> [...] it seems kinda disingenuous to me to tell users that they're more private because they use a VPN. Private from your ISP, sure [...]
Bit of a contradiction there. It adds friction to at least some attacks against your privacy. That's better privacy.
Nothing will ever be perfect, and VPNs can easily be oversold in terms of their benefits (especially since https became the norm). But they have benefits in some common use-cases.
> Also it seems all I need to do as an "attacker" is subpoena (or whatever the Swedish equivalent is) Mullvad while your payment record is on file and I get the info I want. If Mullvad really wanted to go hardcore why not only sell little top up cards cash-only at kiosks?
They accept cash and at least some other privacy preserving payment methods already.
> They accept cash and at least some other privacy preserving payment methods already.
So why even allow "traditional" KYC-ridden payments at all?
> Bit of a contradiction there. It adds friction to at least some attacks against your privacy. That's better privacy.
The nuance is that you're just moving the problem. You're not private from Mullvad. You're just trading one ISP for a different one. I could have phrased it better in my initial comment so as not to suggest a contradiction. Think of it this way, if Mullvad was your ISP, would you still tell someone to get a VPN? You have to trust someone not to snoop on your DNS queries and connections. All adding a VPN does is give you more freedom to choose who to trust, which is not bad in its own right. It's just not technically privacy manifest.
Bit of a contradiction there. It adds friction to at least some attacks against your privacy. That's better privacy.
Nothing will ever be perfect, and VPNs can easily be oversold in terms of their benefits (especially since https became the norm). But they have benefits in some common use-cases.
> Also it seems all I need to do as an "attacker" is subpoena (or whatever the Swedish equivalent is) Mullvad while your payment record is on file and I get the info I want. If Mullvad really wanted to go hardcore why not only sell little top up cards cash-only at kiosks?
They accept cash and at least some other privacy preserving payment methods already.