Security News Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous ‘Stop Cop City’ Protester

Wouldn't it be best to pay for a VPN anonymously anyway? I mean, privacy is the whole point. That's why Mullvad stopped the month-to-month subscriptions, so they don't have to keep a payment method on file. You can get a VPN gift card many places then just redeem that.

Well, for example Mullvad allows you to buy a gift card from a third party. That information lasts only 30 days with Mullvad as they don't keep logs of payments methods. Yes, whomever is interested can track down where and how the gift card was purchased. But if the user paid cash for it, good luck identifying them. Also its just more hassle. Mullvad also allows users to mail in cash with their account number. Mail that from a public place and you're still good.

All of this to say, there are ways.
The problem is unless you connect the VPN through ISP>TOR>VPN your connecting to the VPN through your ISP I.P. They are not stupid and can see this so it wont work to protect you.

Again with gift cards how are you going to pay for it? By credit card or PayPal so again they can connect the dots. There is no where you can buy a Mullvad gift card on the legit web without a credit card or PayPal. Maybe there are 3rd party suppliers on the dark web or people who trade Amazon purchases for crypto thats about as good as you will get.

The only part that is 100% legit is cash in mail to Mullvad, that is 'true' anonymous payment method. The problem is if your under investigation they will see your connecting to a Mullvad server and they will go from there to request account/data/WireGuard keys

When it comes to national security all bets are off, nothing is off limits and every country will sell you out or co-operate.
 
The problem is unless you connect the VPN through ISP>TOR>VPN your connecting to the VPN through your ISP I.P. They are not stupid and can see this so it wont work to protect you.

Again with gift cards how are you going to pay for it? By credit card or PayPal so again they can connect the dots. There is no where you can buy a Mullvad gift card on the legit web without a credit card or PayPal. Maybe there are 3rd party suppliers on the dark web or people who trade Amazon purchases for crypto thats about as good as you will get.

The only part that is 100% legit is cash in mail to Mullvad, that is 'true' anonymous payment method. The problem is if your under investigation they will see your connecting to a Mullvad server and they will go from there to request account/data/WireGuard keys

When it comes to national security all bets are off, nothing is off limits and every country will sell you out or co-operate.

So I take it you've never heard of RAM servers, where nothing is written to the disk? There are only two VPNs I'm aware of that have either had their servers seized or have been taken two court where it's been proven that there are no logs. Both of these VPNs use RAM servers where any power loss (like it a server is seized) results in all session data being erased. Mullvad and AirVPN are both proven, not by a third party, but in court by governments, to truly be no-log. They can't hand over information that doesn't exist.

If a user pays for a gift card in cash, as I said before, you'll be good. Mullvad keeps records of all payments methods for only a week, including pre-paid gift card codes. But you're right. If you're an idiot doing shady stuff you deserve to get caught. But we don't al get what we deserve.
 
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Yeah RAM servers, I'm not convinced. They can just raid the data center and replace the server or tap the server at the ISP level/undersea cable level which they obviously do..

Again where can you purchase a Mullvad gift card for cash? No where. If I'm wrong post the cash for gift card webpage/link and I'll buy 10 years worth.
 
It can be done. Although, as I've said, generate a random account key and mail cash to mullvad with that account info from a public place without return address.

Can I really pay with cash?​

You bet, and please! Stay anonymous all the way. Just put your cash and payment token (randomly generated on our website) in an envelope and send it to us. We accept the following currencies: EUR, USD, GBP, SEK, NOK, CHF, CAD, AUD, NZD.

You, uh, might want to work on your reading comprehension skills. I've said all this before.
 
Mullvad gift cards @ CVS? Not sure about that. SerialCart yeah I dunno he always says discount for MT members but never delivers and says 'already discounted'.

Even Amazon has raised Mullvad gift cards now, so the value to buy isnt really there since the USD crapped itself, now it's rising again maybe we see better discounts.
 
Dunno what to tell you, Every time I buy a gift card subscription from @SerialCart he gives me a slight discount. And, yes, CVS. They used to have a bunch of gift cards, before people started stealing them all the time. Mullvad was there, along with Nord and Astrill. But that was a while ago. Or, you can pay cash for a prepaid VISA and use that.
 
OK well I was wrong, never saw a Mullvad @ CVS when on my travels over there. Nord I can believe, even Astrill because it was heavily marketed as a China VPN.

Cash for prepaid Visa is a very good option, but again when you connect to server/Mullvad user portal there are issues.

Sending cash to Mullvad you have to be aware of the letter being intercepted and taking/dusting for fingerprints from the cash/letter.
 
I mean, yeah. But again, privacy is only a hobby, It's not like I'm suggesting ways for people that deserve to get caught to not get caught. I'm not. Nor am I up to nefarious douchebaggery. It's just a hobby, and hopefully it adds a bit of protection from data scrapers.

The point being, always add an intermediary between you and online traffic, especially when shopping.
 
but how daft can you be to use your own email address.
Probably not that daft; Proton's reputation and marketing (like others have said) may create a false sense of security. Services that can be used with anonymity, even legitimate ones, have limitations, including Tor and Proton.

Proton said this on Reddit:
For users who want maximum anonymity: use Proton with a VPN or Tor, pay with cash or cryptocurrency, and don’t add a recovery email.
There are still caveats with that instruction:
  • For new account registration with a real IP, Proton logs the IP address to prevent abuse and for legal compliance. The log is eventually purged, but it's unclear how long this takes. New accounts are suspect. Swiss police could potentially compel Proton to "permanently" keep certain IP addresses associated with accounts.
  • For new account registration via Tor, Proton requires a real email or phone number, which are saved as non-reversible hashes permanently. Having the hash and knowing the real phone number or email allows for matching. If you're already suspected of owning a Proton email address, the hash may still match you. And again, can the Swiss police ask Proton to watch for new account registration with certain phone number / email addresses?
  • Proton allows enhanced login logging for security, which logs IP addresses, so you'd better not turn this on. Whatever logs you already have in the past should be purged.
You can't really have a zero-trust relationship with Proton (or any cloud platform that holds secrets for you). You have to trust that they will get rid of new account registration IP addresses, hash those personally identifiable information when appropriate, throw away paying cryptocurrency wallet addresses, etc. Those things they are supposed to do to protect your privacy might not happen if you are already being watched. You also have to trust their E2EE client software not to leak secrets, with open-source software being a better model but not a guarantee.
 

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Apart from minority persecution or similar, try to behave yourself on line as in real life as they actually are the same, do not not do stuff that's illegal or inherently wrong, you will sleep much better & have a improved conscience, then you are not worried about being tracked or covering all your bases as for me a VPN etc just adds privacy.
 
Or, you can pay cash for a prepaid VISA and use that.
I could be wrong! but assuming CVS or Walgreens let's me pay cash for a prepaid Visa, you have to activate the card with Visa, I sorta recall Visa wants to know who you are (maybe I'm wrong about that) or do you give them a fake name, & Mullvad doesn't care as long as payment is linked to an account?
 
Also there is a huge problem with scammers targeting pre-paid VISA/MC all around the world. They steal/buy pre-paid scratch off pin & sometimes activate it before then return it to store or shove it back on the gift card rack. The problem arises when regular Joe buys a pre-paid goes to activate it and finds it's been drained/already (usually pin scratched/what ever activation methods used) used or when they try to activate it then the crooks are quick and use it with in minutes.