Thread

1. SoftTalker · 1790960547 · focus · HN ↗

   > platforms are left with an impossible choice: completely block all VPN traffic nationwide or withdraw access from Utah entirely

   Is it even possible to reliably know that a connection is from a VPN? Anyone can proxy through a random hosting provider.

   1. semiquaver · 1790970453 · focus · HN ↗

      Right, all you see is the IP address. And anyone in the world can set up an “individual” VPN just for them on a cheap VPS or cloud server anywhere else in the world. There’s no technical way to accomplish what they’ve mandated, only something approximating it like “block all connections from known commercial VPN services”.

      1. s__s · 1790989544 · focus · HN ↗

         This isn’t true. Hosting providers have known IP blocks. Spin up a hand rolled VPN through a VPS and you’ll get blocked by a lot of services, or at the very least, treated as highly suspicious.

         1. semiquaver · 1791001979 · focus · HN ↗

            What’s the “this” that isn’t true in what I said? I was responding to

              >  Is it even possible to reliably know that a connection is from a VPN?
            

            And I’m saying it’s not. Coming from a hosting provider IP block is far from a definitive sign that you’re using a VPN. A very plausible real world reason for that is that your company uses one of the large VDI providers, most of which egress from GCP or AWS.

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