[KingMob]

What would people think of a VPN service that builds it for you, then hands over control when done? E.g., it walks you through setting up a DO droplet, uses keys to install a VPN, then prompts you to change the keys so it can't access the server? Think there's a market for that?

[gmac]

I wondered about creating something very like that a couple of months ago. Check out my vapourware! http://digitalsnorkel.net/

I think a key problem may be that there aren't a whole lot of people who (a) understand the tech well enough to know they need this, and (b) don't understand the tech well enough to spin up a VPS and run a Bash script.

[KingMob]

Interesting! How many sign-ups have you received?

[gmac]

Well, I never mentioned it to anyone until now ...

[tptacek]

That's essentially what Algo does.

[KingMob]

Oh, I know; I wrote a blog post on using Algo.

To be clear, I was thinking about the less-technically-sophisticated-than-HN crowd. E.g., is there a market for the people who would typically purchase VPN services, don't want to trust a VPN company, but don't know how to setup a cloud server?

[zeratax]

Is there a reason to trust a cloud server over a VPN company?

[KingMob]

Hmm, it depends on your threat model. If you're being targeted by a three-letter agency, then no (of course, you need something more secure than a VPN at that point, anyway). But if you're not singled out, your own VPS is much less likely to be passively surveilled than if it's part of a known VPN IP block.