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Comment by gpvos | Hacker News Reader

I would like to add one note: if I were an activist in Iran, or in any other way my livelihood would depend on strong privacy services, I might keep using your service and even be (slightly) more certain of the company's resolve to keep my privacy protected. Although I would be very aware of the irony. But choosing for one's own safety can override other concerns. Very few things in life are black and white.

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Indeed. What I hear you saying is that you recognize there is a kind of consistency, and benefit, to Mullvad's position.

I'll admit holding the line like this, when most people don't understand the nuance, and most of those who do don't value it, is irrational from a business perspective. Then again we founded the company because of our political convictions about free speech, free press, privacy, mass surveillance and censorship.

I respect your choice to leave, and also appreciate that we're both making an effort to understand each other. I wish all disagreements were like this.

If y’all were maximally “business-rational” you would have taken the NPV of under-anonymizing your customers already and selling the data. Sure, it would tank the business in the long run but the short term profits could probably have been re-invested in the stock market or other endeavors for excellent returns. Plus once the reputation hit started coming home to roost you could have sold Mullvad to one of those large VPN umbrella holding companies.

I’m upset about this to, but honestly I don’t know what other VPN holds Mullvad’s reputation for genuine anonymity. When I learned that y’all take cash by mail, I realized that is fundamentally incompatible with bundling and selling customers data.

Iranians use VPNs simply because they want to access the internet. Mullvad services are too expensive for what average people make so i don't think it really matters.

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