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Alternatives to Proton?
(slrpnk.net)
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this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2025
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Proton
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I love downvotes for providing a throrougly explained response to a question of opinions
*VPN
As much as some people discount its use/viability, tor (as in tor anonymizing network layer service, not Tor browser) is an excellent alternative to a VPN. IMHO.
It is free. It is open sourced. It is highly configurable. You can select your exit nodes (country) should you choose. You can use it to route all or any traffic. It also handles anonymous DNS resolving if you like.
You can run it as a service or instance on Linux on its own and you can use dnscrypt-proxy or other secure DNS with it. As a proxy or VPN on android via a number of apps and in combination with others. (Invizible pro can use dnscrypt over tor and run as proxy or vpn. RethinkDNS can do basically the same. Orbot is its own tor proxy. Etc)
Every node may not be able to handle your traffic needs, but it shouldn't be hard to find one that can. VPN apps face similar issues.
*IVPN is a Canadian vpn provider that hosts several tor nodes and funds the tor organization. They have a reputation for serious privacy and security.
https://www.ivpn.net/en/
*Email :I'm here to learn what others think.
*cloud storage: I'd say the best option is your own option. Nobody to worry about in the middle. I use ssh and simple servers set up on my machines.
The self hosting community could provide a lot of info on how to set up.
https://lemmy.world/c/selfhosted
Historically, people have gotten caught with their hands in the cookie jar while using tor. Most of the documented cases have been from DNS leaks and the like through targeted attacks.
Theoretically it's possible to own enough of the intermediate and exit nodes to collect meaningful data about who's using it and where they're going. It's just very difficult and expensive.
I only give it maybe 50/50 odds let the feds have this power, but that's not particularly rosey for a security product.
From the backbone perspective,VPN traffic absolutely gets monitored on the way out, and they can probably tell everyone that is on the VPN provider at the moment. But timing attacks are rough through a busy crypto tunnel. Your protection basically rolls down to whether they're keeping logs, whether somebody's monitoring the backbone around them, and if there's any point in time where the traffic on the VPN is low enough that they can correlate traffic in with calls out.
Unless you're pissing off the feds I doubt tor is any better off than VPN.
I don't think I'm important enough to piss off feds. I have opinions, but I am not active in the ways I was 30 years ago.
I am no expert, but I am an avid and voracious learner and geek.
I do use a variety of vpns and proxies. I switch often. I also relay certain things to certain things permanently.
I am especially aware of DNS . one of the first major learnings of my Linux use was setting up a secure DNS proxy. It was a pretty intense learning curve. 6 or so years later, I'm fairly comfortable with most aspects of it and securing connections and avoiding data leaks.
I use anonymizing dnscrypt-proxy with local doh. I use other secure DNS protocols and servers when/where required, or desired.
I check for leaks often. I have a few scripts that I wrote to make sure things don't. I use a few sites to do checks. I use nmap to scan all my things.
I use tor for some things. I use proton for others. Warp for others. Shadowsocks for others. Calyx and other services for other things.
I always use a trusted bridge or proxy to connect.
I run a snowflake proxy sometimes.
I don't do illegal stuff.
That said, what is legal now may not be if/when some dictator decides. With that in mind, I appreciate my privacy and intend to keep it any way I can.
I'm beyond exhausted, so I hope I made sense.