EDIT: sorry for the rambly post here’s a quick clarification I wanted a decentralized/open source variant of something like NordVPN etc.
Crypto-based options I found: Sentinel, Mysterium , Orchid All of those are on the Blockchain and use their own coins as a payment system, both to pay usage fees and to pay out node-hosts. Not sure if that’s my jam.
I tried to use the search and came up short - so point me elsewhere if there’s already a discussion.
Let me preface this by saying I’m pretty green when it comes to a lot of the deeper aspects of FOSS privacy tools. Meaning that i’m probably more clueless about this topic than I realise.
Had a bit of a shower thought moment earlier and googled if decentralized VPNs are an option for the occasional torrent.
Did a bit of a google and came up with a couple of options, seemingly all tied into a blockchain with their own coin for payments - either using or hosting a node.
I’m a bit allergic to cryptobros and their blockchain-everything-mentality but I suppose it’s not a terrible system for the usecase?
So are there people on here who have hands-on experience with this? Is it a valid tool for safer browsing and torrenting?
Are there any obvious alternatives I should look into?
Are there any obvious risks I’m not aware of?
Is the concept flawed altogether?
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I use tor as a VPN (the tor org has finally realized and accepted people use it like this and welcome it now) via the tor network layer. I’ll run a few instances and run my stuff through them. (Easier to set up a conjure or webtunnel bridge and exit node to a specific country than rely on the randomness of tor browser where some countries have restrictions or are restricted from accessing certain sites.)
If I need that extra sense of anonymity, I’ll use the tor browser.
Tor isn’t really VPN. Its much slower, and is far more likely to get blocked compared to a VPN.
True. Technically just a proxy.
But, I’m broke. And it’s fast enough (with the right node)
So tor and protonvpn are what I use.
I’ve had issue with proton being blocked though, too. But a quick server change and everything is OK.