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VPN Service Offers Secure Browsing, Internet Filter Bypassing, and Cheap Games
Post by trog @ 03:05pm 04/01/10 | 35 Comments
Giganews recently sent us the announcement of a new service called VyprVPN. VyprVPN is a "personal VPN":
VyprVPN “scrambles” your online communication (web addresses, emails, instant messages, VoIP, social networking, etc.) as it travels through your Internet service provider (ISP) to VyprVPN servers, making it impossible for eavesdroppers to see what you’re transmitting.

Once your online traffic reaches the VyprVPN servers, it’s stripped of your Internet Protocol (IP) address, tagged with a VyprVPN IP address, and sent to its final destination on the Internet. Now hackers and identity thieves don’t see your identity associated with an email, for example, they see VyprVPN.
This has some advantages that could be of interest to Australian Internet users and gamers:
  1. Such a system will almost certainly allow you to bypass any government-imposed Internet filtering schemes.
  2. Such a system will allow you to bypass those frustrating country-based restrictions on gaming prices, allowing you to buy games (and other software) for their more reasonable value (some digitally downloadable software can be almost half-price if you buy it in US dollars from a US-based online store).
For those interested, check out the VyprVPN site for more details. The service is currently only available with Giganews accounts but hopefully they'll offer it as a standalone service (if only so it's a bit less obvious what they're expecting people to use it for).

Disclaimer: it should be noted that AusGamers does not endorse or recommend this service as a method to bypass such systems and that this is provided for informational purposes only.






Latest Comments
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Martz
Posted 03:07pm 04/1/10
haha seems like they're in early to capitalise on the net filter :)
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Tremble
Posted 03:13pm 04/1/10
How is this different to any other VPN service currently available?
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TiT
Posted 03:18pm 04/1/10
its free if you have giganews account?
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Bonez
Posted 03:19pm 04/1/10
I just want something that will make it look like I'm in the US so that I can install some of the Ad supported games that are available for free download from the AusGamers free game list, i.e. FarCry, Rayman Raving Rabbits, etc...

Surely there is something a little cheaper that would allow for this...?
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Pinky
Posted 03:19pm 04/1/10
A severe lack of technical details makes this something to avoid in the interim.
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trog
Posted 03:21pm 04/1/10
A severe lack of technical details makes this something to avoid in the interim.
What sort of technical details do you mean?
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trog
Posted 03:23pm 04/1/10
How is this different to any other VPN service currently available?
Yeh I don't think its much different from a technical perspective.. just thought it was worth posting about bringing it to the attention of people as it solves a whole bunch of common problems for one (reasonable-ish) price point
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tequila
Posted 03:26pm 04/1/10
It's pretty safe to assume they're using PPTP or L2TP, either way it's not rocket science to figure out the technical side of it
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Opec
Posted 03:28pm 04/1/10
Will this be available to Internode users?
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imitation
Posted 03:29pm 04/1/10
  1. Such a system will almost certainly allow you to bypass any government-imposed Internet filtering schemes.

  2. Such a system will allow you to bypass those frustrating country-based restrictions on gaming prices, allowing you to buy games (and other software) for their more reasonable value (some digitally downloadable software can be almost half-price if you buy it in US dollars from a US-based online store).

Will the first of these become illegal after the filter is implemented?
Is the second of these illegal currently?

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TiT
Posted 03:30pm 04/1/10
Will this be available to Internode users?


I dont think so as they use astraweb... but it would be good idea to post something on whirlpool and see how many bites you get!
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trog
Posted 03:32pm 04/1/10
Will the first of these become illegal after the filter is implemented?
Very good question and one that, AFAIK, has not been answered yet.
Is the second of these illegal currently?
It could possibly constitute fraud maybe? Because you're lying to them about your address when you buy stuff.

I meant to mentions something about that in the OP, added a comment there. As always, use at your own risk.
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tequila
Posted 03:37pm 04/1/10
there's no law that states you must give a correct address to a business though, so you can't be done for fraud
it's different on official forms and at banks etc, but not for Joe's Pizza etcetera

The first is definitely not illegal, if they make it illegal I will personally [march on / setup camp out front of] parliament
I feel pretty strongly about this censorship
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hast
Posted 04:13pm 04/1/10
* wholesale banning of vpns is unworkable. it basically means no ssh, no ssl.
* banning of vpns for circumventing filters is unenforceable. you can't prove in a court of law that someone is circumventing a filter because they have a lot of encrypted traffic going somewhere. you need access to the unencrypted data coming out the other end the and the other country is unlikely to cooperate. just get a US one that is not tied to a corporation that has business dealings in australia that could be intimidated. (don't use amazon ec2/google/microsoft/yahoo).

also, if you are using a vpn to get around a filter then be careful what data you send over the vpn because the people who run the vpn can sniff your traffic and are less trustworthy on average than your isp.

last edited by hast at 16:13:15 04/Jan/10
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deadlyf
Posted 04:14pm 04/1/10
How do you sign in exactly to a VPN? Is it through a web browser or is it in your modem settings?

I'm guessing it would mess with free traffic as well.
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tequila
Posted 04:18pm 04/1/10
you can create a dialup network (control panel -> network settings -> dial up networking), which sets up a new interface that all of your traffic goes out via

or you can do SSL based using a browser, so it opens a java applet and that basically becomes your new 'interface' to the tunnel
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trog
Posted 04:31pm 04/1/10

also, if you are using a vpn to get around a filter then be careful what data you send over the vpn because the people who run the vpn can sniff your traffic and are less trustworthy on average than your isp.
In general I think Giganews is probably the least untrustworthy third party; they've essentially built their business around looking the other way when people use their products and services. They privacy policy is a big part of their business. I suspect it's much more likely they'll get smote by the media industries and there'll be a big court fight, but - if you believe them - they're not logging ANY data at the moment (iirc)
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Midda
Posted 04:46pm 04/1/10
I'd certainly be looking at getting access to a premium VPN if this net filter goes through. I'm not too keen on that price though, I'd like to just get the VPN access, I'm already happy with Astraweb, don't really want to swap to GigaNews. The Internode question is a good one though, since they give their users AstraWeb and GigaNews access for free.
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Pinky
Posted 10:25pm 04/1/10
A severe lack of technical details makes this something to avoid in the interim.
What sort of technical details do you mean?

Something more than "the data is 'scrambled'" - 'scrambled' is how I like my eggs, not my data. They also don't state in their privacy policy if the data is stored - they say they don't look at it, great - but if it's stored it's a different kettle of fish.

They also say they cooperate with the law in criminal cases - which is good, because they have to. Your point 1) about circumventing any proposed gov't mandatory filtering scheme would be a criminal case. Whether they happen to get around to you is another issue.
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greazy
Posted 11:03pm 04/1/10
Midda: I thought internode only gave access to AstraWeb?
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weedy
Posted 11:15pm 04/1/10
you can create a dialup network (control panel -> network settings -> dial up networking), which sets up a new interface that all of your traffic goes out via

or you can do SSL based using a browser, so it opens a java applet and that basically becomes your new 'interface' to the tunnel

Or you can use the VPN client made by Cisco that allows for both IPSec and SSL (AnyConnect)
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Pinky
Posted 11:38pm 04/1/10
Midda: I thought internode only gave access to AstraWeb?

They used to offer GigaNews until May 2009. I don't think they do anymore.
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Twisted
Posted 12:47am 05/1/10
Will the first of these become illegal after the filter is implemented?
I suppose they need to prove you're using a VPN to bypass the system anyway and that you're not using it for a legitimate purpose. Wouldn't they need to get a warrant and stuff to do anything about it anyway?
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stinky
Posted 01:45am 05/1/10
$30/month seems a bit steep though, fine if you want newsgroups as well I guess, but for just VPN it's not really priced appropriately.
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Spook
Posted 09:11am 05/1/10
yar, true;

services like this are going to be springing up EVERYWHERE, real soon.

should sort out the prices pretty quick.
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trog
Posted 10:15am 05/1/10
Something more than "the data is 'scrambled'" - 'scrambled' is how I like my eggs, not my data.
If you look at the install instructions you'll see it uses the standard Windows VPN stuff, so its prolly easy to figure out from there what sort of encryption it uses?
They also don't state in their privacy policy if the data is stored - they say they don't look at it, great - but if it's stored it's a different kettle of fish.
From the rest of their giganews stuff I'm about 98% confident no data is stored.
Your point 1) about circumventing any proposed gov't mandatory filtering scheme would be a criminal case. Whether they happen to get around to you is another issue.
Well that's what I was saying above - there's been no info (that I know of) that indicates whether circumventing the filter is a criminal offence or not. More secrets about the system that we're waiting to hear about I guess.
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Midda
Posted 10:20am 05/1/10
Wouldn't you get an extra heap of latency using one of these VPNs if you're playing games online?
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trog
Posted 10:21am 05/1/10
Wouldn't you get an extra heap of latency using one of these VPNs if you're playing games online?
If you're playing on local servers, most definitely. Possibly though if you're playing on US or EU-based servers it might not make that much difference.
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hast
Posted 10:30am 05/1/10

They also say they cooperate with the law in criminal cases - which is good, because they have to.


they are US based and have to cooperate with US authorities. the US won't compel them to cooperate unless they have broken US law. do you think giganews is going to bend over for the PRC?


Wouldn't you get an extra heap of latency using one of these VPNs if you're playing games online?


you have cryptographic overhead + some protocols will give you tcp overhead as well (games that use udp will be disadvantaged if you use a protocol like pptp) + routing overhead the trog has brought up.

last edited by hast at 10:30:46 05/Jan/10
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mooby
Posted 12:07pm 05/1/10
might be worth it so i can stream coro from bbc :P
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deadlyf
Posted 12:28pm 05/1/10
Wouldn't you get an extra heap of latency using one of these VPNs if you're playing games online?
Wouldn't you just log out of the VPN before playing an online game?

I haven't seen anything that states that it will be illegal to bypass the intended internet filter. I don't think it's correct to assume that because ISP's are being mandated to supply filtered internet that it will necessarily be illegal when a user bypasses it. After all isn't the intended purpose to stop kids from accidentally stumbling upon RC'd material. It wouldn't be an accident if it was done on purpose now would it!

What exactly is the law when it comes to obtaining or owning RC'd material? I was under the impression that it was illegal to sell it in the country but not necessarily illegal to own. Seeing as how I own a copy of GTA:SA which was banned shortly after sale I'd like to think I'm not considered a criminal for it.
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asylum
Posted 02:32pm 27/4/10
you could always try vpnsecure.me they offer monthly service for $8 uses OpenVPN client, meaning you can also bypass internet capping etc seems pretty good to me.
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Pinky
Posted 02:48pm 27/4/10
^ sus post is sus

I used anonymitynetwork.com the other day (free for 3 hours with 512MB) to gift a game in Steam. Worked perfectly.
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Eds
Posted 08:53am 14/10/10
meaning you can also bypass internet capping


Um, how? ISP's would shape all data, not just what goes through port 80.
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smashcrab
Posted 09:35am 14/10/10
Another vote for vpnsecure.me - been using them for months now .. Cheap service, actively being improved all the time (new servers, new countries, giveaway comps etc). Can't recommend them enough :)
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