[ale] VPN recommendations?

[DJ-Pfulio]

On 03/16/2018 08:28 AM, Jeff Layton via Ale wrote:
> Good morning,
> 
> I've thought about VPN solutions for a while since I travel quite a bit. I'd
> like it to have a good number of US connections but also some around the world.
> And of course, I want it to be as fast as possible and not collect any of my
> data (if possible). Any recommendations?

VPNs change their policies all-the-time. The good ones change from week to week.
 What can we do?  TorrentFreak does a review of VPNs every year, usually in
February.

I run my own VPN at home, for when I'm away.  It uses openvpn AES256 and works
just like the VPN services.  Works surprisingly well for my 15/3 slow-ass
connection.

I also use PIA for when I'm at home and want to exit in a different place.
Google doesn't like it when you do that and sends scary sounding emails that
someone has taken over an account.  Pffffft.   PIA has different ports for
different ciphers and both UDP and TCP are supported.  Even if you are on a
hotel with HTTPS/443/TCP only allowed, you can connect to PIA.

Here's that table of connections:
https://helpdesk.privateinternetaccess.com/hc/en-us/articles/225274288-Which-encryption-auth-settings-should-I-use-for-ports-on-your-gateways-

Any VPN with exit nodes in Russia has provided their master keys to the Russia govt.
PIA has been asked for logs by the FBI:
"A subpoena was sent to London Trust Media and the only information they could
provide is that the cluster of IP addresses being used was from the east coast
of the United States," the FBI's complain reads. "However, London Trust did
provide that they accept payment for their services through credit card with a
vendor company of Stripe and/or Amazon."

If you have ssh working to your home, you can use it as a SOCKS proxy from
anywhere too.  It will leak non-TCP data, however - like DNS.

Lots of different methods to secure a connection when away from home. If you
want more security, probably want to use IPSec.  From time to time, openvpn does
have bugs.

I just extended my PIA subscription.  There is a $60/2 yr deal going on now.
Existing customers will see a prorated offer in their dashboard.

PIA owns freenode (IRC), but oddly, I've never been able to use freenode with an
active PIA connection.  What's up with that?