VPN Community Unconference 2022
Following Team CommUNITY’s model of the Industry Standards Collaborative Conversation held at the 2020 VPN Village, the 2022 VPN Community Unconfrence brought together a diverse group of individuals working in and around the VPN ecosystem to discuss the most important challenges facing the industry.
Leading up to the event Team CommUNITY met one-on-one with researchers, commercial and non-commercial VPN providers, technologists and frontline defenders to better understand the key challenges they each saw in the VPN ecosystem. Based on these conversations and in a pre-event survey of participants, we narrowed down a series of prompts for the small group discussions.
Event Notes:
Event Jamboard
Breakout Session One
The first set of breakout sessions separated participants into five groups based on their background: Users, Frontline Defenders and User Researchers; Academics and Researchers; Commercial VPN Providers; Technologists; and Technologists Working in Repressive Environments.
Users, Frontline Defenders and User Researchers
What are the most important challenges facing at-risk users in regards to selecting and using VPNs?
Cost and Payments
- Can I afford it? Many organizations are low on resources for basic operations, which means paying for a VPN isn't really an option.
- How do users working in censored environments manage payments? How do they avoid paid providers?
- Will payments for a VPN put a red flag on my bank account? Payments can expose that I'm using a VPN.
Legal Consequences
- What are the legal consequences for using a VPN in regions where it is criminalized? It’s challenging to understand the penalties.
- India just passed a law that requires commercial VPN providers retain user data.
- 2 sides — What are the consequences when VPNs become 'illegal'? And VPN providers, what are the legal nuances in an international context?
Trust
- There's a lot of opacity in the VPN industry. Opaque ownership with possible conflicts of interest. Who are the owners?
- Which VPN should I use? People typically default to a VPN that someone they know is using. There's a lot of lack of understanding for users and even trainers.
- How do we know that a VPN provider doesn’t log information?
- VPN providers know your IP address and where you’re connecting from. Usually you trust the VPN not to share it.
Technical Literacy and Understanding of VPNs
- There is a lack of awareness of what a VPN is.
- How do I know if I’m experiencing censorship or my internet connection is just bad?
- There is a lack of technical expertise to set up a VPN.
- How do I find out which VPNs have better security?
- Individuals often don’t know that they are being surveilled or that they need to protect their communications until it’s too late.
Technical Limitations and Performance
- There is no app for my OS.
- "It's too slow".
- Services (not only streaming services) block VPNs.
Navigating Self-Deployed VPNs
- Looking for recommendations for self-deployed VPNs.
- NordVPN has a self-hosted option, but have heard that it may not be the best VPN option.
- WEPN - doesn't really require a lot of technical expertise and IP is not blacklisted, depends on hardware.
