Include VPN In Browser
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I would like to see a free VPN connections available in the web browser instead of having to install third party software to get this feature. I do not often need a VPN so I cannot justify the monthly fees for such services but when I do it would be nice to know it is built into Vivaldi.
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I would like to see a free VPN connections available in the web browser instead of having to install third party software to get this feature. I do not often need a VPN so I cannot justify the monthly fees for such services but when I do it would be nice to know it is built into Vivaldi.
So let me try to understand. You would like a (free) VPN service built into the browser? If so there's more to it than what goes in the browser. We would have to provide the server side of the VPN equation as well which isn't a trivial undertaking! And if you want it to be free it would be even harder. Would you be willing to pay anything at all, or is free a requirement? It would be a very interesting feature/service to be able to offer, but as you probably understand it has to be paid for somehow. I will think about this some more to if there's a way it could be done.
//C
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Meanwhile Opera ships with free VPN client
http://www.ghacks.net/2016/04/21/opera-free-vpn-client/Offtop: how to post full url link with http? :huh:
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…and the VPN server is going thru China. I don't see how having a free VPN in the browser make secure. I am assuming you want to be secure?
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Yes I would be willing to pay for the service.
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I do not often need a VPN so I cannot justify the monthly fees for such services
Me too. In my case, an excellent solution is a pay-as-you-go VPN service. (The two I know of charge around $15/30GB.) If Vivaldi adds VPN service, it would be nice to have that option.
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Hi
I just added the free Hot Spot VPN Chrome extension to Vivaldi and it works just fine so now I have a free VPN.
Simon
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Hello friends:
I would like this, too. I don't know about it having to be "free". Everything cost something, so I would be willing to pay a reasonable amount, too. What's important to me, in particular, is to be able to easily toggle it On/Off (like in Opera-beta). Nice job on Vivaldi, by the way. Thank you for this. :cheer:
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I certainly mean no disrespect to V Devs, but whilst [/because] privacy & security are priority items for me, & a VPN is a rather different technology to a browser, i would simply not wish to trust / rely on any browser's claimed proxy or VPN. I would disable that function in the putative browser, & instead continue using my carefully chosen paid commercial specialist VPN. Not only would that make me feel more confident that i am as secure as i could reasonably expect in these NSA/GCHQ/ASIO days in my default browser, it also would cover me when i launch other browsers, my desktop email client, all my programs, etc. Personally i don't understand why it seems some people think an in-house browser-specific VPN/proxy would be adequate.
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Seems a little less likely atm. Opera is free but there are arguments out there why one can't really call it a "vpn." Also, the other issue is cost associated with the servers. Take example of one paid service i'm using atm, Ivacy vpn, they have servers spread out in several places and based on what i know and can think of, server maintenance does incur cost. Digressing a little, there are freebies out there but most of them also offer paid versions and if you've ever used both free and free versions of any of them, you'll be able to tell the difference and guess why there's a fee attached to them. I think Avira also came up with vpn of some sort but i'm not sure how that works, or if its exclusive to paid users only.
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There are some other factors to consider regarding VPN in a browser.
First, there are some nations in the world that are increasingly hostile to VPN's which can bypass the local censorship firewalls. As a result, if a browser has VPN access built in, then it becomes either a target for being disallowed as an installable program within that nation or its makers must forge some kind of acceptable compromise with the regional government (eg: using VPN terminals that are within the locale and hence subject to inspection/censorship).
Second, operating a VPN network requires server space and support, generally located worldwide to provide physical exit portals in various places. Opera largely farms out its VPN connection service to a separate provider, for business reasons that it feels work for Opera. Short of that, there will always be a non-trivial cost to providing VPN service - which is why many services charge fees. Free services should always raise the cautionary observation: if you're not paying for the service, then the product involved is probably you... this is especially significant where privacy is highly important, as in most uses of a VPN. Frankly, I'd rather Vivaldi remain at least at arms-length from that whole furball.
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@Blackbird said in Include VPN In Browser:
Frankly, I'd rather Vivaldi remain at least at arms-length from that whole furball.
+1. As i have also posted previously, i hope V does not go down the path of including a VPN. These should remain physically separate programs & infrastructure. IMO those asking for a built-in VPN have not thought the matter through very well.
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@emma-parker Just use Tor Browser.
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I have a free VPN, which works pretty well. Of course, nobody gives away anything and maybe collects data, but since I do not use the VPN more than on certain sites, for websites and videos that are blocked in Spain, I'm not worth using a paid VPN.
To navigate I am satisfied with the privacy of the proxie and the privacy that Ixquick offers me.
To be really private there is the TOR browser that I also have (by the way there are TOR extensions in the Chrome Store, although I have not tried them)https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/tor?_category=extensions
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@gwen-dragon said in Include VPN In Browser:
Do not use a extension if you want TOR privacy. You cant use Chromium-derived browsers as private as Tor browsers.
https://blog.torproject.org/category/tags/chromeThis is why I have also installed the TOR browser, for not trusting me much of such extensions. I just find it curious about its existence in the Chrome store
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@tdheller But it's not a real VPN, as far as i was aware. Why do you trust it? I'm happy to continue using my dedicated paid VPN, which i know i can trust.
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@tdheller said in Include VPN In Browser:
I too would like this feature.
It seems odd that I need to go to my OPERA browser for VPN, when the VIVALDI team are the ones who built OPERA.
Lets have the teacher take a lesson from the student this one time. VPN is a valuable service but as I said OPERA offers it for free. ...There's more to including a VPN in a browser than simply writing some interface code. Operating a reliable VPN requires a server network with access portals in multiple parts of the world, and those servers must have the throughput capacity to immediately serve a countless host of possible VPN users. It must operate 24/7, which carries a significant maintenance responsibility along with attendant costs. That's not something to be entered into lightly by the VPN provider. If a browser maker elects to farm out its VPN feature to a 3rd-party provider (as does Opera), the browser maker has to somehow pay the provider for his service, but still must deal with a drumbeat of support demands/complaints when the browser is blamed for connection issues that may lie with the VPN provider. There's no easy way for an unhappy user to tell who is at fault. Opera's forums contain continual threads regarding VPN connection issues that, in many cases, arise from problems with the VPN provider and not Opera's browser itself.
Entering into the VPN realm means entering into a world that also involves VPNs being used by many users to bypass local censorship laws and the technologies employed to enforce them. That bypassing carries the VPN provider into 'political' realms that may (and often do) ultimately result in the VPN's IPs being blacklisted within those censored locales, and in some cases also means the prohibition of using VPN-equipped software in the first place - which would mean the browser itself for browsers including VPN. For a view into this, again simply browse through Opera's forums for a while, and you'll discover numerous "issues" with Opera and its VPN being experienced by users who are behind various forms of censorship curtains.
Consequently, the entire VPN-in-a-browser subject has to be approached with a broader view than just the complexity of the browser VPN code alone. If Vivaldi chooses not to include VPN as a feature, to me it's more than understandable. If I were king of Vivaldi, I wouldn't touch it with the proverbial ten-foot pole, and instead would concentrate my resources on debugging the basic browser and incorporating other user features into it. Once the browser was mature and established in market share, perhaps a different view might arise - but that day is not this day.