Could someone fully explain the mullvad controversy. From my knowledge so far it seems like the cofounder donated to an alt right party and it’s probably a bad sign for the company. Anything I’m missing?
Could someone fully explain the mullvad controversy. From my knowledge so far it seems like the cofounder donated to an alt right party and it’s probably a bad sign for the company. Anything I’m missing?
A cofounder donated to the Örebro Party, which has an eclectic platform. Mostly, progressive liberals of the imperial core are (justifiably) upset about its immigration/“remigration” policies and upset about its anti-NATO policies.
Companies are owned by the bourgeoisie, who are right wing[1]. So “voting with your dollar” over this is largely performative, because the VPN you switch to will also be bourgeois-owned.
With the rare exception of bourgeois class traitors. ↩︎
Yet they will still respond to capital pressure in large enough numbers. In a broken system like capitalism that’s what holds power. If not you can write off BDS and any other type of boycotts.
Mullvad didn’t fund Õbrero; one of Mullvad’s owners did, and boycotting Mullvad won’t un-donate those funds, because there’s no return policy on political donations.
Mullvad didn’t condemn the funding and the owner will certainly continue using profits from his company to fund far-right remigration efforts if he specifically chose that party instead of any other generic leftist party.
Also Mullvad is very expensive compared to other VPN’s to begin with. And Mullvad’s servers have been getting blocked everywhere lately so there’s no real reason to use it either. Might as well use AirVPN or the likes. I’m probably switching to Proton for ease of use but i might choose another sooner or later.
So largely performative. With enough pressure, Mullvad might say something negative about a bourgeois party, which won’t do anything.
There’s no reason to think Proton would be any different in this regard. Proton Mail Says It’s “Politically Neutral” While Praising Republican Party
They’re nowhere comparable. Proton’s case is relevant to their business and to VPN’s as a whole. Not just doing random private donations to Nazis. As they stated in response to the article:
Also objectively Proton would receive less money because they’re a lot cheaper.
Condemning the funding could (I’m not an expert or lawyer) open the company up to a different type of law intended for “terrorism” or “extremism”. I do not know what actually drove the publishing of such a fence riding post on their part but that’s a possible explanation that takes into account the conditions and foresight the company has exercised in the past.
Also as an airvpn user do not use it for security or privacy. It’s a really good piracy vpn just use it for that. If you’re concerned for your safety please consider carefully the consequences of your choices when you register for proton (don’t make a services account, don’t use a recovery email that can be tied to you or at all, pay cash). A lot of the services people hold up as alternatives have ways for the unaware user to accidentally screw it up and end up in a bad situation.
Are you talking about Proton or AirVPN in your second paragraph?
Both. The first couple of sentences are about air and the rest is about how you gotta keep your head on a swivel when you sign up for proton.
Ooo! I didn’t know Proton accepted cash payments. But you are right. They do.
My proton is tied to me, b/c I didn’t really care and it wasn’t important to my threat model. But it’s good to know they offer this. I was paying for Mullvad with cash. Since the whole thing has happened with Mullvad, maybe I’ll open a cash paid Proton just for the VPN option.
I really wish Proton offered Wireguard tho. It’s so much nicer than OpenVPN.
I’m pretty sure you can do wg with proton: https://protonvpn.com/support/wireguard-configurations