Expert Tech Expats on VPN Inference

When you say ”my streamers” do you mean hardware devices like Roku, Firesticks and SmartTVs? I use VPN all the time.  Unfortunately, I dont have a Peacock TV account to check how its how it’s behaving but I did just switch between Brazil and The USA on Pluto TV with no issues. I assume that your router is connecting directly to your VPN, since you infer having multiple streamers. I would suggest getting things going properly on one device first and then take it from there. Also, I would fire your expert. I’m sure we can get something resolved by Sunday.

between Brazil and The USA on Pluto TV with no issues.
    -@bepmoht

How do you switch between Brazil and US on Pluto TV?

Do you have a Brazil VPN so that you can get Pluto TV in Portuguese - even while in the US?  I know that US VPN works for US programming.

@roddiesho, I am not an expert at VPN but I have done my fair share of IP routing troubleshooting.  It looks like the VPN tech support wiped out your VPN configuration so that now, you are not connecting to the right VPN server.

If you are connecting to a VPN server in the US, then your US programming should work without any hiccup.  If you are getting funny location messages, it may be that the VPN server that you are connecting to is in Brazil or is proxy'ed by a server in Brazil.  If you issue a route command, then you should be able to see where the packets are being routed.

That's all that I can think of right now...  Unless you can share more details of the problems that you are seeing.

Good luck.

@Pablo888

I switch back and forth using two wireguard servers. One I have in Sao Paulo on a Linode instance ($7 per month) which of course is my Brazilian connection, the other I have spun up in the USA on an AWS machine (~$5 per month). On my wireguard app on my smartphone you literally slide a switch to choose which server (where in the world) you connect to.

A lot of routers have wireguard built in these days.  I like the GLINET routers as they use openwrt but I believe some ASUS routers have it installed as well. Once your router is connected to a wireguard server, than all your clients are too. That’s how I get Roku to work.

    @Pablo888
I switch back and forth using two wireguard servers. One I have in Sao Paulo on a Linode instance ($7 per month) which of course is my Brazilian connection, the other I have spun up in the USA on an AWS machine (~$5 per month). On my wireguard app on my smartphone you literally slide a switch to choose which server (where in the world) you connect to.
    -@bepmoht

@bepmoht - makes sense.  Thank you for explaining.

I am using ProtonVPN for the US VPN and it's free.  I have not selected one for Brazil yet....

A judge has ordered Elon Musk's X (Twitter) blocked in Brazil. Anyone using a VPN to access X can be fined R$50.000 per day. Starlink's bank accounts have been frozen in Brazil.

    A judge has ordered Elon Musk's X (Twitter) blocked in Brazil. Anyone using a VPN to access X can be fined R$50.000 per day. Starlink's bank accounts have been frozen in Brazil.
   

    -@alan279

if you use VPN servers outside Brazil, you should be fine.

Frozen Starlink bank accounts - that's a different issue.  X and Starlink are different companies and I do not see why fines from one should affect the other....

But what do I know.... that's Brazil...

This order has already been withdrawn regarding VPN users.

Congressional elections coming in a few months. Lula is pretty much powerless in congress right now. Presidential elections in under 2 years as well, in a country where everyone remembers and despises the "ditadura" and the censorship it imposed.

110 million voted in 2022 and Lula won by 2%.......20 million X users represent 18% of the votes cast. The math doesn't lie......and besides......using a VPN or Tor or one of the "other tools" available mask your web search activity anyways. This was unenforceable to begin with and he realized it.

It has happened several times before, most notably with Whatsapp

@Gasparzinho 777 Yeah, that VPN block was virtually impossible to enforce. 

Getting rid of fake news and misinformation is a huge lift.  I completely understand the need to hold people

accountable for spreading lies and causing damage - the problem of course is how to do it without

affecting the majority of people who aren't bad actors. 

Apple a few months back was going to start scanning all photos uploaded using AI to search for child porn.

Those plans were shelved when people were aghast at having all of their photos scanned and then potentially

reviewed by humans.

Asking private companies to self-moderate apparently isn't working, but IMO if you are a criminal you're going to find

a way to conduct your illicit business - going after X, Telegram, Whatsapp, etc. is just whack-a-mole.

Maybe the best thing to do would be to eliminate anonymous accounts - that way when people post

and it's something illicit they can be held accountable. 

It's up to the police and other enforcement agencies to do their job and track down crime.  Right now, it seems

they are trying to enlist private corporations to help them out, and that really isn't their job.

I now can’t access X. Ilhéus, Saturday, August 31 at 4pm.

08/31/24 Getting rid of fake news and misinformation is a huge lift.  I completely understand the need to hold people
accountable for spreading lies and causing damage - the problem of course is how to do it without
affecting the majority of people who aren't bad actors. 

    -@mikehunter

Yes, I think that this is the main concern right now, especially with the countdown to the first round of municipal elections this October.  The surge of disinformation and misinformation from the usual suspects was already starting.  STF Minister Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha, who succeeded Alexandre de Moraes as President of the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (TSE), has referred to it as "the anonomization of hate".  Minister Moraes's action against X apparently has wide support on the Court; the VPN and Starlink orders less so, which is probably why they've been withdrawn.  It looks like the whole Court will consider the question next week; if Musk hasn't changed his stance by that time, things are likely to go poorly for him.

Looking forward, Cármen Lúcia, Moraes, and the rest of the Court probably want to see the municipal elections take place with the firehose of falsehoods at least somewhat under control, and to put a framework in place for the congressional and presidential elections in two years when Kássio Nunes Marques, who was appointed by Bolsonaro, will have succeeded Cármen Lúcia as President of the TSE.

@bepmoht Sorry to be so late to the party. I am talking about streaming networks....Netflix, Disney+, Apple Tv+, Hulu, Paramount+, Amazon Prime etc.

Roddie in Retirement

@Pablo888 Thanx, it was actually a Best Buy Geek Squad Rogue Tech. The VPN was working after she left, but now my Surge Protector battery failed. Everything went back to normal except Express VPN. They said it was a known issue, so since it still works on my laptop and Apple I 12, I just told them to contact me when they get it fixed.

Roddie in Retirement

@abthree Yeah, the more I think about this, I can't think of any other solution other than get rid of online anonymity.  The sooner the better. 

The OAB is apparently investigating Moraes now for judicial misconduct. I agree with EM he belongs in jail or disbarred. Last time he tried to fly commercial he was verbally assaulted by a bunch of pax on the flight. Doubt he's out in public much......heh. Where is Lula though ? The government needs to rein the court in.

Tyranny hates alternative viewpoints, which is why he is acting way outside of his mandate, as he has done before.

You have a brain. If it doesn't function, we'll, it's not the courts job to remove opinions, it's up to you to make up your own mind. Without absolute freedom of all speech, how do you know who the idiots are in society ?

08/31/24   The OAB is apparently investigating Moraes now for judicial misconduct.
   

    -@Gasparzinho 777

Have a link for that, or is it more Muskian disinformation?

@alan279 I couldn’t access X two hours ago on my phone (Vivo), but I still have access to X at home from my regional ISP.

@abthree I Googled ” OAB Moraes” and found several articles about the OAB questioning the legality of the VPN fines. My Portuguese isn’t great. My understanding of Brazilian law is nonexistent.

VPN is easy to enforce as all VPN services do report to larger bodies like nsa cia etc in USA. Similar for each body outside of that for each country. Any publicly owned VPN would be required like internet service providers to lock put VPN. It's not hard with the limited amount of VPN services ( Public ) to lock those out. After watching moraes statement and Lula's I'm not a side taker but fully understand why they are taking these drastic steps as looking at Canada and china and isa as examples of information censorship.

@roddie

So may be best in pm but are you using a VPN on a router or personal computers and is it expressvpn client for all ?

Moraes statement how each individuals personal information being sold on everything as intimate as only your mother would know raises a very valid standpoint I do not see many people take a stand on. If it's for public interests and keeping things absolutely stable then I'm all for the blockage.

@mikehunter but Mike when it's  the govt doing the fake news and blocking the truth then what?you think that's  ok?? You have to know all media in the world are controlled by like 6 corporations and most all politicians  are already bought and paid for. Everything's all controlled.

It would be great to confirm if it was all about public interest...

@mikeflanagan

Since when does anyone have to use an EU/G7 based web service hosted in those countries, or said VPN services as well ?

The world is much greater in size and scope than that perceived to be contained within the western states "empire of lies" as V.V. Putin so aptly described America.........I'd laugh at any country suggesting they can access and control the services which I, or many other people have access to and use. And I'm not talking about Telegram either.

09/01/24    @abthree I Googled ” OAB Moraes” and found several articles about the OAB questioning the legality of the VPN fines. My Portuguese isn’t great. My understanding of Brazilian law is nonexistent.        -@alan279

The National Directorate of the OAB sent a letter to Minister Alexandre de Moraes asking him to withdraw his order to fine individuals  for using VPNs to access X, which apparently he had already done when he received the letter.  They also requested that the Plenary of the STF review the decision to block X, a meeting that was already planned.  Unless and until the STF decides differently, that order remains in effect.

https://www.oab.org.br/noticia/62537/oa … m-usar-vpn

*ETA* The Primeira Turma ("First Panel") of the STF, consisting of Ministers Moraes, Cármen Lúcia, Luiz Fux, Cristiano Zanin e Flávio Dino, is scheduled to meet tomorrow (September 2) for this review. 

https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/202 … da-2.shtml

The OAB did not announce any "investigation" of anyone on the STF, for the good and sufficient reason that it has no jurisdiction over any sitting judge; jurisdiction to penalize current judges is limited to the  Conselho Nacional de Justiça, or to the Congress in the case of an impeachment of STF ministers or other senior judges.  The OAB can disbar a former judge, but not a current judge.

I can’t access X.com this morning,  Monday, September 2.

STF votes to block x.com and fine VPN users who access x.com.

X.com is accessible again.

10/09/24 X.com is accessible again. -@alan279

The fines were initially paid to the wrong bank (Caixa instead of BB -- go figure!) but they've been redirected to the right account, and the block was reversed yesterday.  The order went out to Anatel last night, and by now most, even all, of the ISPs in Brazil should have complied.  Anatel has to report completion back to the STF by tonight.

We're back to normal censorship. 😀

I am glad brazil head steadfast on this.