Private Internet Access by London Trust Media has acquired Cypherpunk VPN?

OpenVPNOpenVPN
edited December 2017 in General Privacy Discussion
@sn0wmonster and @Max-P

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2017/12/private-internet-access-london-trust-media-acquired-cypherpunk-vpn/

How exactly does this affect existing PIA VPN customers?
Will existing PIA VPN customers need to purchase a subscription to Cypherpunk to take advantage of the amazing features?
Purchasing two different VPN subscriptions really wouldn't make sense would it?

https://cypherpunk.com/

I know that you guys are probably not going to be able to answer these questions right away but if you could please elaborate on what this means I would be very appreciative.

Thank you!

Comments

  • PIAJaysonPIAJayson
    Hi @OpenVPN,

    In the short term, purchasing CypherPunk will not affect PIA customers in anyway, however with the purchase of CypherPunk we brought their staff over to the PIA team.

    This means that in the mid term (3+ months), PIA customers will see a number of changes that will benefit them, their security and their privacy.  CypherPunk is only operating until the 10th December at which you will no longer be able to purchase the service.

    We are currently in discussions internally about changes, improvements and additional features to be rolled out. We've already made some changes on the backend which will see immediate improvements for the customer experience.

    I hope this helps answer your questions.


    Regards

    Jayson Q.
    Head of Customer Support
  • tomewormtomeworm
    Based in Iceland
    Cypherpunk Partners, Slf. is headquartered in Iceland which currently offers the world’s upmost internet freedom and privacy. Iceland also has one the strongest data protection laws in the world. Most importantly, Iceland is outside the EU or US jurisdiction and is not a member of the fourteen eyes surveillance network.

    This is very significant and potentially very exciting. It raises an obvious question. But I won't go there at this time.
  • OpenVPNOpenVPN
    PIAJayson said:
    Hi @OpenVPN,

    In the short term, purchasing CypherPunk will not affect PIA customers in anyway, however with the purchase of CypherPunk we brought their staff over to the PIA team.

    This means that in the mid term (3+ months), PIA customers will see a number of changes that will benefit them, their security and their privacy.  CypherPunk is only operating until the 10th December at which you will no longer be able to purchase the service.

    We are currently in discussions internally about changes, improvements and additional features to be rolled out. We've already made some changes on the backend which will see immediate improvements for the customer experience.

    I hope this helps answer your questions.


    Regards

    Jayson Q.
    Head of Customer Support
    I look forward to seeing what kind of improvements and additional features are rolled out in the coming months as a result of this purchase. Thank you for the information! It looks like you purchased the company before they even left the beta testing phase which makes me wonder what's coming down the pipeline next. Can't wait!

    sn0wmonster said:
    @OpenVPN Impossible to answer that yet. Will get back to you. While I was aware of the change, I was not aware of the announcement until a few hours ago.
    I'm very intrigued and excited to see where this goes but I would understand if you couldn't give me all of the information you find.

    tomeworm said:
    Based in Iceland
    Cypherpunk Partners, Slf. is headquartered in Iceland which currently offers the world’s upmost internet freedom and privacy. Iceland also has one the strongest data protection laws in the world. Most importantly, Iceland is outside the EU or US jurisdiction and is not a member of the fourteen eyes surveillance network.

    This is very significant and potentially very exciting. It raises an obvious question. But I won't go there at this time.
    Could you PM me that question? Perhaps we could have a discussion and toss around some theories about this latest development.
  • PIAJaysonPIAJayson
    tomeworm said:
    Based in Iceland
    Cypherpunk Partners, Slf. is headquartered in Iceland which currently offers the world’s upmost internet freedom and privacy. Iceland also has one the strongest data protection laws in the world. Most importantly, Iceland is outside the EU or US jurisdiction and is not a member of the fourteen eyes surveillance network.

    This is very significant and potentially very exciting. It raises an obvious question. But I won't go there at this time.
    In response to your obvious question: In discussion (as are a number of other things relating to unsaid obvious question).

    We will announce changes when appropriate.
  • evilvibesevilvibes
    Look forward to the upcoming months
  • Max-PMax-P
    I don't have much to add either as things are still mostly in discussion while the new team takes their place, but I'm also very excited for what's coming! I know there's going to be a lot of changes, some more drastic than the others, many of which were on my personal whishlist. I have no doubt it's going to make a lot of people happy.
  • OpenVPNOpenVPN
    Max-P said:
    I don't have much to add either as things are still mostly in discussion while the new team takes their place, but I'm also very excited for what's coming! I know there's going to be a lot of changes, some more drastic than the others, many of which were on my personal whishlist. I have no doubt it's going to make a lot of people happy.
     I'll keep my eye out for new application releases and official announcements. Super excited, keep up the good work.
  • OpenVPNOpenVPN
    PIAJayson said:
    Hi @OpenVPN,

    In the short term, purchasing CypherPunk will not affect PIA customers in anyway, however with the purchase of CypherPunk we brought their staff over to the PIA team.

    This means that in the mid term (3+ months), PIA customers will see a number of changes that will benefit them, their security and their privacy.  CypherPunk is only operating until the 10th December at which you will no longer be able to purchase the service.

    We are currently in discussions internally about changes, improvements and additional features to be rolled out. We've already made some changes on the backend which will see immediate improvements for the customer experience.

    I hope this helps answer your questions.


    Regards

    Jayson Q.
    Head of Customer Support
    Max-P said:
    I don't have much to add either as things are still mostly in discussion while the new team takes their place, but I'm also very excited for what's coming! I know there's going to be a lot of changes, some more drastic than the others, many of which were on my personal whishlist. I have no doubt it's going to make a lot of people happy.
    We haven't seen a beta release since v59. Is there any possibility we might get a sneak peak in the form of a Beta version? That would be pretty awesome to see especially since there's going to be so many improvements and additional features added. Just putting the idea out there.
  • bobclampetbobclampet
    Anyone familiar with Cypherpunk? I can't seem to find a real substantial review that doesn't seem sketchy, and it doesn't appear on ThatOnePrivacySite.

    This could be a great evolution for geoblocking. I'm hoping that the PIA UI can be upgraded with theirs, which seems less glitchy
  • OpenVPNOpenVPN
    edited December 2017
    Anyone familiar with Cypherpunk? I can't seem to find a real substantial review that doesn't seem sketchy, and it doesn't appear on ThatOnePrivacySite.

    This could be a great evolution for geoblocking. I'm hoping that the PIA UI can be upgraded with theirs, which seems less glitchy
    According to my research Cypherpunk was a fairly new VPN service provider in the Beta stages of development which is why no one is able to locate much information about them.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    edited December 2017
    OpenVPN said:
    Anyone familiar with Cypherpunk? I can't seem to find a real substantial review that doesn't seem sketchy, and it doesn't appear on ThatOnePrivacySite.

    This could be a great evolution for geoblocking. I'm hoping that the PIA UI can be upgraded with theirs, which seems less glitchy
    According to my research Cypherpunk was a fairly new VPN service provider in the Beta stages of development which is why no one is able to locate much information about them.
    OpenVPN, you're correct about the situation with Cypherpunk. We're really excited for the coming months!
  • mission156mission156
    I have been with PIA since 2012 I am looking forward to the improvements that will come from this.
  • evilvibesevilvibes
    edited December 2017
    We got Vancouver servers now because of this so that's a awesome start!
  • OpenVPNOpenVPN
    PIAColleen said:
    OpenVPN said:
    Anyone familiar with Cypherpunk? I can't seem to find a real substantial review that doesn't seem sketchy, and it doesn't appear on ThatOnePrivacySite.

    This could be a great evolution for geoblocking. I'm hoping that the PIA UI can be upgraded with theirs, which seems less glitchy
    According to my research Cypherpunk was a fairly new VPN service provider in the Beta stages of development which is why no one is able to locate much information about them.
    OpenVPN, you're correct about the situation with Cypherpunk. We're really excited for the coming months!
    Very excited to finally have servers in Vancouver Canada but I am curious as to why this new cluster of servers does not allow port forwarding. I have suspicions about the upcoming features as well as other improvements but I want to wait to announce my theories because I don't want to jinx anything.  :)
  • DeathStalkerDeathStalker
    One thing we NEED is more servers with Port Forwarding.
  • OpenVPNOpenVPN

     A revolution in the VPN industry is coming SOON!  :)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    @DeathStalker, the Vancouver servers now support port forwarding. Keep an eye out for some other exciting changes!
  • DeathStalkerDeathStalker
    PIAColleen said:
    @DeathStalker, the Vancouver servers now support port forwarding. Keep an eye out for some other exciting changes!
    That's great news  :)  Thanks.  For North American users, there can never be too many PF servers in CA  :)

  • OpenVPNOpenVPN
    @DeathStalker, the Vancouver servers now support port forwarding. Keep an eye out for some other exciting changes!
    That's great news  :)  Thanks.  For North American users, there can never be too many PF servers in CA  :)

    You can use P2P software on any of the servers in the PIA network. They don't discriminate against any traffic protocol.
    However, some data centers have attempted to ban all torrent traffic on certain servers. Which is why PIA had to implement this fix to circumvent the ban: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/forum/discussion/18692/p2p-fix-in-certain-regions

    “We do not discriminate against any kind of traffic/protocol on any of our servers, period. We believe in a free, open, and uncensored internet.”~ cited from: https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-providers-ban-bittorrent-piracy-concerns-140309/

    I trust PIA to keep the Internet open and free from censorship and surveillance.
  • d4rkcatd4rkcat
    @DeathStalker, the Vancouver servers now support port forwarding. Keep an eye out for some other exciting changes!
    Great news, you might want to add it to the list:
    https://helpdesk.privateinternetaccess.com/hc/en-us/articles/219460187-How-do-I-enable-port-forwarding-on-my-VPN-
    Not sure if there's another list but this is the only one i could find with a search.
    Cheers 
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    Thanks, @d4rkcat! I just updated everything to reflect the correct information.  

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