[ortichic]

What happened if some government agency were to order both Obscura and Mullvad to log a certain user or certain activities? Wouldn't it be possible to combine those logs? If it isn't: would that change if Obscura was ordered to also use a separate Mullvad account for a specific user/IP?

[Nyr]

Governments do not even need any of the providers to comply, they can access global NetFlow data. This is conveniently not discussed by any commercial VPN provider.

[pinecamp]

Thanks for pointing this out. I wasn't aware of NetFlow. I don't use IVPN, but I found this writeup informative:

https://www.ivpn.net/privacy-guides/isp-netflow-surveillance...

[hypeatei]

Okay, but this is a given if you don't run your own ISP. Your ISP can also see that you connect to Tor. Your data is still encrypted.

[ortichic]

How would such an attack work?

[push0ret]

Could you protect against NetFlow analysis by pushing a bunch of noise over the VPN tunnel at all times? I'd assume it would at least make the analysis significantly more challenging.

[zikduruqe]

Honestly, paying for a VPN is just purchasing slow internet speeds at a premium.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_b8Z2kAFyY

Just use Tor.