I know it’s not recommended to use a free VPN provider and that they’re based in the US. However based on Lavabit’s history and that the VPN requires no signup or personal information I’m curious how this community interprets this utility.
There’s nothing on the Lavabit website (or elsewhere that I could reliably confirm) that say they (Lavabit) have a VPN. I could always be cautious when using a new VPN (including one that is free) or one that isn’t listed on the company website.
If you click the link I provided it takes you to the app on the google play store which also links to their website and is registered under Lavabit LLC. Additionally if you search for the app it is open source and attached to their GitHub account.
Anybody can create a Google Play Store account like that (and link to any website and say it’s registered under a company), many Chinese companies do it.
Regarding searching for the app, I did search for lavabit vpn and duckduckgo didn’t show a github account.
https://github.com/lavabit/pahoehoe
It’s called Lavabit proxy. In case you doubt that link too. Their other projects that are on their website are under the same account.
It is cool, but have you seen any updates lately? It’s been a few years. I used to pay for an email account with them. I had a billing issue and no one ever responded, so I let it lapse. Lack of web ui or app was also a bummer. I guess some day we’ll see the benefits of DIME.
Doesn’t seem it’s currently being developed which is a shame. I believe you can get a promo code for being a customer prior to their shutdown. Really hope DIME hits big. So sick of email. So old, only auto encrypted between users of the same paid platform, damn near impossible to self host for free, need to pay just to use a custom domain or have an alias.
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Currently the app doesn’t have a lot of the functionality I require like split tunneling but I have great respect for Lavabit seeing as they were one of/if not the first encrypted email service to arrive, utilised by Edward Snowden, and decided to close shop rather than divulge keys to the gov when requested. Plus they are currently working on a new encrypted email protocol which I would like to utilise when available.
I won’t be using Proton as they seem to follow Apple’s premium pricing philosophy and require account creation. Mullvad is more respecting of privacy via not needing an account but the only anonymous way I see of paying for their service is by sending cash to them via post which isn’t very economical.
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Still run by the same creator that shutdown to stop gov gaining access to encryption keys. Their work on DIME (Dark Internet Mail Environment) looks quite promising and would appear to disagree with your statement.
