Since we currently talk about blocking feature, today Mullvad announce content blocking for their free DNS[1]. The interesting part is they share list of blocked sites[2].
Interesting to see, thank you for the update. I think that the main difference with Mullvad is that the reason for doing this content blocking is different (as stated by their blog update - "enable parents and guardians the opportunity to block unwanted advertising, adult content and gambling, whilst still enabling their children access to social media platforms.") and this is also a free Encrypted DNS which makes you free to choose either to use it or not. 
Topic: List of VPN Service Providers - 2023 - page 3. (Read 3513 times)
Since we currently talk about blocking feature, today Mullvad announce content blocking for their free DNS[1]. The interesting part is they share list of blocked sites[2].
Using professional counseling might cost a fortune, while blocking website cost little or no money.
That's true, although i wonder how many addict interested with illegal casino which may cheat or scam them. Anyway, i've seen people take more drastic action such as installing software which perform whitelist or block all web page which contain specific keyword.
[1] https://mullvad.net/en/blog/family-friendly-dns-content-blocking-now-added-to-our-encrypted-dns-service
[2] https://github.com/mullvad/dns-blocklists
There are many gambling addicts who want self-exclusion, and parents who want to restrict some access to their kids.
Admittedly I do not know a whole lot about gambling addiction solutions, but shouldn't addicts be trying to get professional counseling to figure out the best way for them to solve their gambling problem? Which may or may not include blocking the websites by DNS.Using professional counseling might cost a fortune, while blocking website cost little or no money.
But DNS blocking is hard, because there's a bunch of illegal betting websites around, to the point where even professional athletes were banned for using them.
That's true, although i wonder how many addict interested with illegal casino which may cheat or scam them. Anyway, i've seen people take more drastic action such as installing software which perform whitelist or block all web page which contain specific keyword.
[1] https://mullvad.net/en/blog/family-friendly-dns-content-blocking-now-added-to-our-encrypted-dns-service
[2] https://github.com/mullvad/dns-blocklists
You are supposed to use these kinds of VPNs to circumvent censorship, not to censor yourself! 
Not true.There are many gambling addicts who want self-exclusion, and parents who want to restrict some access to their kids.
Admittedly I do not know a whole lot about gambling addiction solutions, but shouldn't addicts be trying to get professional counseling to figure out the best way for them to solve their gambling problem? Which may or may not include blocking the websites by DNS.
But DNS blocking is hard, because there's a bunch of illegal betting websites around, to the point where even professional athletes were banned for using them.
Just wondering, how will VPN that you can turn off with one click, will exclude you from gambling?
It would probably work better than asking casinos to self-exclude you, when you can easily register new account and/or use different casino.Setting custom DNS can be done even without using any VPN, this can be on network or router level, and yes this is self-censorship that actually works.
In order to combat gambling addiction there are better ways to do it other than using a VPN to block certain websites (after all a user doesn't even need a VPN for that when you can create a list for blocked websites in uBlock Origin for example.). I easily see opposite happen - gambling addicts instead using VPN services to access gambling websites that may have been blocked on their country.
I didn't propose that VPN should be used just for this purpose, but I simply stated that DNA based self-censorship is very effective way and it has real use cases.uBlock origin is something I use every day, but simple using of different browser would bypass any restrictions you made.
Also, as a note, every licensed casino/gambling company has to offer a self exclusion procedure[1] that can be used by any client (see for example this[2] one from bet365) in order to prevent them from using the service.
Yes, and there are thousands of different casinos they can use.Today I saw one example in Scam Accusation of one guy who got self-exclusion but they accepted him again with different account:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--5484390
Just wondering, how will VPN that you can turn off with one click, will exclude you from gambling?
It won't.If you want protect your children, updating your hosts file helps. I'm not concerned about gambling, but I use it to block social media and other ads.
There are many gambling addicts who want self-exclusion, and parents who want to restrict some access to their kids.
Just wondering, how will VPN that you can turn off with one click, will exclude you from gambling? The most effective tool in this case is to ask casino to ban you from gambling and they won't unban you even if you request it.By the way, I don't say that R.O.B.E.R.T. is an useless tool, it has its place but I don't understand why their blocklist is not public.
You can setup the VPN on your router, so all device connected to that router would use Windscribe/other VPN automatically along with optional blockade. But your router must have feature to use either custom OpenVPN, WireGuard or IKEv2 VPN configuration. But i've no idea whether you can configure things to be blocked from manual configuration.
You are supposed to use these kinds of VPNs to circumvent censorship, not to censor yourself!
Not true.There are many gambling addicts who want self-exclusion, and parents who want to restrict some access to their kids.
Also, as a note, every licensed casino/gambling company has to offer a self exclusion procedure[1] that can be used by any client (see for example this[2] one from bet365) in order to prevent them from using the service.
[1]https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/public-and-players/page/self-exclusion
[2]https://responsiblegambling.bet365.com/stay-in-control/self-exclusion
I am not removing Windscribe from my VPN list, I am just removing them from the list of Privacy focused cheap monthly VPNs and will move it into Non-Privacy Focused Mainstream VPNs because their business doesn't seem to be valuing privacy and freedom, instead, they put their own censorship. Windscribe's R.O.B.E.R.T's blocklist is not open-source, it's closed.
Dude I don't know what you are talking about 
First of all I am not defending windscribe but they are open source, and this robert is DNS based tool... most other VPN providers have this, included Mullvad that is in your list.
Do your own research, and don't mix privacy with censorship, and I will repeat again, all VPN's have (optional) self ''censorship'' according to you
https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls
I have nothing against Windscribe too, their free plan is good for those who want to test VPN or rarely waste bandwidth and only visit text-only websites.
There are many gambling addicts who want self-exclusion, and parents who want to restrict some access to their kids.
Just wondering, how will VPN that you can turn off with one click, will exclude you from gambling? The most effective tool in this case is to ask casino to ban you from gambling and they won't unban you even if you request it.By the way, I don't say that R.O.B.E.R.T. is an useless tool, it has its place but I don't understand why their blocklist is not public.
I am not removing Windscribe from my VPN list, I am just removing them from the list of Privacy focused cheap monthly VPNs and will move it into Non-Privacy Focused Mainstream VPNs because their business doesn't seem to be valuing privacy and freedom, instead, they put their own censorship. Windscribe's R.O.B.E.R.T's blocklist is not open-source, it's closed.
Dude I don't know what you are talking about First of all I am not defending windscribe but they are open source, and this robert is DNS based tool... most other VPN providers have this, included Mullvad that is in your list.
Do your own research, and don't mix privacy with censorship, and I will repeat again, all VPN's have (optional) self ''censorship'' according to you
https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls
You obviously don't understand this so I won't continue this discussion anymore.
Best of luck.
You are supposed to use these kinds of VPNs to circumvent censorship, not to censor yourself!
Not true.There are many gambling addicts who want self-exclusion, and parents who want to restrict some access to their kids.
Is also there any evidence that Windscribe is the best privacy tool out there?
No. It's impossible to prove, which makes their claims about others even more ridiculous.Is also there any evidence that Windscribe is the best privacy tool out there?
No. It's impossible to prove, which makes their claims about others even more ridiculous. I just read how it works on https://windscribe.com/features/robert and it seems you can choose not to block competitor VPN. I believe few people would use such feature, such as not allowing their WiFi users to bypass blockade to certain content. So IMO it's still fair game if it's disabled by default. Although i'm also concerned that they offer option to block crypto.
They are only optionally blocking and it's mostly for malicious crypto mining crap, not everything related with bitcoin and crypto.This ROBERT feature is not bad at all if used correctly, especially if you have kids and you want to hide from them adult content, gambling, etc.
Important thing is they gave customers option to hide, it's not mandatory, and other VPN providers are doing something similar with custom DNS settings, for example Mullvad VPN.
I think you can pay everything on this vpn website with Bitcoin, so they are not anti-bitcoin or anything like that.
This is what they say about their competitors:
Quote
You’re using the best privacy tool out there – Windscribe. Most other VPN companies track you across the web with their ads and compromise your privacy before you even become their customer. Block them all!
Block them all, is this a fair game? They say most VPN companies track you, that means, some of them don't track you, why should we block all of them? Is also there any evidence that Windscribe is the best privacy tool out there?Should I remove them from the list of Privacy focused cheap monthly VPNs?
Yes. Any VPN that's afraid of competitors doesn't deserve to be promoted.
Re: Windscribe
You are supposed to use these kinds of VPNs to circumvent censorship, not to censor yourself!
You are supposed to use these kinds of VPNs to circumvent censorship, not to censor yourself!
I just read how it works on https://windscribe.com/features/robert and it seems you can choose not to block competitor VPN. I believe few people would use such feature, such as not allowing their WiFi users to bypass blockade to certain content. So IMO it's still fair game if it's disabled by default. Although i'm also concerned that they offer option to block crypto.
They are only optionally blocking and it's mostly for malicious crypto mining crap, not everything related with bitcoin and crypto.This ROBERT feature is not bad at all if used correctly, especially if you have kids and you want to hide from them adult content, gambling, etc.
Important thing is they gave customers option to hide, it's not mandatory, and other VPN providers are doing something similar with custom DNS settings, for example Mullvad VPN.
I think you can pay everything on this vpn website with Bitcoin, so they are not anti-bitcoin or anything like that.
Personally I would never use a service that censures my internet browsing in any way and in this specific case it just doesn't make sense (to me at least). This is just plain censoring - they are pretty much blocking you in seeing other providers offers because "supposedly" they are the best one. The fact that they claim they are the best privacy tool after suffering this breach[1] in the past is amusing to say the least. I would also like to point out that despise promising to release their full node audit in 2023, they still haven't done it[2].
Those filters are optional and not enabled by default but it is still stupid that it is something which they are offering as a suggestion. What is even more concerning is their fake news filter. There aren't any details explaining how it works but the icon for the filter seems to be a reference to Donald Trump's hair. Is this implying they will censor right wing websites when you turn this filter on? While I do not like Trump or the alt-right, VPN's shouldn't be censoring information which they find objectionable — bypassing censorship is one of the primary reasons for needing a VPN to begin with.
I understand that they block cryptomining services but I don't understand what's wrong with exchanges and crypto news websites. It's probably okay to block CEX but I think they include DEX too. It's irony that they accept crypto payments but block cryptocurrencies.
There is nothing wrong with exchanges and crypto news websites ofc. I suspect windscribe is trying to widen their target audience or create more variety for this since I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people who wants to abstain from anything crypto due to stigma/disinterest.
I do wonder if they list scam websites too cause the blocklist seems customizable. For instance, one could whitelist their go-to exchanges and the rest together with scams are blocked in return -- not that I need it in determining scams but it could be another use for some folks. Speaking of, I'm surprised they don't have a category for general scams.
In any case, I think the whole thing depends on one's risk appetite. A middle ground approach could be adding a list of things people should take note and let them decide if they're ok or nah.
I just read how it works on https://windscribe.com/features/robert and it seems you can choose not to block competitor VPN. I believe few people would use such feature, such as not allowing their WiFi users to bypass blockade to certain content. So IMO it's still fair game if it's disabled by default. Although i'm also concerned that they offer option to block crypto.
Yes, it's optional to block other VPN service providers but is it normal that that service is called block Competitors (Other VPNs)? And the description of that service is that you are using the best VPN called Windscribe and there is no need of seeing other VPNs. To my mind, that's censorship and false statement. If windscribe thinks that they are the best, then they shouldn't include an option that blocks other VPNs.Quote from: https://windscribe.com/features/robert
Crypto
This list blocks all cryptocurrency exchanges, crypto news sites and cryptomining services that mine cryptocurrency in your browser.
This list blocks all cryptocurrency exchanges, crypto news sites and cryptomining services that mine cryptocurrency in your browser.
I understand that they block cryptomining services but I don't understand what's wrong with exchanges and crypto news websites. It's probably okay to block CEX but I think they include DEX too. It's irony that they accept crypto payments but block cryptocurrencies.
By the way, I checked Windscribe's R.O.B.E.R.T page and discovered that along many features that includes block list, they also have one that I don't like: Competitors (Other VPNs). When you enable R.O.B.E.R.T on windscribe, they block all competitor VPNs and this is their explanation:
How fair is that? Should I remove them from the list of Privacy focused cheap monthly VPNs?
Quote
You’re using the best privacy tool out there – Windscribe. Most other VPN companies track you across the web with their ads and compromise your privacy before you even become their customer. Block them all!
How fair is that? Should I remove them from the list of Privacy focused cheap monthly VPNs?
I just read how it works on https://windscribe.com/features/robert and it seems you can choose not to block competitor VPN. I believe few people would use such feature, such as not allowing their WiFi users to bypass blockade to certain content. So IMO it's still fair game if it's disabled by default. Although i'm also concerned that they offer option to block crypto.
Quote from: https://windscribe.com/features/robert
Crypto
This list blocks all cryptocurrency exchanges, crypto news sites and cryptomining services that mine cryptocurrency in your browser.
This list blocks all cryptocurrency exchanges, crypto news sites and cryptomining services that mine cryptocurrency in your browser.
Quote
You’re using the best privacy tool out there – Windscribe. Most other VPN companies track you across the web with their ads and compromise your privacy before you even become their customer. Block them all!
How fair is that? Should I remove them from the list of Privacy focused cheap monthly VPNs?
[1]https://restoreprivacy.com/windscribe-vpn-security-breach-servers-seized/
[2]https://rus.windscribe.com/knowledge-base/articles/has-windscribe-been-audited
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