this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2026
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Senators Ask Tulsi Gabbard To Tell Americans That VPN Use Might Subject Them To Domestic Surveillance (www.techdirt.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to c/technology@lemmy.zip
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This may not be an actual “Wyden siren,” but it still has his name attached to it. What’s being said here isn’t nearly as ominous as this single sentence he sent to CIA leadership earlier this year

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.techdirt.com/2026/04/03/senators-ask-tulsi-gabbard-to-tell-americans-that-vpn-use-might-subject-them-to-domestic-surveillance/

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

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[–] alakey@piefed.social 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Downsides:

  • websites will entirely reject your connection in 80% of cases, the rest will throw a captcha at you at every single step
  • some websites that require a login will ban your account on creation with a Tor IP
  • regardless of whether or not you use bridges or obfuscated nodes your government does absolutely know you are using Tor, lol, you are connecting to Tor bridges, oppressive governments especially are monitoring them 24/7 and blocking new ones as they pop up
  • there's a risk that the node you connected to is literally ran by your government (or someone else malicious)

I appreciate you running a node yourself and potentially helping some people at least get some connection when no other alternative works, but don't downplay the severity of proper state surveillance.

[–] nymnympseudonym@piefed.social 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You're right about clearnet websites often blocking Tor exit nodes. Not a problem for .onion sites obviously.

But you should read the details of how bridges work. Despite your claim, no the packet traffic does not reveal that you are using Tor. Even if your ISP/government is watching the wire.

[–] alakey@piefed.social 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If your government knows that the IP belongs to a Tor bridge - how do they not know you connected to a Tor bridge?

[–] nymnympseudonym@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You should read the Snowflake docs

There are over 100,000 people providing access from their personal IP address. Even the US government would have a very hard time keeping track.

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Snowflakes are different than bridges

Similar concept but Snowflakes are harder to block

[–] nymnympseudonym@piefed.social 1 points 3 weeks ago

Snowflake is a pluggable transport into the bridge system. But thank you for splaining