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

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

top 19 comments

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[–] nymnympseudonym@piefed.social 24 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

As a Tor node operator, I have been yelling this message into the ether for years now:

Save your money! Accept one of our free tanks! It is invulnerable, and can drive across rocks and swamps at ninety miles an hour

Down sides:

you really should not stream or torrent over Tor. Both because it sucks others' bandwidth, and because it can deanonymize you. So no it is not good for YouTube or Netflix.

Plus sides:

is free as in beer for you
no payment trail to follow (though you can and should support Tor whether you use it or not because Internet Freedom)
no corporate entity to trust (why the hell do people still trust corporations?)
websites you connect to have no idea what your IP address is/where you are
if you use Tor Bridges like Snowflake, your own government doesn't know you are using Tor
people running Tor nodes can either see your IP address, or the address of the site you connect to, but not both
... unlike your VPN, which knows both exactly who you are, and can inspect and watch the route of every packet you send and receive

[–] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

everyone should be running the Snowflake extension for their browser to help other people bypass government blocks on Tor. people in excessively oppressive countries like China depend on it!

[–] 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

[–] MrSelfDestruct25@fedinsfw.app 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

So are VPNs not worth using other then to bypass location restrictions?

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

VPNs are good for torrenting without getting nasty letters from your ISP. Self hosted VPNs are good for securely accessing your home network remotely.

[–] nymnympseudonym@piefed.social 5 points 3 weeks ago

Self hosted VPNs are good for

lots of reasons incl. home network availability, no need to trust the VPN provider, nice central place you can run adblock/pihole, ...

[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 weeks ago

You could also use i2p with encrypted lease sets if you want to hide your home IP address when remoting in.

Just keep in mind it will be very obvious you are using i2p

[–] sommerset@thelemmy.club 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah but tor will guarantee to put you into that list.

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

You didn't read.

The government doesn't know you are using Tor

[–] sommerset@thelemmy.club 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I've heard the government runs like most of those tor nodes. So if I'm connecting to one - don't they see my IP?

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

Dude you could at least read the thread. You are full of half heard misinformation

[–] DarthPub@retrofed.com 16 points 3 weeks ago

If we say we’re antifa we’re domestic terrorists. We get tired of surveillance creep and we get spied on. This admin sees Americans as the enemy.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Hail Chairman Trump!

Department of War = Peace
Labor Unions = Slavery
Shaky hands picking up a cup of water = Strength

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 weeks ago

How are they going to watch everyone?