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VPN Verge VPN Verge - Breaking news, reviews, tips of VPN.

The Copyright Alert System went into effect Monday February 25th, 2013. The Copyright Alert System is an effort by copyright holders, mainly the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association Of America (MPAA) to curb copyright infringement. It is NOT a law, but an avenue for copyright holders to contact offending parties via their ISP.

It works as follows:

Copyright holders will monitor (they are already and have been doing this for a long time already) Peer-2-Peer networks for copyright infringements and identify the IP address of the infringing party. They will then provide this information to the Internet Service Provider (ISP) owning that IP address. The ISP will then identify the user who used that particular IP address at the time of the alleged violation and notify the user of the complaint. There are several levels of alerts to the user ranging from an informative emails to mandatory educational videos and upon further violations bandwidth throttling.

What does that mean to you?

Frankly, very little. In contrast to similar systems in other countries there won't be any service suspensions or fines, merely annoyances for serial offenders. ISPs will not share subscriber information with copyright holders and copyright holders can still sue users independent of CAS.

What can you do to protect yourself?

While much is being written about CAS, I am not sure what it will accomplish. If you are concerned about it, your best bet is to use a no-log VPN whenever your are online, thereby making it impossible for others to determine your real identity. For more, read "Why Use No Log VPN".

Conclusion

CAS is another effort to maintain outdated business models rather than engaging in meaningful discussions about copyright and patent law. In my opinion CAS is more geared towards publicity than copyright protection. If you are concerned about CAS, protect your privacy using a VPN, logging or no-log VPN, and you have little to worry about.

Resources: Cute Copyright Alert System Video

Image Credit: Retromodern

VPN Verge VPN Verge - Breaking news, reviews, tips of VPN.

The Problem

This morning I read news that VPN is no longer working at Starbucks. This may not be a news to many people but certainly is important to me; Since I use public Wi-Fi a lot so I always make sure to use VPN mainly to avoid packet sniffer such as: Firesheep.

The Research

To verify "VPN @Starbucks not working", I headed to Starbucks this afternoon to run the test myself and here is what I discovered. I could connect to their Wi-Fi as usual. But after I started the HMA(Hide My Ass) and tried to access New York Times, the page won't load. I tried a few different HMA servers but same result. Wondering whether this problem is exclusive to HMA, I switched to one of my favorites: VPN4ALL. Unfortunately VPN4ALL couldn't connect either.

Now I have the feeling that the problem is not the VPNs. It looks like Starbucks is preventing people from accessing Internet through their free Wi-Fi using VPN. As a last resort, I turned to Tor which I have mixed feelings about (here is why), and it connected with no problems at all.

The Conclusion

If you are heading over to your favorite Starbucks hoping for a VPN secured Wi-Fi session you might be disappointed; Until someone comes up with a workaround to use VPN at Starbucks, for the moment, you can use Tor to secure your internet activities. Tor does have some speed issues, so patience is of the essence. The remaining question is why Starbucks decided to block VPN access? If you know the answer or you know how to make VPN work @ Starbucks, please share it with us.

Thanks to the talented photographer whose image we used in this post: marcopako

VPN Verge VPN Verge - Breaking news, reviews, tips of VPN.

You are connected to public Wi-Fi, started your VPN everything looks good, but then nothing loads? Great ! My VPN works well at home, but right now I really need it. I need to run my business, use confidential login information, and sure don’t want everyone else to have a glimpse at it.

I have noticed a lot of issues using a VPN to secure my Wi-Fi connection at public Wi-Fi spots. Usually connecting to the public Wi-Fi is easy, the VPN will connect most of the time but not always, but when I try to do anything with the VPN connected nothing happens… ugh.

The same thing happened today when I was sitting at Air Canada’s Maple Leaf lounge in Toronto. I was trying to get some speed comparisons between HMA and VPN4ALL for an upcoming review. Connection issues in this situation really sucked, because I like to use real life numbers for our reviews. Let’s face it, using a VPN at home is a good idea, but using it while surfing on public Wi-Fi is a must.

Here is what I came up with after some trial and error ok, a lot of trial and error:

To establish the connection with a public Wi-Fi access point you do need to let the provider assign the DNS server, or it just won’t work. However, once you are connected you are free to change the DNS server to any server of your choosing. I use Comodo DNS. With your network settings updated you can then connect to your VPN as you normally do.

It works, but it seriously lacks some elegance It isn’t fun updating your DNS settings a couple of times per day. If you have a better solution, I’d love to know! Please share this tip and help us fight identity theft and make Internet access safer.

Image credit: XiaMing

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The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) – now why do I always think Pornographic? – successfully forced UK based ISPs to block the popular file sharing site ThePirateBay and is working on blocking additional sites soon. While ISPs are forced to comply with the law and block access to those sites, users are not and can legally use proxies to gain access.

One option (of many options) is to use a VPN. VPNs offer an easy route to unblock restricted content, no matter where you are. While not always 100% legal, in this case it is, leaving the BPI initiative in the dust. It is unfortunate that money was spent to deal with this legal case. In the end businesses that don’t innovate and adapt their business model to meet current needs will soon die, no matter what the legal situation.

Image Credit: NS Newsflash’s

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Nothing you put online is 100% private, websites can be hacked, privacy settings changed, and things inadvertently shared. So how can you keep your private information private, short of not putting it online?

TechCrunch has a great introductory post about just this question suggesting that you view everything you put online from the perspective that it could become public. If you don’t want it in the public sphere, don’t put it there.

That is all nice and dandy, but there is one small problem, we live in an increasingly interconnected world and more and more of our personal data is finding its way online, with and without our doing. Take electronic health records (EHR) for example, it is out of your control what systems your doctor uses, whom he exchanges information with and how he protects that data.

Even closer to home is the backup question, off-site backup is the safest way to protect yourself from data loss, but you are putting this information online and those servers can be hacked or accessed by your backup provider’s employees.

I suggest you do three things to get you started:

1. Go with the advice on TechCrunch and consider carefully what you put online from the perspective that it could become public. If you don’t want information in the public sphere don’t put it there in the first place.
2. Use encryption for all information you want to keep private, for example encrypt your data BEFORE sending it to your online backup provider. Using a VPN to encrypt your Internet traffic and encrypting your sensitive emails is also a good idea…
3. Set up alternate email accounts, phone numbers and mailing addresses, etc. to give to parties you don’t trust. You can also create a separate identity for most of your online activities further reducing the risk of linking your name to information you may regret.

Just following these 3 simple steps will help keep your personal information private, so you can rest easy next time there is a security breach, and there will be!

Image Credit: rpongsaj

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Swapping popular files via BitTorrent will likely get your IP address noticed within 3 hours said Tom Chathia during the SecureComm conference in Italy. Him and his colleagues researched this topic and successfully identified clients who joined the network with the sole purpose of monitoring, based on clients behavior. Interestingly available blacklists do not provide sufficient shielding from detection as they have a high rate of false positives and false negatives. Read the original article here.

Picture Credit to: lydiashiningbrightly

VPN Verge VPN Verge - Breaking news, reviews, tips of VPN.

I usually don’t have any issues with hidemyass not connecting, therefore I was caught off-guard when HMA Pro VPN could not connect to server. I was sitting at an airport (Charlotte-CLT to be specific) and already connected to T-Mobile’s wifi. The connection was rather sketchy and barely workable, HMA was not cooperating.

After much trial and error, what finally worked was changing the DNS server from the default to Comodo DNS (AFTER you are connected with the Wifi provider!!!), but I am pretty sure many other DNS servers would have worked as well. If you haven’t done that before just click on your wifi signal icon and Network Preferences. From there chose Advanced and then the DNS tab. From here you can easily change DNS servers, so just delete the default servers and enter a DNS server of your choice. Click OK and try connecting to HMA Pro VPN again. I have tried this several times and it worked fine every time.

Caution: While changing your DNS Servers isn’t brain surgery, you might want to take note of the current settings, just in case they were there for a good reason. For most users these are assigned by default and you never have to worry about them.

VPN Verge VPN Verge - Breaking news, reviews, tips of VPN.

With 269 servers in 19 countries around the globe-a total of 9649 IPs, 24×7 Live support, friendly staff and over 2950 customer reviews, Strong VPN is one of the most popular VPN providers.

Why Strong VPN?

For anyone who is in the market for a VPN account, Strong VPN is definitely worthwhile for you to check out. Strong VPN, a U.S. VPN service is based in San Francisco and has been providing VPN services since 1995. What really makes Strong VPN stand out from other VPN services is their understanding of what it takes to provide a customer a quality product. When you need help, you can easily reach them by Skype, on-site Live Help, or by phone (24x7x365). Plus, their $7/month and $55/year offer is irresistible and extremely affordable for customers in countries like China who need VPN to access websites like Facebook and Twitter.

• Great Customer Support

  In our evaluation of Strong VPN, we have noted that Strong VPN provides the best customer satisfaction. Customers are happy with the connection speed, price and the support. Here is one customer’s feedback out of the nearly 3000 Five Stars reviews.

  “When I first approached VPN I was skeptical, because I thought it would be slow like all those free ones online and at the same time not very helpful. But through StrongVPN’s customer service, I learned I could cancel anytime, hassle free, within 7 days. I have to say I am still quite surprised with the quality of StrongVPN’s service. I’m a lazy guy and I asked them to set it up for me, virtually, on every computer I have. Even though I know it must be a pain for them, they still did it. Also, the speeds are surprisingly fast and allow me to download at close to normal speeds, even though I’m in China. Thank you, StrongVPN!“

• Irresistible Prices and Packages

  

  Unlike other VPN services like Hide My Ass, which offers limited plans and choices, Strong VPN offers a variety of packages and a wider selection of services to suit the needs of different types of customers. This could look a little bit confusing for customers aren’t familiar with VPNs. The key is to understand the differences between PPTP VPN vs. Open VPN. Once you know the difference, you will start enjoying the different packages Strong VPN provides. So, which package should you choose? If you are new to VPNs, we would recommend you start with the “Standard” package. The good news is that no matter what plan you choose, you can always  upgrade or downgrade later with no additional cost,  or  penalty. First, get your VPN service up and running. Second,  test to make sure you can access your favorite websites, such as BBC, Facebook, etc.  If you are planning to use the VPN service in China, make sure any blocked websites  are accessible when Strong VPN is turned on.

• Fastest Speed?

  Strong VPN customers are usually very satisfied with the connection speed they get. Many VPN service providers oversell their services; so, if the server is overloaded, your connection speed will drop dramatically. At Strong VPN however, the servers have a set (limited) number of accounts and the servers are monitored to make sure they are never overloaded.

  “You guys are the best! Your speeds are great, I get my netflix in full HD all the time. Great selection of servers! I had a little bit of trouble setting up, but the customer support was incredible and helpful.”

We have tested the Strong VPN service and our experience with it is very positive. Here are some of the top features Strong VPN offers, which we think you should be aware of before purchasing any VPN service:

1. 24×7 Live Technical Help/Support by phone, Skype, email, and live chat.
2. Unblock websites overseas (Surfing Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and many other prohibited sites in China).
3. Supports a wide range of devices and operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iPhone, Android.
4. Gbit Network Connectivity with a superb high speed Connection and no bandwidth charges.
5. Fully refundable. Try Strong VPN for 7 days, without risk.

To learn more about Strong VPN service, click here to read Strong VPN reviews by customers. If you want to give the Strong VPN service a try, check out the different packages Strong VPN offers. We hope this review is helpful for anyone who is in the market for a VPN service. If you need help on deciding which VPN service to choose, please feel free to contact us. Ciao!

Thanks to the talented photographer who’s image we used in this post: spyndle

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