Lately there have been a few posts about VPN’s and always Astrill seems to be the answer. But they do do logging and fingerprinting your devices. This is kinda opposite of what a VPN is supposed to protect you from. Even though I’m struggling with the other VPN’s I’m very hesitant to switch. Do any of the Astrill users have similar concerns?
The reality is the best VPNs for use in China do not advertise and are not ones that people recommend here.
Hi, the only difference between us and ANY OTHER VPN PROVIDER when it comes to logging, is that we are open about it. We could easily say, just like all others, no logs whatsoever, zero logging policy, our servers are run on RAM only. And how would you know this is true? How can you believe any of our competitors? To run VPN service requires certain basic logging just like any other service. We need to see how much traffic is used, as, well, we need to buy more servers when they are used a lot. We also need to identify devices somehow to be able to serve your 2 devices when they connect to the same VPN server. Look at expressvpn and nordvpn, their apps are riddled with 3rd party marketing and monitoring scripts and trackers. Look at their websites, see how they uniquely fingerprint your devices when you log in to memberzone and send it to whatever 3rd party analytics they use. Worst of all, look at their live chat solutions. They all use some other company that stores all their chats in plaintext form. Many customers send sensitive information in these chats. Do they admit anywhere they do this? Are you warned before starting a live chat that its recorded and stored by some chinese company who knows where?
We try to be open, we say exactly what we collect and why. We do this because we feel that anybody who understands computing at least a bit realizes, that no-logs VPN is absolute nonsense. So instead of concerns about Astrill security, be concerned about any VPN that tells you they dont log anything. As they just lie.
I don’t have concerns, because if I wasn’t in China, I wouldn’t have a VPN. I use Astrill to watch UK TV and post pictures of my Avocado toast to Instagram.
If I was doing something more nefarious, or something I needed high security/privacy for, I probably wouldn’t be using an easy to buy VPN anyway, and I would be concerned about what Astrill does.
But as it is, the risk the worth the reward.
i have absolutely no proof but i assume that astrill has some ties to the govt. to a certain degree this is preferable, as it doesn’t seem as throttled as other vpns during sensitive times.
Do not worry, Astrill is not china-based. Been using it since 2011 and haven’t been invited down to have a talk at the police station ever.
So please enlighten the unwashed masses as to which ones you refer to.
This is my 6th sense too. There is no proof at all but it’s a feeling
Yeah, I’ve said this before. But the happy Astrill users just acted like I was mad for even thinking that.
It depends on what you are doing with it
The way lesser used VPNs stay “lesser used” is not blasting them all over reddit.
Anyways, ask any of your chinese friends - they all use ones to get on Instagram. Lots of Taiwanese based ones.
Maybe they thought you mad for having conjecture and no evidence?
Bad bot. This bot is just taking up space everywhere.
Nah, like I said - they thought me mad for even daring to think that Astrill could be dubious in any way.
And yet, they might very well be right, and I might very well be wrong.
But… it seems it’s always the same handful of people who keep praising Astrill. Like yourself. Which in turn kinda makes me suspicious all over again.
My Astrill account tells me I’ve been a user since 2014. In the first 3-4 years when I started using Astrill, it was as affected by sensitive times of the year - mainly lianghui in early March, but sometimes CNY - as all the other VPN services. And whoever’s behind Astrill would get annoyed when people talked about its service - anybody remember #dumbclub?
For me, it’s only been in the last couple of years that Astrill has weathered those sensitive times of the year.