NordVPN Allegedly Resells User Bandwidth According to Texas Lawsuit

cageymaru

cageymaru

Fully [H]
Joined
Apr 10, 2003
Messages
22,276
In a lawsuit filed in Texas, Tesonet is allegedly the company behind NordVPN and it has been accused of stealing intellectual property from HolaVPN that:

... the OxyLabs residential proxy network is based upon numerous user devices, each of which is a client device identifiable over the Internet by an IP address... these user devices become part of the network through the execution of Tesonet code embedded in applications downloaded by that devices user. [Paragraph 19]

This is the same "residential proxy network" that got HolaVPN in trouble a few years ago. Basically HolaVPN is allegedly a "peer-to-peer" VPN that allows others to browse websites through your connection anonymously. So if someone is buying drugs online, then they would do so under your IP address instead of their IP address and thus use your bandwidth. This shields them from the police and you run the risk of SWAT busting down your doors. Good luck explaining to the officers that it wasn't you.

ProtonVPN say that they just happened to hire Tesonet employees. Remember that Tesonet is allegedly the parent company behind NordVPN according to the lawsuit. ProtonVPN has been accused of being another VPN company bankrolled by Tesonet as their software certificates are signed by Tesonet and both companies share the exact same address. ProtonVPN says they are innocent and it is all a misunderstanding.

In the end these companies are allegedly reselling customer's bandwidth to others and shouldn't be trusted with your virtual private network.

It's important to note that all of this occurs without the knowledge of the end-user who installed the VPN app. Once Luminati's software gets installed on a particular device, its owner has zero control over how Luminati's "business proxy" customers choose to exploit the device and internet connection. See adios-hola.org for a discussion about the dangers and risks of using HolaVPN.

... Tesonet offers large-scale web data extraction products and services under the OxyLabs brand. https:/ /oxylabs.io/ this includes a residential proxy network with ten million residential IP addresses from more than 180 countries. https:/ /oxylabs.io/ [Paragraph 18]
 
Freaking out about Proton hiring employees seems silly. This is like when someone starts up a company doing X and we later learn that said person used to work at a different company that did the opposite thing.

Well, okay. A lot of people work for a lot of companies and it's not like the fact that they took the job means they carry an undying allegiance to every decision that company made. Think every single person in the military has loved every single presidential decision?

The Proton guy works for a VPN company, he used to work for a different VPN company. Who cares. Next step: No privacy conscious company should ever hire any employee that ever worked for a company that isn't privacy conscious i.e. 99% of them.
 
Upgrayedd said:
Anybody know anything about TorGuard?
Click to expand...

Been using it for about 2-3 years now, no problem. I like their client, speeds are solid. Use it to torrent in a VM, been doing so without drama with the VPN enabled.
 
ZeqOBpf6 said:
Freaking out about Proton hiring employees seems silly. This is like when someone starts up a company doing X and we later learn that said person used to work at a different company that did the opposite thing.

Well, okay. A lot of people work for a lot of companies and it's not like the fact that they took the job means they carry an undying allegiance to every decision that company made. Think every single person in the military has loved every single presidential decision?

The Proton guy works for a VPN company, he used to work for a different VPN company. Who cares. Next step: No privacy conscious company should ever hire any employee that ever worked for a company that isn't privacy conscious i.e. 99% of them.
Click to expand...
I think it is the fact that NordVPN and ProtonVPN share the same physical address seems a bit suspicious. And the certificates for ProtonVPN is signed by Tesonet. Just a bit of a coincidence? :)
 
I don’t know, these claims look to be really stretched. I follow the news and there weren’t any scandals or proof that Nord shares/sells data to anyone, Oxylabs included, not unlike Hola which is widely known for using its free VPN service to exploit their users now. Furthermore Nord says that they keep no logs, and I mean innocent until found guilty right? That article is one-sided really, keyword allegedly.
 
velusip said:
Wat.

Abusing voluntary exchange/your customers is literally anti-capitalism.
Click to expand...
If there's a way to gain money at the expense of the consumer, then it's capitalism. NordVPN thought they were smarter than most people, and up until now they were right. Wells Fargo thought they were smarter than most people, and they were also right. Both fucked people over to make more profits.
 
DukenukemX said:
If there's a way to gain money at the expense of the consumer, then it's capitalism. NordVPN thought they were smarter than most people, and up until now they were right. Wells Fargo thought they were smarter than most people, and they were also right. Both fucked people over to make more profits.
Click to expand...
Easy there comrade. People fucking other people over for fun and profit isn't unique to capitalist society.

AcceptItMacho.gif
 
It's not money, it's Humans, fucking stupid Humans doing this - yes money ends up being the reason more often than not, but the Humans are the ones making the decisions and willfully fucking people over so, yeah.
 
DukenukemX said:
If there's a way to gain money at the expense of the consumer, then it's capitalism. NordVPN thought they were smarter than most people, and up until now they were right. Wells Fargo thought they were smarter than most people, and they were also right. Both fucked people over to make more profits.
Click to expand...
People fucked content providers by pirating through VPN, VPN provider fucked people by using their bandwith without paying or permission... What an irony.
 
Crime and bad people on the internet ?

Think about the kids.

The ones in jpeg and .mov format on tor.
 
WTF is wrong with people, couldn't they have used the English word North instead of the Danish Nord, and WTF is wrong with people using the 3 unique Danish letters in their stuff.

I want my Ææ Øø and Åå to myself or at least only share it with the other 5.5 million idiots here.

Similar i also lately saw a set of earplugs called Sudio Nivå,,,,, fracking idiots, it is called Studio, and Nivå well thats a little Danish town,,,,,,,, idiots :rolleyes:

If you want your product brand to be unique and have a name to remember, call it Grifelflarp or something like that.
 
capt_cope said:
Easy there comrade. People fucking other people over for fun and profit isn't unique to capitalist society.

View attachment 99927
Click to expand...
But it is the one where we encourage it through profits. And it isn't like we punish them with heavy fines that nearly bankrupts them to the point that they'll never do it again. How many times did Wells Fargo fuck people over and how the fuck are they still operating? Is NordVPN going to be sued to bankruptcy? Fuck no, they'll just continue with some changes. Hey look a 5% discount for the first month of your subscription of NordVPN.

B00nie said:
People fucked content providers by pirating through VPN, VPN provider fucked people by using their bandwith without paying or permission... What an irony.
Click to expand...
Content providers fuck consumers with Denuvo. People fuck content providers by cracking Denuvo. Content providers fuck consumers by making Denuvo with slower load times and lower frame rates. Denuvo arrests Voksi to make an example of consumers who don't pay to play. You will take your DRM and you will like it you sons of bitches.

What irony...

aWdgCVuhwkVquKT-800x450-noPad.jpg
 
Btw replace the N in Nord with a M and you have Mord ( Murder ) or just skip the first letter so you have ord whish translated are word.

And if you really want to be freaked, in Danish Ø ( yes just that one letter ) mans Island, and Å that mean river in Danish,,,,,, lazy bastards we are :) though i also think thats all of our one letter names for things.
 
I just started using NordVPN as my first VPN. I paid $99 for 3 years and now I see this news.

How worried should I be? Is my data and traffic still protected?
If I only turn it on when I need it, should I be that concerned about my bandwidth being co-opted?

Please pretend that I know nothing about VPN related things and stuff.
 
mashie said:
Private Internet Access became the largest VPN provider for a reason, they are good and proven to not leak any user details ever. If a country demand that they need to do logging they just cease the operations there (such as South Korea).
Click to expand...

Yep, been using them for several years now and no issues.
 
Unknown.

I use VPNs for open Wifi browsing, literally just to inhibit local snooping, and I'm quite aware that the endpoint and everything after that remains vulnerable.

More than likely, I'll be setting up a VPN at home, and just phoning home instead.
 
mentok1982 said:
I just started using NordVPN as my first VPN. I paid $99 for 3 years and now I see this news.

How worried should I be? Is my data and traffic still protected?
If I only turn it on when I need it, should I be that concerned about my bandwidth being co-opted?

Please pretend that I know nothing about VPN related things and stuff.
Click to expand...
I'd ask for my money back and find another VPN.
 
Oldmodder said:
Btw replace the N in Nord with a M and you have Mord ( Murder ) or just skip the first letter so you have ord whish translated are word.

And if you really want to be freaked, in Danish Ø ( yes just that one letter ) mans Island, and Å that mean river in Danish,,,,,, lazy bastards we are :) though i also think thats all of our one letter names for things.
Click to expand...
Helt sikkert brugen af æøå er blevet voldsom her henne i USA, men du er pænt off topic.

Back to topic:
My wife and I decided to use NordVPN about 6 months ago so that's a major bummer. Looking at the parent company and the addresses I can't give them the benefit of the doubt and will be switching immediately and probably try to get my money back in the process (won't likely happen)
If they lied to their customers about using our IP's I hope they get fined to death and somebody gets a little jail time.
 
I`m still waiting for a split tunner vpn service , i don`t want all my traffic going through it , just to help with geo-location issues like Netflix
The good thing about Hola is that i can activate it , use it only on one tab in my browser and close it ( i use to buy games from US stores of Origin, Xbox etc.)
 
DukenukemX said:
But it is the one where we encourage it through profits. And it isn't like we punish them with heavy fines that nearly bankrupts them to the point that they'll never do it again. How many times did Wells Fargo fuck people over and how the fuck are they still operating? Is NordVPN going to be sued to bankruptcy? Fuck no, they'll just continue with some changes. Hey look a 5% discount for the first month of your subscription of NordVPN.
Click to expand...

It is not encouraged, it is punished and not apart of a capitalist system, which is based off of free exchange. What you are talking about is crony capitalism, which the US has more and more become.
 
So all this is coming to light & lawsuit not because they're doing it, but because they are using the intellectual property from the people who invented it. Just wow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top