Karlston Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 Mozilla VPN launches in some countries officially Mozilla announced the launch of the organization's VPN service, called Mozilla VPN, yesterday on the official blog. Rumors that the official launch was imminent surfaced in June 2020. The service is available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand, and available for $4.99 per month. Mozilla plans to expand to other -- unmentioned -- countries later this year. A waitlist is provided for users interested in the VPN that cannot join because of country restrictions- The VPN is available for Windows, Android and iOS devices currently, but Mozilla promises that Linux and Mac clients are under development and will become available eventually as well. The network provides access to more than 280 servers in more than 30 countries currently, and does not impose restrictions on bandwidth. Mozilla promises that network activity is not logged, and that it has not partnered with third-party analytics platforms. The VPN solution may be used on up to five devices. The client uses the cutting edge WireGuard protocol which has a slim code base, is open source, focuses on modern cryptographic techniques, and promises very high speeds when compared to classic VPN protocols. The VPN network is provided by Mozilla's partner Mullvad, a privacy-focused VPN offered by the Swedish company Mullvad VPN AB. Mozilla unveiled the VPN solution in 2019, then under the name Firefox Private Network VPN to beta testers from the United States. The organization changed the name because it wants to reach a wider audience with the service and not just Firefox users, and also to better distinguish the device-wide VPN solution from the Firefox Private Network browser extension which adds a VPN-proxy to the Firefox web browser. Mozilla VPN is one of the main attempts by Mozilla to diversify the organization's income. Most revenue comes from search partner deals in the Firefox web browser, and one of Firefox's main competitors, Google with its Chrome browser, provides most of the income currently. Mozilla started several projects in the recent past, some of them paid, to diversify the income. Firefox VPN is probably the most promising product at the time of writing as it fits well into Mozilla's privacy-focused image. Details about the agreement between Mozilla and Mullvad are not available, and it is unclear how much of the $4.99 per month is ending up in Mozilla's pockets. Mozilla VPN launches in some countries officially Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karlston Posted July 21, 2020 Author Share Posted July 21, 2020 Mozilla launches its first revenue-generating service, VPN for Firefox The virtual private network is being rolled out in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and three other countries for Windows and Android. It's part of Mozilla's strategy to expand revenue options for its Firefox browser. Olivier Le Moal / Getty Images Mozilla last week launched its virtual private network (VPN) in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and three other countries, part of its strategy to expand revenue opportunities for its Firefox browser. Dubbed Mozilla VPN, the service costs $4.99 per month and is available for devices running Windows and Android. Besides the U.S., Canada and the U.K., Mozilla VPN is also available in Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand. The service will be offered on macOS and Linux devices "soon," while the iOS version is currently in beta, Mozilla said. For the monthly fee, users can access the VPN from up to five devices. Mozilla kicked off a VPN preview – then tagged Firefox Private Network – nearly a year ago that relied on a browser extension and was free to users within the U.S. The Firefox Private Network was seen as the first of the paid services Mozilla would eventually introduce – another might be online storage – in an attempt to create new revenue streams to augment what the organization is paid to make specific search engines the Firefox default. It's not clear what portion, if any, of the fees for Mozilla VPN will be retained by the browser maker. (The supplier of Mozilla's VPN servers, Swedish-company Mullvad, sells VPN service for the flat rate of €5 per month, the equivalent of $5.72 a month at the moment.) Although Firefox Private Network utilized Cloudflare's proxy servers, Mozilla switched to Mullvad, an open-source creator and maintainer of a global network of proxy servers. Mullvad's policies appear to be a good fit with Mozilla's overarching attention to privacy: Mullvad logs "nothing whatsoever that can be connected to" an account, which is labeled with a number rather than a user name. Mozilla VPN will use the WireGuard open-source protocol – it promises better performance and less power consumption than rival standards. Mullvad supports WireGuard. VPN usage exploded in March when the coronavirus pandemic forced businesses and governments to shutter, then send employees home to work from there. In most cases, those people needed a VPN to remotely access organization data, ensuring that the transmissions back and forth between home and office or agency servers was secure. VPN usage in the U.S. climbed by over 120% between March 8 and March 22, for instance. It's unlikely that Mozilla VPN will benefit from that work-at-home requirement. Workers would have been long equipped with VPN, almost certainly by their employer. Mozilla made its case for VPN without citing the above. Instead, the firm ticked off general security and privacy reasons for using VPN, including broad-based anonymity and encryption when using public Wi-Fi, such as that in classrooms and coffee shops. Mozilla did hint at the endemic chaos of 2020, though. "In a world where unpredictability has become the 'new normal,' we know that it's more important than ever for you to feel safe, and for you to know that what you do online is your own business," Mozilla said in a July 15 post to its main blog. Users can register with Mozilla VPN here. A Firefox account – used primarily for syncing copies of the browser on multiple devices – as is a credit card. Mozilla launches its first revenue-generating service, VPN for Firefox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mp68terr Posted July 21, 2020 Share Posted July 21, 2020 Quote The service is available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand... Mozilla promises that network activity is not logged, and that it has not partnered with third-party analytics platforms... Four of the Five Eyes countries. How much can this service and promises be trusted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zanderthunder Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 19 hours ago, mp68terr said: Four of the Five Eyes countries. How much can this service and promises be trusted? Not sure, but only review from other users will find out then. But then, the addition of Singapore and Malaysia (yup, that's my country) is a surprise addition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mp68terr Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 Yes, let's see how many people will sign in this service and how much share they will have compare to other vpn. Mozilla sounds rather trust-able, but setting servers/services in five eyes countries is questionable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zanderthunder Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 51 minutes ago, mp68terr said: Mozilla sounds rather trust-able, but setting servers/services in five eyes countries is questionable. Unless, if they said that these servers are located on outside five eyes countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3175x175(CURRENT).thumb.jpg.b05acc060982b36f5891ba728e6d953c.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.