Nostr Web Client

what is the point of paying in #bitcoin for #VPN?

The transaction is still largely traceable to me.

If the VPN company does not log the traffic I bet they still hold the financial records. So there will be a trace of me buying the service.

But not actually using it.

if there would be a user IP linked to the VPN ID, then it can be as easily linked to FIAT as to #BTC transaction.

I guess with #monero it might be slightly different, but I don't understand how it works

Could explain it to me?

#asknostr

#plebchain

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Discussion

Nice and Kind Vic 2y ago

Whirlpool Bitcoin.

Use that to open Lightning channels on an ephemeral node.

Use lightning to buy Amazon giftcards.

Use the Amazon gift cards to buy VPN subscription cards

Sell the VPN cards peer to peer at events.

Buy a VPN card peer to peer or from online store accepting lightning

Use that to top up your account.

Always assume the VPN logs your IP and destination traffic even if claimed and reported otherwise. There is no way they can prove they dont.

hit with a hint of s 2y ago

nostr:npub1yx6pjypd4r7qh2gysjhvjd9l2km6hnm4amdnjyjw3467fy05rf0qfp7kza I try to find an information about ephemeral nodes and it has proven quite challenging.

Any help?

#asknostr

#lightningnetwork

Nice and Kind Vic 2y ago

By ephemeral, I mean a node that is not intended to be long lived. A good service for this is voltage if you dont want to manually spin up and down nodes yourself as voltage can be automated

hit with a hint of s 2y ago

Is there any tutorial on how to use that for stacking?

Nice and Kind Vic 2y ago

captjack 🏴‍☠️✨💜 2y ago

99% payment systems have some kind of trace. But at least it hides stuff from common eyes. if transaction is ever investigated by law enforcement they can dig much more than common eyes. VPN adds a extra layer.

Saberhagen The Nameless 2y ago

It's so third parties (corporations, financial institutions, governments, etc) can't tie your identity to any online activity. More plausible deniability also if you use an anonymous payment method VS a credit card 100% tied to your identity.

You have a to trust the VPN to some degree though. Trust can be minimized by the VPN being as transparent as possible and not requiring personal info, but never removed completely with a VPN. But if you do trust them it is a very useful tool on your belt for privacy and anonymity against third parties.

I recommend Mullvad or IVPN.

No personal info required (randomly generated account numbers only), allows payment via Bitcoin and Monero, open source apps, has servers outside of five eyes, and RAM-only servers.

Obscura also looks promising (TBA):

https://obscuravpn.io/

But for anything requiring some serious anonymity you can't beat Tor (pros and cons to each).

CitizenPedro 2y ago

Yeah, by the way, am I crazy for training myself to use Tor for my social network (Nostr and Twitter) usage?

Tor is slow but at least it is completely anonymous...

hit with a hint of s 2y ago

Write a tutorial! Please