this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2025
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Same, tho i am not in Saudi. But yeah, i wouldn't have though they knew of lemmy let alone of specific websites, or even care to block it. A heads up tho, i remember in a video on YT it said the USA ISP stores your IP Traffic for at least 10 years. Its possible it stored there for longer but i am not sure when and if they might act on that information. in your original post, some ppl said to use VPNs which can be a bad idea and land u in worst waters. I used to worry about this shit for almost 1 and half years(guess i still do)and my mental health went down the shitter for it.
Edit: I remember a story of a Mom on twitter being vocal against the Saudi government and was sentenced into prison for it. Also at the time on of the princes of Saudi had a share-hold in twitter, not sure if that's still the case.
how can using a VPN be worse than not?
i'd rather trust a shady vpn than my own ISP tbh :/ those fuckers are snitches
Its not VPN itself the problem but the fact that they cant see your traffic and only your VPN connections which in of itself can ground for arrest
where can that be grounds for arrest?
Dude, we are talking about a country that still execute ppl by swords and has the death penalty for leaving Islam. What cant be grounds for arrest
yeah agreed I haven't gotten a VPN yet but I plan to get one for travelling... but idk is there something I don't know about vpns that could make them worse?
I only know of two: performance, and accounts being banned. Idk if there's anymore.
Btw, whether or not you need a vpn probably depends where you're travelling. If you're going to travel to developing countries, then you'll probably need one. otherwise you should be fine. (idk how censorship and safety are in the west, only know about them here)
yeah China is on the list so I'll definitely be getting one haha
You assume that the government works on not guilty until proven otherwise, when in reality its the opposite. If they can only see u connect to a VPN but not your actual traffic then they except by difficult your doing something illegal. This is worst for TOR, on its on website it states it not meant to hide the fact u connect to it just your traffic. Other reason is, which could be argued to be disproved is that unless your are on big known website that are marked by it, you are probably flying under radar
I am not confident that you fully understand how a VPN works tbh. not meaning to be rude by that, just an observation. who are the "they" you're speaking of here? the ISP? a governmental agency? local law enforcement? are you claiming that there is a place where the ISP will clock your traffic as going through a VPN, contact local law enforcement to arrest you for that alone? I have never heard of such a thing but that's spooky if true. do you have any sources of it happening?
ISP provides log your traffic for years, after that i am not sure what happens. Maybe they keep record of the ppl who tried to log into certain websites and go over it over time. Maybe they just keep them as extra evidence when something comes up. Also we are only taking about ISP, a government has more tools than that. Egypt alone spend 7 billion dollars on electronic surveillance. As for source, i am talking out of my ass, not in the sense i am making stuff up just that this is what i deduced from going over bunch of forums, articles, YouTube and privacy subs on reddit. I kinda of freaked out cuz if its true, i have already got myself in the waters and so abandoned all my researcher but aslo cuz like i said mental down the shitter