Many (if not all) of the benefits on the landing page are available in Mullvad too, which is a more mature and reputable product, has all clients fully open-source, and powers the exit servers for Obscura.
Mullvad is a Swedish company, which has stricter privacy protection laws in place.
According to Obscura's legal page, it is a New York-based company [0]. Under US law, a secretive court order could compel a US company to update software or implement targeted logging on a specific user without notifying that user.
The only scenario where Obscura would be useful is if Mullvad were compromised. Why would I trust a New York company to shield me from a more reputable Swedish company?
[0]: "(2) your written notification must be mailed to 169 Madison Ave.; Ste. 11185 PMB 63183; New York, NY 10016..." <a href="https://obscura.com/legal/" rel="nofollow">https://obscura.com/legal/
> The EU is working to make what Mullvad is doing illegal.
In other news, it has been demonstrated in a court of law that Mullvad "no logs" means no logs.
TL;DR: Six police officers turned up at Mullvad offices with a search warrant for logs and data. Mullvad said "take a look for yourself". They went home with nothing.
Lots of people on HN and elsewhere are spreading a lot of FUD about the EU and what the EU MIGHT do – remember MIGHT .... politicians discuss a lot of stuff, and a lot of it never gets implemented.
It is the job of politicians to discuss issues of the day and potential ways to deal with them.
One thing that is clear. The EU is not a dicatorship. They have a long history of listening and acting on what industry experts tell them. Even if it means "watering down" ideas being discussed by the politicians.
I have a lot of faith that Mullvad (and, frankly, all the other VPN providers) would make a lot of noise if any of this EU FUD people are spreading actually ever became reality.
Until then, I suggest people put the EU FUD tin-foil hat to one side.
I have always wondered, what will companies do, if the law changes. Will they still "care" for the consumer, or just "comply" with the law.
[1] - lobbying by leather industry to exempt them from EU Deforestation Regulation - <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/now-exempt-from-eu-deforestation-rules-leather-industry-moves-to-repair-reputation/" rel="nofollow">https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/now-exempt-from-eu-defores...
[2] - lobbying to remove due diligence on human rights violation in supply chain in certain industry sectors - <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/eu-csddd-weakened-by-omnibus-corporate-lobbying-but-effective-transposition-can-still-protect-people-and-planet-says-global-witness/" rel="nofollow">https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/eu-csddd...
> They have a long history of listening and acting on what industry experts tell them
Yes, most famously the diesel gate, european automakers cheating emission tests, [3] because EU invited companies to self regulate their lab tests.
World used to believe companies used to care for them, before snowden showed up. Even now people are still surprised, when companies like LG get caught doing illegal stuff. How long before there is a scandal in EU? Fool me once...
As much as i like to believe EU "cares" about the consumer, its really stupid for someone to blindly put their faith in Mullvad. Zero trust. When you are online, you are on your own.
maxloh · · focus · HN ↗
Many (if not all) of the benefits on the landing page are available in Mullvad too, which is a more mature and reputable product, has all clients fully open-source, and powers the exit servers for Obscura.
Why should I choose this over Mullvad?
maxloh · · focus · HN ↗
According to Obscura's legal page, it is a New York-based company [0]. Under US law, a secretive court order could compel a US company to update software or implement targeted logging on a specific user without notifying that user.
The only scenario where Obscura would be useful is if Mullvad were compromised. Why would I trust a New York company to shield me from a more reputable Swedish company?
[0]: "(2) your written notification must be mailed to 169 Madison Ave.; Ste. 11185 PMB 63183; New York, NY 10016..." <a href="https://obscura.com/legal/" rel="nofollow">https://obscura.com/legal/
miohtama · · focus · HN ↗
<a href="https://codamail.com/articles/privacy-law-directory/international/european-union.html" rel="nofollow">https://codamail.com/articles/privacy-law-directory/internat...
"EU surveillance co-operation"
traceroute66 · · focus · HN ↗
In other news, it has been demonstrated in a court of law that Mullvad "no logs" means no logs.
TL;DR: Six police officers turned up at Mullvad offices with a search warrant for logs and data. Mullvad said "take a look for yourself". They went home with nothing.
Lots of people on HN and elsewhere are spreading a lot of FUD about the EU and what the EU MIGHT do – remember MIGHT .... politicians discuss a lot of stuff, and a lot of it never gets implemented.
It is the job of politicians to discuss issues of the day and potential ways to deal with them.
One thing that is clear. The EU is not a dicatorship. They have a long history of listening and acting on what industry experts tell them. Even if it means "watering down" ideas being discussed by the politicians.
I have a lot of faith that Mullvad (and, frankly, all the other VPN providers) would make a lot of noise if any of this EU FUD people are spreading actually ever became reality.
Until then, I suggest people put the EU FUD tin-foil hat to one side.
[1] <a href="https://mullvad.net/en/blog/2023/4/20/mullvad-vpn-was-subject-to-a-search-warrant-customer-data-not-compromised" rel="nofollow">https://mullvad.net/en/blog/2023/4/20/mullvad-vpn-was-subjec... [2] <a href="https://mullvad.net/en/blog/update-the-swedish-authorities-answered-our-protocol-request" rel="nofollow">https://mullvad.net/en/blog/update-the-swedish-authorities-a...
_nobody · · focus · HN ↗
[1] - lobbying by leather industry to exempt them from EU Deforestation Regulation - <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/now-exempt-from-eu-deforestation-rules-leather-industry-moves-to-repair-reputation/" rel="nofollow">https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/now-exempt-from-eu-defores...
[2] - lobbying to remove due diligence on human rights violation in supply chain in certain industry sectors - <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/eu-csddd-weakened-by-omnibus-corporate-lobbying-but-effective-transposition-can-still-protect-people-and-planet-says-global-witness/" rel="nofollow">https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/eu-csddd...
> They have a long history of listening and acting on what industry experts tell them
Yes, most famously the diesel gate, european automakers cheating emission tests, [3] because EU invited companies to self regulate their lab tests.
[3] - <a href="https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/driving_into_disaster_report_final.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/driving_into...
World used to believe companies used to care for them, before snowden showed up. Even now people are still surprised, when companies like LG get caught doing illegal stuff. How long before there is a scandal in EU? Fool me once...
As much as i like to believe EU "cares" about the consumer, its really stupid for someone to blindly put their faith in Mullvad. Zero trust. When you are online, you are on your own.
anticensor · · focus · HN ↗