couldn't come to an agreement on so Tom had to block out the name in the video.

[@theEtch]

yeah his video about it actually forced them to do that, and for some time other youtubers' sponsorships were also less FOMO heavy, but that seems to have somewhat reversed again lately...

[@kay1229]

I thought that was just a joke lol

[@mkennedy150]

Still sounds like an Ad for PIA. Would have nice to see a comparison between top VPNs.

[@cerealport2726]

I never really trusted that commercially available cheap/free VPNs would be anywhere near as secure or private as advertised, but they do make it easy to "change" countries.

[@IndianGeek5589]

Proton VPN has a decent free tier. And they're trusted by everyone I think.

[@Fiirow1]

@@IndianGeek5589 Are there ads? If not, then they are making their money with your data. I have no faith in "free" products when they have a large upkeep cost, and VPN servers do have a rather large upkeep cost, and nobody is gonna spend that much money for nothing.

[@TheBigAEC]

​@@IndianGeek5589they stopped giving the option to pick servers on the free tier. When I'm financially capable of paying for a VPN I'm picking PIA instead because of that.

[@ExperiMentalDon]

​@@IndianGeek5589I've never used it, but just remember that trustED and trustWORTHY are two different things.

[@armaan_44]

@@IndianGeek5589even proton vpn has now gone to scummy side, they force you a random free server and put a timer when you try to change it

[@RIPSLYMEFAN]

If it isn’t Mullvad then what is it

[@Padlock_Steve]

nord

[@BrandonDoran00]

Proton

[@ansonx10]

Trash, probably. Mullvad seems really good

[@i-wanna-be-adored]

AirVPN , mullvad no longer has port forwarding

[@Weeblon]

@@ansonx10 maybe also proton but definetly Mullvad

[@svgPhoenix]

I laughed when they suggested getting a fake email from Proton mail, but then didn't even acknowledge Proton VPN

[@Wolphie]

Agreed, it's a solid vpn as well ngl

[@PerKroon]

Proton VPN are really worth mentioning. Just the fact that is located in a country with the world strictest privacy and monetary laws combined with no logs makes it one of the best. But again a VPN are not safe so any of them (logs or not) can leak data.

[@1da1a172]

You're not wrong. But also, maybe get your fake ID and the thing you are buying with the fake ID from two different places.

[@JansHeikkinen]

@@PerKroon I hope you're aware that those ""laws"" you mention haven't held up in the past. While ProtonVPN is a pretty good service, I'd still be quite wary of it. They don't have the greatest track record, considering, on the email side of things, that climate activist they helped French authorities catch by logging IPs...

[@Owen2108]

@@PerKroon Maybe they 'can'. But Proton haasnt had a single leak since 2017. No scandals, no false promises, unlimited free or paid version, the endorsement of the entire darknet (the merchants, importantly). In my opinion, nothing tops it, whether that be the service quality alone or including the administrative aspect.

[@BenjaminEmm]

The crazy marketing tactics are what get me. Even going through Linus' link it's "GET 82% OFF + 4 MONTHS FREE!!!" Then when you get to their checkout there is a timer ticking down, making them look like the sketchy "speed up your PC" tools in a previous LTT video. All of that on top of the option being to buy it for two years, and in big bold letters it's priced per month, it's not until you (maybe) read the tiny grey text on an already grey background you see the price for the year. Oh, and you can't just buy 1 year. It's 1 month, 6 months, or 2 years!

[@thegreatdodo5092]

Surprised he's a sellout? Look up proton - the only real option

[@truffles]

You can buy 1 year. It's right on their website when you click Get PIA VPN

[@threetrees313]

I signed up back when he was sponsered by them and its a recurring yearly sub for like £30. Can use it on 10 devices too so got my family using it. £30 a year for 10 people is pretty damn good value i think!

[@threetrees313]

@Nigelfarij Because £30 divided by 10 = £3. For a year. In fairness I do pay the full 30 and let everyone leach of me but If I got everyone to chip in it would be £3 each.

[@threetrees313]

@Nigelfarij Just checked and now it's unlimeted devices! So I could literally share my account with the world lol

[@thilom.9925]

I am from Germany and I have been using a VPN for years now to access most of the US streaming services (Netflix, MAX, Hulu, Shudder, Paramount, Starz, etc.), buy & rent movies from Fandango or Vudu and get US video recommendations on KZbin. And I love it! And thats what I am paying for. I never believed the protection bs, VPN providers claimed... And I absolutely HATE when KZbin channels brainlessly read out the standard text they agreed on for the promotion deal.

[@gogereaver349]

why i am a pia fan they never said these things.

[@realcartoongirl]

nah you obviously didn't pay for all of those services at once clearly you use vpn for "activities"

[@mastroitek]

I read online that in gemany it is "legal" to pirate stuff for private use, you know if that is true?

[@ThePogo09]

@@mastroitek it is legal to make a "privatkopie" which means that you can copy media you bought for privat use. but you acutally cant because as soon as you download it without buying or bypass any copyprotection its illegal so technical yes its legal, practically its not

[@Vss077]

for netflix ur account have to be made with the US vpn then. when i try to connect from my netflix account with an US ip it wont show all movies/series - basically only the ones that a licensed world wide. "When Netflix is ​​used through a VPN, we only show series and films for which we have worldwide rights, such as Squid Game or Stranger Things ." so the whole thing is kinda useless if u want to hop countries & either have multiple accounts or always missing some content. so in short: marketing bs. since its not like that as they claimed to be.

[@realcartoongirl]

the problem with vpns is a lot of people use the same ip and websites will flag "suspicious activity" every time you visit any site

[@jboblk]

The captas are so annoying

[@PhyloGenesis]

The more people that use VPNs, the less websites will be able to reject that traffic because they will lose too many users.

[@lightingman117]

Plus CGNAT keeps expanding. I'm amazed they can flag anyone these days.

[@saidtorres3]

​@@lightingman117Only fortunate residential people do not have CGNAT.

[@MAST]

@@PhyloGenesis No. You talk about a completely unrealistic scenario. 1. Most people don't even know what VPN are. 2. Why pay for VPN, when you can do things without it, without wasting money, or especially when u have free VPNs and most people don't care as much about privacy, to pay for that. 3. You can't put VPN servers in some countries. 4. I think more VPN users would very likely result in governments banning VPN, because more and more criminals would use VPNs. 5. Prolly VPNs wouldn't hold that much traffic and they would have rise prices. 6. VPS would become target for hackers. 7. But even if somehow this wouldn't be the case, then you would have like google, microsoft giving free VPNs just to gate keep your personal information, by forcing websites to not ban their traffic, or they would erase them from search engines etc.

[@dinothegonzo]

Good video and I agree with a lot of the points here. My only issue here is that the PIA affiliate link's second step is a plan selection page with a "timer" that creates a sense of urgency to users. This artificial panic created by marketers is against the spirit of informed purchasing decision. By causing the customer to act as quickly as possible, they miss out on all the information they need to learn to make sure they're making the right choice. I trust that you and your team vouched for PIA, but I think such shady tactics are quite scummy and should be called out.

[@NicoleMay316]

Good criticism, and this business practice should honestly be abolished

[@Kaenguruu]

@@NicoleMay316 I wouldn't be surprised if you could get the EU to pass a law against them. Don't think it's gonna happen in the US though

[@MultiMrAsd]

@@Kaenguruu The EU has a law against them, unfortunately it’s rarely enforced

[@thedragonhunter]

a sence of urency is a legit way to get a contract nullified under u.s. law. (yes. even in arbitration)

[@kabadisha]

I'm also not a fan of how they won't accept my disposable virtual card. They want to make sure I forget to shop around when renewal time comes around. They wouldn't even take my proper Revolut card.

[@ShrkBiT]

I appreciate the transparency. If there's anything we learnt from recent years is that literally every major company has a scummy side. MS with their ads in paid OS, Apple with their active blocking of Right-to-repair and their whole ecosystem, EA, Xbox, Ubisoft, Sony with their middle fingers to gamers, Anker/Eufy with their privacy issues, EK, Asus, Amazon...it doesn't end, there wouldn't be a company left to endorse. At least giving honest feedback and remaining very critical of these sponsors through contract clauses will have a chance to educate the viewers on the "least-worst" pick.

[@beansnrice321]

At least regarding windows, I just block a lot of that bs with windows firewall.

[@ComradePhoenix]

Its endemic to the system, really.

[@X_irtz]

@@beansnrice321 Pretty sure he meant the in-built ads in Windows 11.

[@manuelwitrago6511]

still happy i bought Adguard's family lifetime on sell years ago. Don't remember seeing any ad almost anywhere. *ads

[@gqqggq7127]

So sad how the norm now is just companies with a rapist/mafia mentality with regards to services and privacy, and all you can do is just try to go with what is screwing you the least.

[@Kraviken]

I love how your commercial actually contain some useful information. Just when I am about to stop watching your commercial, I still get hooked.

[@viralbox5603]

I am missing Tom 😢

[@stevem719]

I signed up for his newsletter, so I still get him in my email every week.

[@manuelwitrago6511]

...Tom? never great with names.

[@Linkman8912]

​@@manuelwitrago6511Tom Scott, duh

[@korumann]

Sign up for his newsletter, it's a fun little read at the beginning of each week. There's also his podcast lateral, but with the death of Google podcasts & refusal to upload full episodes to KZbin I don't have any recommendations on where to listen to it.

[@franklingoodwin]

​@@stevem719How does he fit? 😂

[@Ethereum-Mev]

An ad for a future ad, that's just amazing

[@bobowon5450]

but don't let this ad for a future ad distract you .....our sponsor!

[@monterraythehomeless]

Yo, imagine the deal you'd get on a 3 min ad read?

[@z0phi3l]

LTT over here meta ading

[@swagatrout3075]

Sponsor video because I want another source of income with another sponsor in the video and as I have already spoken on wan show it's super lucrative for us so money money money 🤑 ya.

[@pingandpong674]

Best ad they've done or will do for PIA and they're not even getting paid for it by PIA

[@MarshallZelder]

What is this Ad inception you have to fall through one Ad to get to the next Ad only to fiind out it was all an Ad all along

[@williamyoung9401]

This sounds like an NPR story (sponsored content).

[@c50m4]

Yeah what the hell. This is just a sponsered video all along!

[@todarfclips]

Services like DeleteMe are the next VPN in this context imo

I'm sure they checked with as many lawyers as they can afford to make sure their claims aren't contestable.

[@keithb6344]

Helps remove your data from hundreds of data brokers. As long as the claim is helps with some, it’s fine. If it becomes, removes you from everything that’s a problem.

[@TerryDax]

VPNs are entirely useless. There's a massive exploit in the infrastructure that VPN's use, which allows bad actors and nodes to de-anonymize people. Utterly useless. The fact that Linus acts like they still work against the government / special interest groups is laughable, given that he knows exactly that.

[@SianaGearz]

I do wonder if it's a protection racket where they actually seek out data on potential customers and seed it to the so-called "data brokers" when you're not subscribed, say when you have cancelled your subscription. Tom Scott better come out of retirement just once.

[@LimabeanStudios]

​@@keithb6344yeah the "hundreds of data brokers" line feels funny. Like does it even matter if there are more they can't delete it from?

[@HyperDroids]

That hairstyle's giving me "There's Something about Mary" vibes.

[@SyntheticFuture]

Classic 👌🏻

[@v3g7nlif37]

"There's Something about Luke"

[@HXRDWIREDGaming]

That hairstyle reminds me of the flintstones

[@phosphate66]

Linus always trying to do some crazy shit with his hair 😂

[@nickmurray7703]

I was wondering if there was a channel super fun video released that may explain this....

[@dyto2287]

PIA is owned by the same company as ExpressVPN. 🤣 Seems like LTT got paid nice money for sponsorship.

[@ICE0124]

And guess what! That company also owns more VPNs like CyberGhost, Zenmate and multiple VPN review websites where coincidentally their VPNs are always at the top. And for the cherry on top their company named Kape used to distribute malware in the past but then rebranded to hide from the backslash.

[@nilus2k]

One thing that bugs me is the ads about VPNs letting you watch things in other countries like you are there. This was a true statement maybe five years ago that a lot of companies have cracked down on that and are adding many of those VPN servers to block lists. I honestly discovered this with my VPN when last year we stopped being able to watch the newest episodes of Bluey straight from Australia’s ABC network.

[@threetrees313]

PIA works. Stopped for a while but seems like they have it figured out now.

[@tama47_]

This is why you build your own vpn with dedicated ip, no chance of getting blocked.

[@igelbofh]

It's still true, though you need to do some tricks

[@yazeedgamer5296]

​@tama47_ How can you build your own VPN?

[@dalepeters3841]

@@threetrees313 I'm surprised. Back when I had PIA on by default, Netflix (before they cracked down on password sharing) kept emailing my friend about suspicious activity on his account and then threatened to ban his account because they finally asked him if a VPN was being used. I was even using US servers.

[@TheBondyboy]

Mullvad - based in Sweden, where privacy laws are stronger than EU

[@linuxares]

As a Swede, it's actually not stronger than EU. We have data logging laws for ISPs, but not VPN providers. This technically goes against EU law but Sweden said "We do it anyway!". Mullvad also proven themselves to have zero logs. Last year the Police wanted some info, they had none.

[@arun.asagi15708]

So we're not going to talk about when Swedish feds raided the Pirate Bay?

[@linuxares]

@@arun.asagi15708 Oh god... that was such a massive f'up. Def some higher level sheez going down for that whole story.

[@fujinshu]

​@@linuxares They were threatened by the MPA(A) with trade reprisals (basically, they would give Sweden a bad reputation that would halt their trades with the rest of the world).

[@EdilarinProducts]

@@TheBondyboy strong privacy laws? You mean where our government gives out your personal information for anyone to look up?

[@roddybrod]

PIA literally just sent an email about increasing their price of the annual sub 9hours after this lol

[@MitsumaYT]

Honest question, that promise of "deleting your data from data brokers". Why would those kind of people actually do it, its not like they got that data legally in most cases. And what good do the few "legal" data brokers that actually have an opt out?

[@mika2666]

Regulation like GDPR is the reason

[@Mr.FastZombie]

Deleting your data is misleading. Most of these data brokers will re-add your information at some point, usually when new info is found. I've gone through all of mine manually and it seems impossible to Google me at this point, but after a year or two I did have to remove some more. As for the legality, in the US at least where DeleteMe mainly operates, these data brokers are aggregating data that is essentially public information. Our laws are archaic and definitely need to be modernized for the web. I don't really know why they even add an option to hide data. I don't think they are required to? I doubt it's out of the kindness of their hearts, because they don't have hearts.

[@MitsumaYT]

@@mika2666 those kind of brokers shouldnt have your data in the first place most of the time. They care zero about legislation. Any my main question still stands, what about the majority of data brokers that are illegal, they wont do shit.

[@renderedpixels4300]

@@mika2666 Laws only affect these brokers if they get caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The data can be "deleted" from public view, but moved elsewhere for safe keeping. One can only hope that your data is actually removed.

[@barnett25]

Why do you think data brokers don't often get their data legally? At least in the US the data broker business is what most of the internet economy is built on.

[@rexjohannes98]

PIA is one of the ones owned by just 24 companies (Kape) and thier parent company also owns VPN review sites where PIA is under the most recommended vpns.

[@nonchalanto]

Neither of those facts are an argument why PIA is a bad VPN. Do you have any information about the actual service they provide and why it’s subpar/dangerous?

[@jensen1646]

@@FullSweatTryhard ...So don't use it? Like what was stated in the video? They don't force you to use their client.

[@someoneelse1550]

@@FullSweatTryhard That's... not true. Crossrider was a way to bundle apps together and was good at doing it, but it was *abused* by third parties to spread malware through their platform.

[@React2Quick]

@@FullSweatTryhard Then use Mullvad or Proton or literally any other VPN

[@iPhone5244]

What’s your point

[@Jellman86]

Would be good for ltt to talk about how vpns do not block fingerprinting (tracking) of your browser / computer. This is a big issue which means if you really want to download torrents et all, you need to use an automated service (like sonarr / prowlarr) on a different box to your pc.

[@davk]

How come after clicking your link I have a limited-time promotion of 1.99€/month and on incognito is only 1.79€?

[@OnlyCORE]

3:50 Education: Questionable. I love whoever came up with it.

[@retlocker98]

The "about me" is also "Lorem ipsum", which is what programmers use, when you need some random text to test something out, but you don't want to write it yourself. Absolutely brilliant!

[@JoshWebb]

Given that Elijah is one of the LTT writers, and he seems (to me, but I don't claim to be a mind reader) to mostly enjoy playing into the memes about him, I'm going to guess that he wrote it himself.

[@jamess4511]

@@retlocker98 his occupation is also PPE Test Technician in reference to the helmets lol

[@CoolJosh3k]

I wish they highlighted that a VPN is for privacy and NOT security. In fact you even should be aware that traffic using only the VPN provided encryption could be read and manipulated by said VPN provider. Bonus fact: your important data is probably already using end-to-end encryption, such as an online form using SSL.

[@baboonaiih]

Did you even watch the video?? Lmao

[@CoolJosh3k]

@@baboonaiih He never highlighted this as a statement that was clear in a stand alone matter.

[@thescandalchannel]

VPN is not even for privacy, this is exactly the point. Best it do, is hide your IP and unlock some regional content, well if you have a app on your device, your isp can't se what you are doing nothing more or less at least for most users. If you host your own VPN server you could connect from outside the network if you want, but this is a other Story.

[@UnawareBlaire]

PIA is owned by Kape Technologies, which owns ExpressVPN and a few others. They are also located within the 5 eyes countries. I do find it funny how VPN sponsorships now just freely encourage the use of their products to break terms of service on other platforms.

[@GrumpiestKitten]

What's even funnier is that circumventing regional blocks is regarded by KZbin ToS as "hacking" meaning that VPN adverts that demonstrate this functionality are technically violating youtube's terms.

[@michaels.4527]

Nice, didn't know they owned ExpressVPN. I've been using them since that Russian ambassador was assassinated. A communication was linked to one of their IPs, so the Turkish government raided and seized their servers but just ended up proving their no logs claim. To me, having staff arrested at gun point, servers physically taken by a pissed off government agency, and still not being able to give user data, was a lot better proof than any audit could be.

[@penvzila]

It's also funny how the founder of expressvpn are "former" CIA agent

[@SuperSmashDolls]

The vast majority of VPN users that actually need to hide something don't need to care about Five Eyes because the CIA isn't going to burn SIGINT sources on catching casual BitTorrent users. And they sure as fuck aren't going to do that for people watching the wrong country's Netflix catalog (which probably isn't even a crime, at least for the viewer). Being able to resist a court order for logs is good enough. If you do need to worry about Five Eyes then you have bigger problems than just finding a VPN run by a US adversary.

[@SuperSmashDolls]

@@penvzila It's even funnier how TOR is actually a US Navy project designed specifically for CIA spies in foreign countries to hide their traffic. They released TOR *specifically* so that people using it to hide their own traffic would provide plausible deniability for those CIA spies, because having a super-special CIA encryption protocol that nobody else used would blow their cover.

[@fredwalker7372]

So deleteme can delete data after I give them all of the data I want to delete?

[@JooshLOL]

haha yeah

[@Rekettyelovag]

But how?

[@avieshek]

@@Rekettyelovag They are US Government's side project, if you're really from a shady place they either hire you or jail~

[@xevilrabbit12]

lol

[@Aloukat]

@@Rekettyelovagas I understand they have a script that crawls the databases of Databrokers as when they find your matching data they display them and for you and you can hit „delete“ and they contact the broker and let them delete your data.

[@c.s.7474]

"Why I’ll be Taking VPN Sponsorships Again" The answer: money, it's always money.

[@dyto2287]

PIA is owned by the same company as ExpressVPN. He is definitely getting large sum to sponsor them instead the ones they compete with Nord who owns NordVPN, Surfshark and some others. These two big companies own majority of VPNs and they are so damn shady. Both have history of building analytic tools on user private data & anti-virus software that spies on your devices. Oh, and by the way, those audits are done by other companies they close relationship with since they have such a huge monopoly in this market. That's basically asking a friend - hey tell our customers we don't do this. And customers needs to believe it since there is no way to prove it. Only if hack happens then truth is revealed and then everything goes to shit. So since PIA have not been hacked yet, we don't know how much of it is true.

[@baboonaiih]

And?

[@tiloalo]

​@@baboonaiihand it's selling their soul just for money, I'm sure they also hate the hell out of those shitty VPN selling tactics

[@Savant_Ananya]

​@@baboonaiih more money to buy another house.

[@finanzam1]

You are watching the content for free ... They need to be paid by something

[@emil.steiner]

the encryption standard supported by the bittorrent protocol is based on RC4 which can be broken in several ways. One should only think of it as an additional cheese layer with many holes

[@ezg8448]

It's that little bit that helps, when there are billions of packets go through, common sense tells anyone to go after low hanging non-encrypted fruit.

[@realcartoongirl]

is like changing your ssh port to something random instead of using your default one. it wont help you in security but will significantly reduce amount of people knocking at your door

[@Leo2000___]

I really appreciated the nod to the Afrikaans language "Vriend se huis" - Friend's house @2:19

[@SANTAtheGREY]

what I'd actually like to know more about: What is it with the sudden influx of "We'll delete your data that has been stolen and protect you against phishing" type companies? It's as much of a flood as VPNs and squarespace at the start. It feels like this is just induced demand, and I'm not sure the services they're offering are even real/worth paying for? Could you do a video on that? 😅

[@TheKingkrash]

It feels very scummy when KZbinrs say you can use it for Netflix, knowing that you can't. I think each and every KZbinr that tries to sell it has said that. And still do. KNOWING THAT YOU CAN'T!

[@pedro4205]

It used to work. The only time i payed for VPN was 10/11 years ago when i was using it to watch Netflix in the US server, since the Brazilian one had way less content. It is being years since it doesn't work with a simple VPN only, tho. But i don't know if every stream service ignores VPN for content availability now days.

[@Hippaforalkus_]

@TheKingkrash Tbf VPNs were never made for this. It's just youtubers and pretty much everyone uneducated about them who use VPNs as glorified proxies....

[@KyleDavis328]

I've used PIA for Netflix before, but it's hit and miss, and only sometimes works with some Netflix clients and certain servers. Again, it's not a silver bullet, and advertising it as such is pretty disingenuous, because even when it does work, it's not something that I would recommend to someone who isn't super tech literate and willing to tinker to get things working.

[@romangiertych5198]

You can use them for most services, to be fair. Even Netflix, until the recent "household lock". I have used Nord specifically many times for this exact purpose. Even now, Netflix is probably the only one that won't work.

[@justicefool3942]

What do you mean you can't use a VPN for Netflix. I was using my Nord VPN for Netflix last night.

[@TheShortStory]

Eh.. PIA has had sketchy sales tactics and just come across as a bit shady for my liking. I switched to protonvpn a year ago and have been very happy with it

[@justicefool3942]

Be careful with Proton, they will sometimes hand over emails and IP addresses at a foreign governments request. Shouldn't be a problem if you only use it for privacy, as it's not very common they will do so, but it is something to look out for.

[@TheShortStory]

@@justicefool3942 where can I read about such instances? As far as I can tell ProtonMail has done it but ProtonVPN has an audited no-logs policy

[@seldogrif9732]

@@justicefool3942 I mean for most people the fact that they do not sell your data to other companies is more than enough, as keeping your data private does not mean that you are planning to do some illegal activities. Although with that being said, if I recall with Proton, if you are using Two-password mode, it should not matter if your data is handed over or not. As 2PM, works in a way where one password is for the mailbox and second is to de-crypt the data itself and Proton does not store second password anywhere. I will have a minor PTSD from 2017 when I forced to wipe my mailbox because I only had the second password written on my phone, which got destroyed, and there was no way to recover that second password.

[@silikeite]

Swiss laws on email vs VPN are different; so you're mostly in trouble for IP stuff only if you use ProtonMail without any VPN (doesn't have to be ProtonVPN but can be). And it's email subjects for encrypted emails (due to technical limitations with PGP) and complete unencrypted emails (well, they're available on the other side). Of course, this is still a problem, so just be aware of that and adjust your behavior accordingly.

[@IdkG7]

Check who PIA is owned by too Mullvad on top though but isn’t a bad choice

[@dj_chateau]

Linus really needs to stop talking about infosec. He's so terrible at it. This whole video is him justifying a sponsorship from a VPN providers by cloaking it in "education". Make no mistake, you shouldn't trust his sponsors based on anything he's saying here. It comes down to the fact with a VPN, you're using someone else's network. There's no other aspect to consider. Either you trust that VPN provider or you don't. No ad or shitty justification video should play into your purchasing decision.

[@RinaldoJonathan]

2:19 kinda surprised to see "Rumah Kawan" was mentioned there (it stands for "Friend's Home" in Indonesian)

[@re57k]

Could also be malay, no?

[@RinaldoJonathan]

@@re57k Indonesian and Malaysian language is very similar, but since I'm Indonesian, I couldn't confirm. But probably yes.

[@ignusswart4290]

"Vriend se huis" is afrikaans for friends home. Its spoken in South africa and a Nice little detail in the video❤

[@DrumsOFONEDESIGN]

And "Vriend se huis" is the same in Afrikaans 😂

[@Zetharion1]

Most VPN's are blocked by content providers nowadays so trying to bypass regions blocks is more difficult.

[@EnglishMike]

Even private VPNs you set up yourself at datacenters owned by the likes of Linode and DigitalOcean are pretty useless for region spoofing too. It's also annoying to come across websites that you wouldn't think would worry about VPNs (like British Airways) blocking VPN hosts. The only sure way of being able to bypass the region blocks is to find a residential host, but the owners have to agree to put their account at risk of being terminated for contravening their terms of service.

[@ka-md8ue]

Content creators? You mean KZbinrs? Or Netflix Hulu e t c?

[@Zetharion1]

@@ka-md8ue I said providers as in Netflix, Prime Video, Paramount Plus etc.. not creators.

[@DavidWhatfor]

Cannot be bothered buying films online i.e. iTunes. Bought a few that disappeared even though I paid for them so I jus buy the DVD now as I am the kind of person who can watch a film more than once it does not bother me buying a DVD if I like the film.

[@dinkiethesink]

Delete me is a product of a VPN company and is partnered with most of them. Saying the video isn’t sponsored by one is disingenuous and considering u have writers on staff, there’s 0 chance they don’t know. Nicehash Moment.

[@calingligore]

Mullvad is completely anonymous

[@jaimeFaithBasedOne]

Mullvad all the way, they know nothing about me

[@Cythil]

Interesting. Because it literally means mole in Swedish.

[@Savant_Ananya]

​@@jaimeFaithBasedOne Mullvad best

[@TheOchita]

This is the way. Mullvad is goat

[@NekoFever]

To the point where you can mail them cash to pay for it. And you don’t have an account linked to you in any way - just a number to log in.

[@TheSykoRC]

lol when linus mentioned "diplomatic immunity", I immidiatly remembered lethal weapon II.

[@GreenLantern814]

Has just been revoked! 😁

[@worldaviation4k]

*I read that most don't even work when they head to the other country where they do really need one*

[@MichalBrat]

I purchased a "lifetime" VPN license from Windscribe. I is going to expire in two years. Guess I`ll die then.

[@Contradi]

Same, but based on their email communications since then, I think they just don't have a "lifetime license" product per se and instead just auto-renew their longest term license. Mine has done that since I purchased it.

[@MichalBrat]

@@Contradi I think I have read somewhere that this was it, no more renewals. But maybe I will be pleasantly surprised by a company holding true to their word for once!

[@celiskurtis]

@@MichalBrat nah they should. I have purchased a lifetime subsription and it has been like that for me. Windscribe is one of the only vpns I trust

[@AlsoAlaskanBeard]

It renews for 10 years at the expiry date as long as your account is still active, assuming you have the lifetime pro. The lifetime limited accounts do have an expiry but it's TBD.

[@Toramt]

Same for PureVPN. 'Lifetime' was defined as '5 years'.

[@PAPO1990]

depending on your use case for the VPN, you can also set up your own on your router at home. But speed can be a problem

[@logan_page]

I’ve been using PIA since you first partnered with them back then. Been very pleased with my own experience.

[@CuivTheLazyGeek]

As a small KZbinr, having to decline the VPN sponsorship offers has been painful as they offer quite an incentive... But the right thing to do.

[@Zidbits]

I'm not so sure LTT did it because "it was the right thing to do". Do you know why they dropped VPNs? Because of the public backlash. Do you know why they started up again? The backlash was gone and they like $$. LTT has been around long enough to know how this all plays out; First, someone does something bad. Second, someone calls them out on it. Third, crazy public backlash on social media. Fourth, people have short memories so the backlash has disappeared and been forgotten. Fifth, profit.

[@Raizan-IO]

Just take the money, specially if you are small. Disclose your real opinion about it though, if they do not let you then go to the next VPN sponsor that will. I don't uphold small youtubers to be paragons of ideals and justice, when the likes of LTT with bigger audience (and sadly credibility, even if not properly earnt anymore) will happily disregard integrity here and there... You are in it for business too, just drop them when you get big enough to get sponsors you are comfortable with or have a big enough reach that you are actually sure you will be affecting 10-100 users with your sponsorship. (Due to conversion rates I'm guessing you will need 100k viewers for that)

[@Kenvie2000]

Thank you for your integrity. Sometimes in life there are greater things than money. I have tried VPN services and they never truly worked (NordVPN for one) and they were unable to help me in getting it to work and wouldn't refund me the annual subscription I paid for (even though I had just purchased it). I then just gave up trying to make it work. They got $130+ from me and I received nothing from it. By taking money from people like this you are essentially taking money from people who get duped into using these services. Kind of an indirect crypto scam.

[@skys12fu]

10:50 One Piece ?!

[@soywarmon]

@@skys12fu I saw this comment the moment Linus said it 😂

[@ShaXCwalk]

THE ONE PIECE IS REAL

[@vorteco7692]

I need a VPN to access my banking apps from abroad (I work on the ocean). It is a lot to research for someone who just wants to do this. Thanks for explaining things and recommending one along with a reason why you recommend them.

[@kevinjuul1580]

What about Proton vpn instead of private internet access now when you mention Proton mall

[@WackyConundrum]

What about it?

[@kevinjuul1580]

What I'm asking about is proton VPN not as good as private internet access

[@dyto2287]

Proton doesn't pay as well for sponsorship that's it 😅

[@lex_darlog_fun]

Every tech youtuber keeps saying a VPN is only one tool in your privacy toolkit... but noone elaborates what the entire toolkit is. How about making a series of videos about privacy and security?

[@dosto233]

LTT has another video on this exact topic mentioned in this video. At a basic level you’ll need TOR as well as a privacy focused OS like Kali Linux running in a VM. Some of us go further with things like NextDNS, depending on your needs. It’s quite a rabbit hole to go down.

[@marvnch]

they literally linked their video about the privacy toolkit in the outro...

[@itskdog]

​@@marvnch do you really expect people to watch the whole video before commenting? /s

[@marvnch]

@@itskdog whoops, I thought too highly of yt comments...

[@chromakode]

Most people don't need VPNs. Full stop. The only reason we're talking about them is because they pay KZbin creators to manufacture demand.

[@mden2490]

That’s not entirely true as it does help in the reduction of targeted ads, fingerprinting etc, and hiding your isp and others not knowing where your are surfing . So if you care about your personal data and it not being sold then it’s worth it.

[@chromakode]

​@@mden2490 Masking IP address serves little practical improvement to privacy for most people, since they remain logged in to Google and social media accounts. Preventing fingerprinting is extremely hard. The privacy benefits of VPNs are oversold to consumers because it's profitable to VPN providers.

[@FlanylShirtman]

This video is not sponsored by our new sponsor who this video is basically a commercial for.

[@michaeldancurtis]

Next week the show will be about the scam that is privacy data removal

[@staindk]

Yeah these services seem just as likely to be sketchy as vpns.

[@DanClark_ddc]

​@staindk delete me will have a data breach in a few months and everyone will jump ship to some other such service just in time for another data breach.

[@genev7126]

SysAdmin here.... had to pull the transcript to double check but my suspicion.... IN WHAT WORLD IS THERE a VPN/Privacy VIDEO,, with a dozen 'qualified writers' and not a single mention of "SSH"?!??!?!!?!?!?! This maybe my 3rd comment ever in half a decade - but actually... 3 letters that are more relevant then 80% of what made it in the video. I'm actually blown away that this is the same channel that made me deploy a selfhosted vpn years ago for the first time ever. Let's take a break from networking vids, regroup and be better. Maybe Jake gets script approval for networking scripts..? Openly explaining the shilling is only for LMG, it's not as valuable as good and relevant information for the community. I feel like no video would have been a better call. Gotta encrypt while you encrypt.....so you can

[@TheRogueBro]

The amount of "fingerprints" you leave while using the internet makes it almost impossible for you to be completely anonymous these days. Even if you're using SSL, a VPN and even a fake account, Google Chrome (the most used browser) STILL knows it's you, and is still tracking you and your activities.

[@31173]

True for web browsing, but VPNs are useful for other protocols. For example torrent have hardly any fingerprints. You can enable "anonymous mode" in qBittorrent, which makes your client to send a generic peer-id. You can also bind qBt to the VPN adapter in order to avoid leaks. For me VPNs are very much useful.

[@enginerd80]

What is it that is being fingerprinted, actually? What if you have two or more different browsers? Or what if you have two or more user accounts on your computer for different activities? Or if you have multiple computers? At what point would you be seen as two different users by websites?

[@MostlyPennyCat]

So, don't use Chrome.

[@cristinelcostachescu9585]

@@enginerd80behavioral analysis, the websites you visit, the topics you search for, and many more details which you can't hide in any way. If they want to pin you down, there are ways to do it. I'm not suggesting you become paranoid, just be aware of it.

[@MrPir84free]

@@enginerd80 Everything that is possible with the current tech; your account on a website is linked with cookies and an email and often "names" given.. Browser profiles are one aspect, as is your associated internet IP address, down to the OS involved. Connect to that site from your phone or tablet, and your real info is now linked to that account too; it's all stored, and associated with. One would literally need to start over, with a mentality of intentionally not accessing such from a phone/tablet/windows /mac computer that is linked to your other accounts. If you are married, your spouse's account is already linked to you as well as any kids that live with you. The simplest approach would be to use a VPN within a Virtual Machine, built just for that purpose.. It becomes a problem later if and when one of your "alternate" accounts gets hacked; how do you recover it ? You won't want to tie it to a phone number, nor to another email address that more represents you.. You will run into the chicken before the egg scenario as well; how do you create a VPN account that is going to require an email; well, how do you create that email account without it be able to be associated with your other accounts ? ( Go to a local mcDonalds or other free wifi hotspots and create your email on a disposable phone or tablet that does not have a SIM card in it. ) The problem as I see it is you can't really trust anything Microsoft / Google / Apple, including windows devices, android devices, apple devices, google browsers, etc.. The major downside to the VPN aspect is how trustworthy is the VPN you are choosing; is it truly no-logs ?; is it truly ram only ? After all, most VPN providers are tied to a credit card number or an email address, or something else; usually something in your name..

[@TheBardsCorner]

I’ve tried PIA for a month, but so many websites just weren’t loading simply because I was using it that it became impossible to do most ordinary things… No p2p, no strange things, just ordinary websites loading to blank screens (mostly on iOS/iPadOS, I should say). The macOS app would not work with iCloud Private Relay unless I used the OpenVPN app. If a connection couldn’t be made, the app would go into an endless cycle of trying to connect/disconnect until you force quit it. Definitely not a great experience, but it helped in the country I was travelling into to at least mitigate the data theft and exploit from hotel/public WiFi.

[@any1alive]

i agree, many sites have been filtered and know pia exit nodes, yet pia pretty much says reload they cant do anything. sanme with places like 4chan, if 1 person does soemthign bad all users on that exit node are, which is silly ith how big pia is, and certain gamesliek factorio had issues with pia active

[@modimihir]

Endorsing PIA when you're offering an affiliate link is such a huge conflict of interest in so many ways.

[@anonymousminer7401]

I think bringing up proton's free tier for they're VPN would be a good thing to bring up since it's the only free tier of any VPN's that is actually usable with unlimited usage and up to 10gbps speeds but apart from that amazing video

[@Unknown_Genius]

@@lussor1 just questioned the same and checked - apparently they removed the bandwidth & monthly data limit. not sure if anyone could even make full use of it from the free servers tho.

[@cyrex686]

It's because they are a Honeypot

[@shinaikouka]

My biggest issue with VPN ad reads on KZbin is the pushing for breaking geo-restricting content on streaming services. It always gives off this “they’re cheating you out of content!” vibe when in reality, the streaming service in your region simply doesn’t have a license. In the US, you’re likely going to see larger shows on their owner’s service, but the owner/distributor likely sold the foreign market rights to other companies who likely have no qualms licensing to someone else. It’s why Brooklyn Nine-Nine isn’t on Netflix US but it is on Netflix UK.

[@qazxswedcxzaqws]

Trying to outbid your opponents with venture capital funding for licensing agreements while avoiding taxes and underpaying actors and screenwriters etc, is not exactly very ethical practice so why should the consumer be so concerned about circumventing these intentional barriers to watch a tv show? Much rather than watching it some 2 years later while still likely paying that same company monthly in the meantime?

[@Hidyman]

Actually, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is on Netflix in the US.

[@meneldal]

But they are cheating out in a way, the licensing shit means everyone ends up getting a shitty product and just makes sailing more attractive.

[@bilateralrope8643]

The other catch is that if the streaming service notices you're dodging the geo-restrictions, they might have other tools to use to keep the streaming platform in compliance with all the licensing agreements they have signed. Like flagging an account to only have access to content they stream globally, no matter which country it appears to be viewing them in.

[@amdkillaplays]

I mean at one point I believe Netflix refused connections via known VPN IP addresses. They are more likely to enforce that again if the rights holders demanded Netlix tightens up their geo-restrictions otherwise threatening to self host their content instead. But given that a lot of rights holders-come-streaming services suffer from under development, they don't realise they are falling behind on their own product, let alone anyone elses

[@DeinonychusCowboy]

I was just wondering about this given I bought a PIA subscription back before it was bought by Kape and just never bothered switching providers (I know, I know, but like, there were 0 good options there for a while and I decided I preferred sticking with them to going back to unprotected internet-ercourse.) Thanks for making a video update and I really hope to see that there are some good options now.

[@ericmedina3520]

its interesting you make a video about not sponsoring shady VPN services and the sponsor of the video is a company that doesnt do what it claims.... DeleteMe hides your public data for as long as you are subscribed, it never really deletes your information and once you unsubscribe it comes back. That is a scam.

[@Raul-pg1pf]

Source?

[@Firefin]

could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure that's because the data gets deleted but then brokers find more and sell that. hence, why its a subscription

[@DieserAIiasIstSchonVergeben]

Yeah, there is nothing that prevents the data brokers from just continuing to collect data once you (or rather delete me as your representative) stop asking them to stop doing that and stop asking them to get rid of your data

[@fauzansafii5257]

2:05 Thank you Linus for including Rumah Kawan...😎

[@feschber]

what infuriated me the most were the VPN adds claiming that anyone can see your banking information and everything if you dont use one...

[@thejoshpresle]

Mullvad crew stand up

[@dernettetryhard]

im still standing

[@venomsas629]

Gang

[@chickenfried12]

Mullvad is awesome!

[@31173]

Mullvad is one of the best. Torrents still work without port forwarding, because their servers' NAT allows UDP hole punching. Just remember to enable μTP protocol and you are good to go.

[@Unknown_Genius]

@@31173 specifically naming torrents despite peer 2 peer being no issue (that includes torrents) with most VPNs honestly makes your comment look more like a fake advert than anything else.

[@Simqer]

I remember playing DotA over the internet using a free software that made a virtual LAN, because we were kids and no way would our parents buy us Warcraft 3 battle pass or whatever it was called.

[@Xadethor]

One major detail to add about PIA! It's owned by Kape Technologies PLC! While currently PIA might be working with integrity, that doesn't ensure that in the future they will do the same so stay informed about it if you use it.

[@dyto2287]

They also own ExpressVPN now 🤣

[@baboonaiih]

They got bought 5 years ago didn't they? Your level of risk avoidance is unhealthy. They've operated fine for 5 years since being bought what makes you think THIS is the year they go rogue?

[@Savant_Ananya]

​@@baboonaiih how do you know they aren't rogue already and only using Deloitte audit as a safeguard. Why Linus never mentioned Kape in the video?

[@Savant_Ananya]

For privacy the best Mullvad VPN or if you are a western person Kaspersky vpn

[@baboonaiih]

@@Savant_Ananya how do you know anyone else isn't gone rogue? Lol

[@aj8__8]

"this video is not sponsored by any VPN company" *talks about PIA for 4 minutes*

[@TheCod3r]

Forget these VPN companies. Rent a virtual server in an offshore location and set up your own VPN!

[@thexgamer8240]

You know a video is gonna get some controversy when it got unlisted.

[@NicoleMay316]

It's not unlisted tho? They just swapped it off unlisted to make it public, guess it flipped back or wasn't updating on KZbin entirely, and now it's public again.

[@zeppelinshy]

when I saw linus with *that crown* I thought he was going to say something very different for a second and was worried haha

[@randomnessnecesity9627]

Dw he’s not on a plane

[@willemwannenburg4520]

Love the hint at playing online games with an Afrikaans friend from SA 🇿🇦 fellow South African here

[@langelius]

0:50 is that supposed to be uncensored?

[@NicoleMay316]

LMG doesn't recommend Nord, so why would they share an affiliate link not only for a service they don't recommend, but one from another channel?

[@langelius]

​@@NicoleMay316 yeah, that's why i wrote this comment

[@Delicate141]

6:37 what sketchy dude?!

[@thatoneocto]

Me

[@internetconspiracy7525]

@@thatoneocto 911 what your emergency? *I would like to report a sketch person*

[@arillwiltker]

It would have been nice if they had covered some of the other bigger VPNs (or at least the ones that do the major advertising) to compare and contrast them vs PIA, but I get they have a deal with PIA, it would have still been nice to have seen/heard about the others

[@CancermanPL]

As Benjamin Franklin famously said "in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes and that Linus would sell his own mother for a sponsorship"

[@IbsenRogerGomesRego]

8:08 hehehe he said butt Linus

[@gerritpedrich.l1383]

2:15 The 'Vriend se huis' was a nice touch, it means friends' house in afrikaans.

[@rchan9290]

LTT is like watching WAN show ideas and discussions become a 15 ± min video

[@melaniejason3912]

Stopped because of controversy Continued because sweet sweet money

[@NicoleMay316]

I was VPN searching a few months back. Could've used this video then, since now I'm now locked in with Nord for 2 years. It's not always about the money. It's a part, sure. They are a business. But chill it with the "Linus being greedy" bullshit.

[@BigT87]

Stopped because ignorant public outcry. Continued because more people educated and outcry softened... and money There fixed it for ya

[@CharliePryor]

Been a PIA customer for 6 years. Nice to see some validation there. ;)

[@tomascaetano5011]

Pro tip.. i use my own openvpn server with dynamic dns... So when im in another country i can access my files and also download stuff as if i were in my house.. here is legal to download piracy as long as you dont sell it

[@manyamaggot]

I do that with tailscale without exposing my whole network

[@DelightfulWalrus]

Yeah but don't you worry about all those sketchy places knowing your ip address?

[@KyleDavis328]

@@DelightfulWalrus The DDNS mentioned suggests they don't have a static IP, the ISP will re-lease a new IP before anyone can do anything with that information.

[@Retromags_Brian]

Thumbs up for the GamePro magazine reference!

[@PeaceLoveAndGuns]

Why I'll be taking VPN sponsorships again...💰💰💰💰

[@fares_games]

Me and most people i know, use VPN's to unblock "certain sites" (we are in saudi arabia, where those "certain sites" are blocked)

[@overcunning]

A thing about VPN's is that the profit margins are incredible. They typically charge like what, 5 bucks a month? You'd be severely ripped off if you'd pay any more than that. But then, on the other hand, you can rent a bunch of dirt cheap virtual machines for

[@handle32169]

Interesting. Is it feasible as you say with unlimited traffic at gigabit speeds?

[@arnox4554]

American hosting is super cheap, yes. It's also super cheap because it's super easy for the US gov and courts to take control of that server. Even without your knowledge. Or they can just ask for it to be taken down and the host has to comply or else get legally nuked. You CAN get overseas hosting that avoids all of this, but the problem with that issssss... You guessed it. Cost. It's way more expensive because the demand is far higher due to the reasons I just discussed.

[@JasonB808]

Where can you rent virtual machine for under $20 per year? North Korea? Even the cheapest virtual machine on Azure is like $30 dollars per month.

[@overcunning]

@@handle32169 No, definitely not. The slices I've got are mostly limited to 1 gig, 1TB/mo. Never hit those limits, though, even when at least two of us were streaming online videos all day long for an entire month using the same node. The hardest hitters were actually modern oversized AAA-titles, but it's uncommon to be downloading multiple every month either. Most people way overestimate their internet usage, though, that's the way entire internet works, it's oversold all the way from consumers to L1's and content providers.They have deals like "you get 100gbe link but you're only allowed to use 10gb of it 95% of the time", so you can have short bursts of full speed, but they are both betting that most of people won't. A true no-bullshit no-limit no-cut-speed link is something more like $100/mo, so if either ISP or VPN is advertising unlimited gig for less than that, they probably either have hidden limits or they just take the loss. If you really need a gigabit connection though, that you're expecting to saturate most of the time, then you should probably be looking into enterprise stuff like dedicated P2P(Point-to-point) connections. Consumer stuff comes with no guaranteed is always prone to be just cut off for whatever bullshit reason they can think of.

[@overcunning]

@@JasonB808 lowendbox/lowendstock. Big cloud is massively overpriced, look for small independent hosters instead.

[@Nobody-vr5nl]

"No logs" is always a lie if it oporates within a country that REQUIRES logs by law.

[@NicoleMay316]

Correct....and yet PIA has proven time and time again they don't keep logs despite US courts asking for them. So I think they're in the clear. Having all the data on volatile RAM is genius.

[@KyleDavis328]

@@NicoleMay316 Indeed, "whoops, power went off on the server that kept that information, guess it's lost for good"

[@meneldal]

@@KyleDavis328 Or you can just reboot the server every day.

[@Skiller71Studios]

@@NicoleMay316The US courts that you know of*

[@neonshadow5005]

Kitboga did a pretty good "take down" video about VPNs quite some time ago, explaining why they aren't quite what they promise to be.

[@bonanzabrandon6877]

Why I'll be taking VPN sponsorships again: money.

[@Mikurusenpai]

"we are taking vpn sponsorships again because they pay too much to be ignored and you just have to trust me bro in picking the right one because we at least want to show that we are ethical"

[@michaelcorcoran8768]

Sounds about right. And they announced it a few days after they whitewashed their own harassment scandal by hiring an obviously conflicted third party auditor. Now the whole community is harassing Madison on Twitter. People genuinely make me upset. Worship some. Anti-union guy with maybe 100 million. And you won't even support unionization with his own staff. Doesn't want them to talk about their wages much

[@PowerPointGaming]

honestly, advertise whatever you want, people should be smart enough to not trust the company that is using youtube as a way to build easy trust

[@atlemacks]

This is an ad for PIA that you will earn money from your affiliate link.

[@sirtajgill4754]

9:08 wait, what? they let people use their servers without a subscription?

[@tercmd]

No. What Linus means is that their VPN does not require *_their app._* You still require credentials for that.

[@sirtajgill4754]

@@tercmd gotcha. mb

[@Herr_U]

Good rundown. However, would have been great if you'd also addressed if their clients install their own root-cert or not (using an OpenVPN client does sidestep this issue, but it really should be mentioned).

[@00asdf24]

my main problem with vpns is that they advertise to hide your traffic from adversarys like your isp or gov agencies, but all you do when using a vpn is giving your data to the vpn provider instead of your isp. the government can just go to vpn provider instead of the isp and get the data anyway

[@wilh3lmmusic]

You need a VPN with a reliable no-logs policy such as Mullvad. When Swedish police went after Mullvad to get some user data they didn't have any data to give them due to not keeping logs.