this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2026
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...because VPNs obscure a user’s true location, and because intelligence agencies presume that communications of unknown origin are foreign, Americans may be inadvertently waiving the privacy protections they’re entitled to under the law...

...VPNs might protect you against garden-variety criminals, but the intentional commingling of origin/destination points by VPNs could turn purely domestic communications into “foreign” communications the NSA can legally intercept (and the FBI, somewhat less-legally can dip into at will)...

Certainly the NSA isn’t concerned about “incidental collection.” It’s never been too concerned about its consistent “incidental” collection of US persons’ communications and data in the past and this isn’t going to budge the needle, especially since it means the NSA would have to do more work to filter out domestic communications and the FBI would be less than thrilled with any efforts made to deny it access to communications it doesn’t have the legal right to obtain on its own.

Since the government won’t do this, it’s up to the general public, starting with everyone sharing the contents of this letter with others. VPNs can still offer considerable security benefits. But everyone needs to know that domestic surveillance is one of the possible side effects of utilizing this tech.

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[–] PityPityBangBang@lemmy.world 1 points 34 minutes ago* (last edited 34 minutes ago)

I'd say a large part of my day is looking for interesting links for the officers and agents in Bothell, WA that have my IP locale originate, so that they can have stuff to their show their spouses/prostitute that they are extorting/your mom after their shift.

[–] schwim@piefed.zip 2 points 57 minutes ago

They have been surveiling us for years. They just to maximize what they can collect.

[–] Zen_Shinobi@lemmy.world 25 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

Time to spread the free word of Tor to everyone.

[–] aeiou@piefed.social 2 points 21 minutes ago (1 children)
[–] Zen_Shinobi@lemmy.world 2 points 10 minutes ago

I wasn't crazy about i2p. I really loved Freenet and Zeronet

[–] rossman@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 hours ago (5 children)

Is it safe enough to use vpns based out of the US? I'm using nord which is non us.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 2 points 20 minutes ago* (last edited 18 minutes ago)

Those are the ones that would cause them to surveil you.

The issue isn't necessarily "the government will target you for using a VPN;" the issue is "if your IP makes you look like you're outside the US because that's where your traffic exits the VPN, the laws against domestic spying won't protect you properly because you'll look like a foreigner."

Frankly, the headline is heavily spinning it to be anti-VPN fearmongering.

[–] obvs@lemmy.world 28 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (3 children)

Nord is owned by Tesonet, a data mining company which also owns SurfShark.

And Private Internet Access and ExpressVPN are owned by Kape, an Israeli firm.

ProtonVPN is owned by Proton, in Switzerland.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 16 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Mullvad is based in Sweden and is the main interest of its seemingly decent, also Swedish, parent company

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Fan of Mullvad but just be aware its not what you want if you're using a VPN for torrenting. They had to remove their port forwarding feature due to some bad actors ruining it for the rest of us.

[–] leoj@piefed.zip 3 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

What happens if you are torrenting via Mullvad?

[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 3 points 45 minutes ago

they don't allow port forwarding which nerfs the effectiveness of seeding, seeding is still possible, just not as effective.

[–] leoj@piefed.zip 3 points 1 hour ago

CyberGhost I believe is also owned by Kape or a subsidiary.

[–] rossman@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 hours ago

Thanks for the extra digging, no true privacy but at least there's some transparency with the vpns.

[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 1 points 44 minutes ago

Is it safe enough to use vpns based out of the US?

yes, just be aware that the gov could require the company to log you without letting you know, even if they have a no log setup. For the everyday person this is a non-issue, but if you are doing shadey stuff or have ties that may make someone super interested in your activities, you may wanna choose elsewhere.

[–] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

No. They will see that you’re using a vpn.

They might decide to record your traffic and save it until it can be decrypted.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

In theory, I think all VPN usage is grounds to get you put on a list, but Nord is considered a relatively "normie" company by privacy aficionados. Everybody and their mother has seen an ad for it by this point. (The privacy aficionados will probably tell you it's not good enough, but that's a can of worms I won't get into right now.)

[–] rossman@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Makes sense I should probably reframe it as is nord not going to sell their users out without a fight.

Only true privacy is like the tails stuff and some complicated routing stuff all the self hosting guys here probably know about.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 9 points 2 hours ago

AFAIK the one company that has been battle-tested is Mullvad, everything else requires (more) crossing your fingers.

Nord has subpar standards when it comes to logging now, and if that's in line with recent Proton behavior, you might that interpret that as a potential willingness to cave to the US with minimal pushback

[–] lemmyng@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Those Senators can gargle some uncooked nuts.

[–] klugerama@lemmy.world 15 points 2 hours ago

Giving you the benefit of the doubt, I think you misunderstood who is at fault here.

The senators aren't asking the government to spy on Americans. They're only asking the DNI to make it clear to the public that the US government already might be spying on them.