Using Findnot draws attention?

[B A]

Apologies if this has been asked before but I did a search and couldn't find anything.
Does anyone have an opinion on whether using services like Findnot or perhaps Jap or Tor, would tend to draw attention to you. I mean make you stand out from the crowd so to speak. Or would the powers that be (specifically in the UK), not really notice or care that you where using encrypted traffic?

[securityx]

No, not at all. Using a service like FindNot shows to the ISP only that an encrypted VPN connection to an IP address has been made. FindNot has many servers all over the world and, they are routinely changed. Too many people use VPN connections to connect to the office from the road on a laptop or from a home pc to work that simply making an encrypted connection would not draw any attention whatsoever.
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PRIVACY MATTERS!
www.themissingamendment.org

[B A]

Thanks for that. I was unsure how common it was to have an encrypted connection. Sometimes being lost in the crowd makes you kind of anonymous. I didn't want to lose one kind of anonymity in order to gain another.
Thanks again.

[securityx]

I understand that completely. But these days VPN connections are very common and becoming more so everyday. I have been seeing advertising for HotSpotVPN lately. Anybody can use their service, but they are geared to serving people using laptops at cafe, hotel, bookstore, all the various places where there are WiFi hotspots. It makes a lot of sense to spend the 7 bucks a month or whatever to easily encrypt your connection from your laptop direct to your bank or wherever with just one-click through a service like HotSpotVPN (http://www.hotspotvpn.com/). Services like this are popping up everywhere, not to mention how most companies are now offering VPN access for their salespeople while they're are on the road or while they work at home. It just makes sense.

[B A]

Well you've definately convinced me. I signed up for Findnot earlier and was just a bit unsure. I haven't been able to try it yet though as there is a problem with my password and I am waiting for Support to get back to me. I have been using Tor in the meantime and it seems to work ok.
One thing I was wondering. It will be an SSH Proxy that I will be using not their other VPN alternative. Is this just as common or is this just another name for a similar thing?

[Paranoid2000]

Hmmm...Findnot seem to have decided on the "Evidence Eliminator" method of marketing - I got the message "Your IP 66.0.156.3 is being used by your ISP and others to track (or even hack) you! We remove your IP and replace it with one of our IPs." when visiting their front page (using Tor BTW).

As to the difference between a VPN and SSH proxy, a VPN would be more transparent to applications (i.e. you should be able to run anything over it without any special configuration) while their SSH service is better able to pass through firewalls since it uses the same port as standard web traffic. From a security perspective, both are encrypted to the same level so there should be little difference.

[inthefield]

I still don't trust many of these anonymizer services. I think they're either used to spy on us and/or the logs are saved and promptly sent to big brother. I mean what would stop big brother from running them from behind the scenes? They could even set them up under some bogus company name for that purpose, and how would we ever know? I know there are various people here who are always trying to convince us they are all safe, but I wonder sometimes.....maybe the people who promote them, are doing so for a reason. :lurking:

[B A]

{QUOTE->
As to the difference between a VPN and SSH proxy, a VPN would be more transparent to applications (i.e. you should be able to run anything over it without any special configuration) while their SSH service is better able to pass through firewalls since it uses the same port as standard web traffic. From a security perspective, both are encrypted to the same level so there should be little difference. <-QUOTE}

You mention they are both encrypted to the same level. Does this mean that they are as common as VPN connections and therefore would be lost in the crowd as well so to speak? Or would they be more likely to stand out?

[Paranoid2000]

{QUOTE-> ...Or would they be more likely to stand out? <-QUOTE}Whether a connection "stands out" depends totally upon the criteria used for scanning Internet traffic so it is not possible to answer that (e.g. your favourite TLA agency could well be scanning all connections to specific servers or all connections to certain geographical locations). However without using encryption, your traffic and online dealings are completely transparent to anyone with network access - so which do you think is better?

[Tunneller]

I agree with inthefield, I've always been worried about the big anonymizers. But if not go through them, then what other good choices are there??

I'm mostly asking this question because my last "big" server appears to have gone bankrupt -- has anyone else used iprive.com ??

Who knows what a company out of money might want to do with its old logs.

Regards, T

[betauser2]

Tunneller try JAP (http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html) or TOR (http://tor.eff.org/) both free

[Tunneller]

I think I will try TOR, although I've seen other posters here worrying about that too. Maybe the best is to combine TOR with another server?

Privacy.li offers that I think. Does anyone here have good/bad experiences with them?

Regards, T.

[Value]

Hi I was just wondering about findnot.com
service their service costs $49-95 Usdollars a month for broadband speeds privacy

Some said that Onion Method was the best way BUT the problem with this is that you get a Massive Reduction in Speed.

Any advice on the best Privacy Cost Effective Method Greatly Appreciated.

Value

[Value]

Hi look at this?

http://www.theregister.com/2007/05/07/nivio_hosting_beta/

Anyone using it what are its downfalls?

Is it worth it?

Value

[Paranoid2000]

{QUOTE-> Anyone using it what are its downfalls? <-QUOTE}It's a remote deskop rather than an online anonymity service. You could doubtless browse sites from it but there appears to be little information on the encryption used for your connection - Nivio only say that it is "128 bit bidirectional encryption" here (http://forum.nivio.com/viewtopic.php?t=43), which is of almost no use in judging its security. The article's comments (http://www.theregister.com/2007/05/07/nivio_hosting_beta/comments/) section covers a number of other issues.