We are building a VPN service which collects zero personal data and only accepts crypto, Monero specifically. If anyone would like to try it out and help us improve the project it would be very much appreciated!
Yes and no, and I’m tired of hearing Mullvad from Monero folks. They just have a different pricing strategy, which is only cheaper for shorter-term plans. The prices you see at AriaVPN are for new customers, but there are discount coupons available up to 30%, our loyal customers get up to 30% discounts on plan extensions, and we already match Mullvad on long-term price plans without discounts. If you only had any idea how much they pay for servers vs what’s their organic traffic, at the top of which they claim to pay for targeted advertising, it might make you question how can they possibly make a profit, and whether there’s a hidden business model. At least I do, and I don’t like what I see.
First of all, AriaVPN is a brand of Anne Media and when we became host to Kuno, it was pre-agreed that instead of asking for donations that’d cover the cost of hosting and additional development, we’ll simply add our ad for our VPN service so we can reach out to the community. We don’t run external ads. Secondly, the script you see and block facilitates automated translations, which we added on request. So thank you for your assessment.
I’m talking about AriaVPN, not Mullvad. And yes, they have flat pricing strategy and they don’t do discounts. There are many providers and each do it differently, so do we :)
In essence, ads serve a brand awareness purpose, but what a giant stretch to call an ad a business model. Although it would be fantastic if the core of the Monero community saw the value & helped, AriaVPN service isn’t specifically aimed at the typical Monero user. Our target market is the new user or crypto-aware/curious user.
As for privacy, there are different levels, and I’m sure not one of ‘you’, i.e. those excessively paranoid. To be in our field of business, there is no way of avoiding revealing our identities, so I can’t even begin to mind using Cloudflare as one of our service providers. On the contrary, they are a top-grade service, and using them doesn’t compromise anyone’s privacy except ours. Those fussy about suspected CF proxy logs can use VPN/Tor when accessing the site. Plus, we are the main third party. If someone posts a listing on Kuno asking for funding to cause harm or injury, I’ll remove it before they can say Cloudflare. These folks can do that shit on the darknet where and if the admins allow for it.
Then, I find the downtime/crackpot drama pathetic. This had been covered and discussed at length and ended up in that crackpot losing his 5 XMR bet and his X account, and anyone who believes we are not a reliable host to Kuno can feel free to grab & run an instance themselves and do a better job.
Lastly, you get no argument from me GT isn’t a great choice. Hence we don’t use it for AriaVPN but as for Kuno, that’s a very different story. Right now, we don’t have the luxury of time and resources to give Kuno the full dedication it may deserve, and as for donations, appreciate the thought, but that’s not my style. The chance that a community donations-based model would cover real expenses we incur beyond mere hosting is nill. So perhaps instead of giving unsolicited advice, tho not overly out of place, you might consider contributing your skills to the common goal? We sure have plans and could use the expert hand.
AriaVPN is a raw, OpenVPN-based service, a start-up with 4 locations so far, allowing to connect up to 4 devices. We don’t have any fancy apps yet set aside, it’s a VPN like any other. The job of a VPN provider is to deliver a reliable service & connection, a box of chocolate, and a kiss don’t come with it. If you’d like to try our service, you can access our site via a Tor exit node and go for the daily plan, you can underpay that and get a 2-hour plan for as little as 2 cents. You can read our marketing narrative to find out what you may want to know and read our policies to see if our service is right for you. We’re well aware that a no-logs policy is impossible to prove for anyone and that accredited audits only give a snapshot at one particular point in time. With that in mind, we went the extra mile to ensure our client’s privacy by implementing a zero-knowledge architecture and open data transparency. This means we don’t collect any personal data and that every client has the option to download and examine a full copy of the data we collect so our website can deliver its functions and service. We also allow for deleting payment data and plan data as a whole, and we allow for port forwarding. We use small to medium-sized hosting providers and ISPs that we carefully select and negotiate exemptions to their terms of service if applicable. We do this to ensure continuous service and to know that they are not in the business of logging traffic. Whoever trusts a well-established VPN service, also trusts big hosting/ISP players most VPN providers use. Consider if a provider that has, for example, a 120k volume of monthly organic traffic and needs to make in excess of 260k+ monthly sales @ $5 per month to begin to cover their basic operating cost is trustworthy and whether there’s a hidden agenda.
As for you, you seem harboring the impression that I should be somehow gaining your trust. I’m not here to sell. I leave that to others. I developed the service from A-Z, and came by with an offer to see if I might pique some interest and perhaps have a friendly chat, which isn’t possible when a narcissist shows up. Every other sentence you spawn is an attack on my integrity and the integrity of our business (FYI we’re not a company), and dissing us for not conforming with your worldview, and the rest is aiming at making yourself look good by pretending to be nice. The likes of you are dangerous and need to be exposed, and if that might lose me a customer or two I will not lose sleep over it. Your unsolicited advice isn’t feedback only a twisted idea of how we should be running our business or shouldn’t, misleading the audience with your almost-knowledge. For example, Cloudflare doesn’t block Tor traffic. They provide their clients with the option to do so. Small yet rudimentary distinction. I won’t bother with addressing the excess of baseless assumptions and attacks, just because a princess feels betrayed by a genuine ad and disrespects the endless work of others in the sorry process. So as for Kuno, I encourage you to stop crying and run an instance yourself if you possibly can, the more the merrier.
Relaunching of AriaVPN website (ariavpn.net)
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