• CO5MO ✨@midwest.social
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    3 months ago

    TLDR/

    Kape Technologies is a major player in the online privacy world, one of the three giants that collectively control the market. It owns many of the world’s top VPNs, including ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, ZenMate, Intego Antivirus, and a host of tech websites that promote its products.

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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      3 months ago

      Needs a longer quote:

      Kape Technologies is a major player in the online privacy world, one of the three giants that collectively control the market. It owns many of the world’s top VPNs, including ExpressVPN, CyberGhost, Private Internet Access, ZenMate, Intego Antivirus, and a host of tech websites that promote its products. Kape brands can be seen sponsoring a wide array of public figures, such as Tucker Carlson, Angry Video Game Nerd, Drew Gooden, Lex Fridman, Cody Ko, Uncle Roger, and Ben Shapiro.

      So they’re basically evil.

      “We are living in an era of tyranny,” Shapiro says in one video endorsing the company, adding:

      And far-right shills are mindlessly promoting them.

      Evil with a capital evil.

        • TriflingToad@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          skimming the text I’m just like “yeah corporation, yeah yeah monopoly, yeah yeah angry video game nerd, yeah yeah WAIT WHAT”

            • antmzo220@lemmy.ml
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              3 months ago

              He was similarly just an online personality (YouTuber, funny commentary)just like Drew Gooden, until recently it was revealed he hooked up with a minor, knowing they were a minor (like 9 years ago or so)

              It’s funny because a couple months ago someone would have left a similar comment as you about him being included, but now he belongs with those other “evil” people.

              • LiveLM@lemmy.zip
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                3 months ago

                I’ve learned this information a while ago and I’m still upset.
                Seems like every time I stop watching a YouTuber for a while, I come back later and whoops! turns out they did something awful! 🙄

              • Cataphract@lemmy.ml
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                3 months ago

                oh phew, for a second I thought you were saying that about Gooden. I don’t watch him all the time but I’ve ran into some of his videos that I enjoyed. Don’t think I’ve ever ran into cody so thankfully that’s a bullet dodged.

      • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        It seems like they have VPN services and they don’t really care who uses them. Business doing business things

    • Daze@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      ffffremovedkkk, I really liked cyberghost… it always felt very minimal and not in-your-face besides the occasional sale pop-up… time to drop it like it’s hot 😢

      What’s the closest safe alternative for my privacy?

  • EndOfLine@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I left Private Internet Access (PIA) for Proton VPN after the Kape acquisition years ago. Still happy with my decision and I recommend Proton VPN to anybody in the market for personal VPN services.

    • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      “Infiltrated” seems like a clandestine action even though they just selected her to be on the board. It’s not like her having been on WEF council (“Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of Internet Security”) was a secret to people who made her a board member since it’s very available info.

      Thanks to the way back machine we can see that they quietly erased Rosemary Leith’s bio of her affiliations with the WEF.

      Now why would they do that?

      I think especially right-wingers have made the WEF into some Jewish conspiracy theory and it has taken a life of its own so might just be bad PR. Tbh that seems like the simplest option. You don’t want to scare away the potential customers.

  • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Yeah, I used to use PIA right up to the buyout. Actually had them email me asking why, tried to make assurances that nothing would change, nope I don’t trust Kape. Still don’t.

    • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      I stuck with PIA, mostly since I had no issues (software, connection wise) and it was just very very cheap

      • Pherenike@lemmy.ml
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        3 months ago

        He edited that book, didn’t write it, but okay, I like him too. His work on propaganda about Venezuela is fantastic.

    • antmzo220@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      Yeah, they’re so untrustworthy because MBFC says so …

      Analysis / Bias

      Headlines and articles use moderately loaded language like this: NFL Freezes Policy Barring Players From Kneeling During Anthem. This particular story is republished from the conspiracy website ZeroHedge. Typically, Mint Press sources their information, but sometimes it is from Mixed factual or conspiracy websites. In general, story selection moderately favors the left, such as this Trump Administration Opens Door for Corporate Attack on Vulnerable Wildlife.

      Okay? Neither of those articles are untrustworthy or wrong…

      Mint Press News primarily focuses on stories about the middle east, Iran, Syria, and Israel. Most stories are negative when covering Israel, such as this CHRIS HEDGES: ISRAEL AND THE RISE OF JEWISH FASCISM.

      Almost like Israel is a genocidal apartheid state and most coverage of them should be negative, that’s not bias. It just shows MBFCs bias…

      Politically, Mint Press News aligns with the far-left and frequently reports negatively on establishment Democrats like this WHO IS BIDEN WORKING FOR? ON ISRAEL VISIT, “ZIONIST” BIDEN WHITEWASHES ISRAEL’S CRIMES and conservative such as this EMBOLDENED BY TRUMP AND NETANYAHU, JEWISH SETTLER TERRORISM IS SPIKING. Finally, according to the Rutgers University Network Contagion Research Institute, Mint Press “promotes anti-Jewish conspiracy theories.”

      Almost like Israel is a genocidal apartheid state and most coverage of them and “establishment Democrats” and “conservative” who defend/support them will be “biased” against them, unless you agree with said genocidal apartheid…

      On to

      Failed Fact Checks

      Millions of Muslims protested against the Islamic State in November 2016, but a “media blackout” prevented people from hearing about the event. – Mostly False

      Let’s see how “false” this is and how ruined their credibility should be because of it…

      Although the original article was published under a misleading clickbait title, it was at least based on a real event: millions of Shia Muslims did embark on a pilgrimage in November 2016 to visit the shrine of Imam Hussein in Karbala, Iraq. This pilgrimate is an annual undertaking for Arbaeen, which marks the end of forty days of mourning of the martyrdom of Hussein:

      The pilgrimage was reported (as it is every year) by multiple mainstream news outlets. While it is a religious event and not specifically a political one, some news outlets reported that the annual pilgrimage has taken on a defiant tone as attacks from the Islamic State have plagued the area

      So it was millions of people gathering in a defiant tone against the Islamic state…it’s just false because “some news outlets” reported it as such so there was no “media blackout”…

      No single source or site is perfect. MBFC is just as biased and shouldn’t be used to dismiss an entire source of information because they say they are biased.

      NOTE: This is less a defense of mintpres news (they do get a little crazy) and more a statement against the use of MBFC and similar as a crutch.

      • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        This part did sound pretty concerning

        Further, they have frequently promoted conspiracy theories and misinformation regarding Covid-19, such as this A DARPA-FUNDED IMPLANTABLE BIOCHIP TO DETECT COVID-19 COULD HIT MARKETS BY 2021. The Covid vaccine does not alter DNA. They have also published conspiracy theories related to 9/11 and Chemtrails. Finally, they frequently rely on Russian government sources like RT News and Sputnik.

  • steventhedev@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Holy propaganda batman!

    The list of articles on that website is…extremely focused on one subject only.

    • Amerikan Pharaoh@lemmygrad.ml
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      3 months ago

      I hope you hold that same energy for CNN, MSNBC, the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Associated Press, and Reuters.

    • delirious_owl@discuss.online
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      3 months ago

      Israel is not “The Jews”. The biggest money coming into Israel is coming from Christians. And loads of Jews are anti-zionists