Obscura: The VPN that can't track your activity \ stacker news ~tech

Obscura: The VPN that can't track your activity obscuravpn.io/

10.5k sats \ 28 comments \ @k00b 27 Sep 2023 tech

2593 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 27 Sep 2023

https://imgprxy.stacker.news/blr5sYHFkWPq6KI9_0lvB2CZ_s_QF-b_6o76Swbj1o0/rs:fit:600:500:0/g:no/aHR0cHM6Ly9pLnBvc3RpbWcuY2MvYzRQZ2dOSFcvazAwYi1zbi1mYmkuanBn

2201 sats \ 2 replies \ @TonyGiorgio 28 Sep 2023

Curious about the claims myself, but Carl is def talented and the marketing around it is great. For those that don't know, he also runs the proxy that allows you to purchase Mullvad via LN. https://vpn.sovereign.engineering

31 sats \ 0 replies \ @WeAreAllSatoshi 28 Sep 2023

Oh cool, I didn’t know this was the same person. Thank you for sharing!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ek 29 Dec 2023

Even though this comment is from 28 Sep, this comment was definitely worth 25% of my wallet.

841 sats \ 5 replies \ @WeAreAllSatoshi 27 Sep 2023

Maybe I’m blind, but I missed how it works?

445 sats \ 3 replies \ @k00b OP 27 Sep 2023

It doesn't explain it. The only hint I see is here:

In Obscura, we only control the first hop and use blind third-party relays for the exit hop. The result is that we can never correlate your identity with your traffic as we don’t even see your traffic in the first place!

It sounds like they're using some kind of onion routing.

They also say they'll be open sourcing the client which should tell all about the privacy claims.

We’ll be open-sourcing all of our client code so you can look at the source code and verify that we’re doing what we say.

1696 sats \ 0 replies \ @bitgould 28 Sep 2023

My understanding is it's CONNECT-IP / MASQUE where the encrypted & HTTP encapsulated IP request is sent to Obscura and the details of the request are forwarded to what they're calling a "Blind Relay" which only knows Obsucra's IP.

2-hop onion routing with pre-defined routes. No Tor consensus. Very simple.

https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-masque-connect-ip/

481 sats \ 0 replies \ @blocktock 27 Sep 2023

Obscura by name, obscura by nature 😄

426 sats \ 0 replies \ @WeAreAllSatoshi 27 Sep 2023

Should be interesting…

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @iguano 29 Sep 2023

it looks like a private tor

798 sats \ 0 replies \ @0fje0 27 Sep 2023

Interesting. Developed by Bitcoin Core developer, Carl Dong.

At least that's what the website says.

720 sats \ 1 reply \ @DeltaClimbs 27 Sep 2023

They take bitcoin/lightning payments. Nice!

I'll have to add to https://circularbtc.xyz when they launch.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @mallardshead 28 Sep 2023

Yes this is great. Glad to see you've calmed down a bit from earlier Delta.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @wingalt 28 Sep 2023

Very promising, we need another great VPN along IVPN and Mullvad and move away from proton

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @Monotone 28 Sep 2023

So far, there are questions about the service, especially because of the statement "the first VPN that can't track your activity".

IVPN, Mullvad are time-tested solutions that also do not require any personal information when registering. Accordingly, you can't link identity to visiting certain sites.

But this is my first impression. Need to look into it more)

359 sats \ 0 replies \ @aoeu 22 Jan

Should be launching in alpha or beta by the end of this month! Jan 2024. I think the difference from Mullvad and all the others is that there is some degree of trust with Mullvad not keeping logs. Obscura doesn't require that trust because they only see the IP address you are coming from and don't even know what the exit site is.

10 sats \ 1 reply \ @bzzzt 28 Sep 2023

How can one bring over a different vpn provider exactly?

"Switch effortlessly Have a contract with another VPN? Bring them along. Obscura works with all WireGuard-based VPNs, from Mullvad to Proton."

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @k00b OP 28 Sep 2023

Maybe it can just be a hop in the route? Or maybe they’ll honor an existing contract as if it were with them?

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Atreus 27 Sep 2023

Sounds promising

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @JesseJames 27 Sep 2023

"security by obscurity" gotta love that... :-) Need more details tho to have an educated opinion.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @ryu 27 Sep 2023

I'll show interest, but it's a hell of an ask to use something that you claim is better than any existing solution while not having auditable code yet.

30 sats \ 0 replies \ @anon 29 Sep 2023

I don't trust anything other than Mullvad at this point.

1 sat \ 3 replies \ @nikicat 28 Sep 2023

Why are so many people desiring anonymity and privacy? What is a usual use case for it? Are they all black-hat hackers? I'm not an advocate of "if you are honest you have nothing to hide", and I certainly prefer a service without a KYC and personal info to one requiring it, but for me, this desire for anonymity looks like snake oil.

410 sats \ 1 reply \ @nout 30 Sep 2023

It's quite possible that soon in some countries it will become illegal to do things that you have been doing. For example using decentralized social network like Nostr will be illegal and if there's a connection that the department of wrongthink can make to your real identity, then you will be invited to provide explanation of your comments. If you have used services like fixedfloat, then your family will be in trouble. If you have connection to Russia, then you are a lost cause, etc...

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nikicat 30 Sep 2023

I agree, but it's not a common case for now, certainly not enough to create the whole market