The EU Digital Identity Wallet: Everything you need to know about the EU's plans for a universal digital identity system

by with No Comment Tech

3D rendered depiction of a digital avatar

Image Credits: DKosig / Getty Images

The EU Digital Identity Wallet is an ambitious project by the European Union that’s still a bit under the radar but worth paying attention to, as it could deliver big things in the next few years. 

The goal is to set up a universal digital identity system for citizens. If all goes to plan, Europeans will be able to download and use a free EU Digital Identity Wallet to access a wide range of public and private services, relying on identity verification and authentication of other credentials stored in an app on their smartphone. 

Following recent adoption of a key legal framework, EU countries are expected to issue the first of EU Digital Identity Wallets by the end of 2026. Unlike current national e-ID schemes, the future Pan-EU wallets will be recognized by all member states.

While national e-ID systems have been available in some European countries for many years — Estonia is a particular pioneer in digital identity — regional lawmakers have, since 2021, set themselves the goal of creating conditions for a digital identity system that works across the bloc’s single market. 

So while there won’t be a single, universal EU wallet app for everyone to use, the goal is to establish a system where different wallet apps will work anywhere in the EU, aligning with the bloc’s Digital Single Market mission. 

An EU digital ID wallet for everything?

One obvious motivation for setting up the EU Digital Identity Wallet is convenience.

Europeans will be able to download a wallet app to their smartphone or device and use it to store and selectively share key credentials when they need to do things like verify their identity or prove their age. The wallet will work both for ID checks online and in the real world. It’s also intended as a digital repository for official documents, such as a driver’s license, medical prescriptions, educational qualifications, passports, etc. E-signing functionality will also be supported. 

So less hassle managing different bits of paper, or even remembering where you put your bank cards, is the general idea. 

But there are other more strategic motivating factors in play. The bloc has woken up to the value of data in our fast-accelerating AI age. Policies that remove friction and grease the flow of information — or at least try to when it comes to getting citizens to share personal data to do things like sign up for new services or to transact — fit the political game plan.

The EU has an extensive and growing body of digital regulation. A Pan-EU e-ID would clearly come in very handy here. For example, aspects of the online governance regime established by the Digital Services Act (DSA) could be easier to implement once the EU can point to having a “universal, secure and trustworthy” digital ID system in place, as the EU Digital Identity Wallet is being billed. Think privacy-preserving access to adult content websites for people who could use the digital ID to verify they’re over 18, for example. 

Another big EU digital policy push in recent years aims to remove barriers to the sharing and reuse of data, including across internal borders, by setting up infrastructure and rules for so-called Common European Data Spaces. Again, a universal EU digital ID that promises citizens privacy and autonomy could make Europeans more comfortable doing more info-sharing — helping data flow into these strategic spaces. 

Interestingly, though, the EU’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, opted for a very different framing for the opportunity for the wallet when announcing the plan in her September 2020 State of the Union address, pointing to growing privacy risks for citizens who are constantly being asked to share data in order to access online services. The wallet responds to this concern because a core feature is support for selective data sharing. So in addition to an EU pledge that use of the wallet will remain voluntary for citizens, the main pitch to users is that it’s “privacy-preserving” as they get to remain in control: selecting which data they share with whom. 

Having a privacy-preserving approach could help the EU unlock finer-grained digital regulation opportunities, too, though. As noted above, it could give citizens a means to share their verified age but not their identity, allowing a wallet app user to sign into an age-restricted service anonymously. The EU wants the wallets to support wider governance goals under the DSA, which look set to usher in harder age verification requirements for services with content that might be inappropriate for kids — that is, once the appropriate “privacy preserving” tech exists. 

Other use cases for the wallet that the EU has discussed include an apartment-rental scenario where a citizen could share a bunch of verified intel about their rental history with a potential landlord without having to confirm their identity unless/until they get to sign the contract. Or someone with multiple bank accounts around the Union could use it to simplify transaction authorizations. 

Online services will be obliged to accept the Pan-EU credential. So it’s also being pitched as a European alternative to existing (commercial) digital identity offerings, such as the “sign in with” credentials offered by Big Tech players, like Apple and Google. 

Challenging Big Tech’s grip on data

Here the bloc’s lawmakers look to be responding to concerns about how much power has been ceded to platform giants on account of the key digital infrastructure they own and operate. 

It’s no surprise the EU Digital Identity Wallet proposal was adopted by the Commission in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, when apps that could display a person’s COVID-19 vaccination status were on everyone’s mind. But the public health crisis also starkly underscored an asymmetrical power dynamic between lawmakers and the commercial giants controlling mainstream mobile technology infrastructure. (Apple and Google literally set rules on how COVID-19 exposure notification data could be exchanged, with their technical choices overriding governments’ directly stated preferences in several cases.)

Beyond considerations of strategic digital sovereignty, a universal e-ID wallet concept ties tightly to the EU’s general push to amp up digitalization as a flywheel for better economic fortunes. Assuming the system is well-executed and reliable, and the wallets themselves are user friendly and easy to use, a universal EU ID could boost productivity by increasing efficiency and uptake of online services. 

Of course, that’s a big “if”; there are sizable technical challenges to delivering on the EU vision for the universal ID system. 

Security and privacy are obviously essential pieces of the puzzle. The first is fundamental for any identity and authentication system to fly. The second comprises the bloc’s main pitch to citizens who will need to be persuaded to adopt the wallets if the whole project isn’t to end up an expensive white elephant. 

Poor implementation is a clear risk. Low uptake of flaky national e-ID scheme shows what could go wrong. Wallet apps will need to be slick and easy to use across the full sweep of planned use cases, as well as having robust security and privacy — which demands a whole ecosystem of players get behind the project — or users simply won’t get on board. 

Remember, competition on digital identity is coming from already baked-in mainstream platform offerings, like “Sign in with Google.” And, sadly, convenience and ease-of-use still often trump privacy concerns in the online arena.

Privacy could also create barriers to adoption. After the proposal was unveiled, there were some reservations expressed about the EU setting up a universal ID infrastructure, with some commentators invoking the risk of function-creep toward a China-style social control. Having a credible technical architecture that both secures and firewalls citizens’ data will therefore be critical to success. 

Universal availability by 2030

Getting the EU Digital Identity Wallet system off the ground has already involved years of preparatory work, but there’s plenty more testing, standard setting and implementation ahead. 

So far the bloc has put in place a legal framework for interoperable EU wallets (i.e., the Digital Identity Regulation, which entered into force in May this year). Work on the development of a secure technical architecture, common standards and specifications is ongoing, but a common EU Toolbox has been established. The Commission has also published an architecture reference on GitHub. Code is being open sourced, and the EU intends ecosystem infrastructure to be based on common standards to drive trust and adoption. 

The bloc is also engaged with industry and public sector stakeholders on large-scale pilots to test the proposed technical specifications. 

More paving needs to be laid in the coming years, including through a series of implementing acts affirming critical technical details. Plenty could still go wrong. But the EU has at least given itself a fairly generous lead-in to get this one right. So while the first wallets are supposed to be coming online in a couple years’ time, the bloc is not expecting universal system access for its circa 450 million citizens until 2030.

Europe wants to go its own way on digital identity

The EU Digital Identity Wallet: Everything you need to know about the EU's plans for a universal digital identity system

by with No Comment Tech

3D rendered depiction of a digital avatar

Image Credits: DKosig / Getty Images

The EU Digital Identity Wallet is an ambitious project by the European Union that’s still a bit under the radar but worth paying attention to, as it could deliver big things in the next few years. 

The goal is to set up a universal digital identity system for citizens. If all goes to plan, Europeans will be able to download and use a free EU Digital Identity Wallet to access a wide range of public and private services, relying on identity verification and authentication of other credentials stored in an app on their smartphone. 

Following recent adoption of a key legal framework, EU countries are expected to issue the first of EU Digital Identity Wallets by the end of 2026. Unlike current national e-ID schemes, the future Pan-EU wallets will be recognized by all member states.

While national e-ID systems have been available in some European countries for many years — Estonia is a particular pioneer in digital identity — regional lawmakers have, since 2021, set themselves the goal of creating conditions for a digital identity system that works across the bloc’s single market. 

So while there won’t be a single, universal EU wallet app for everyone to use, the goal is to establish a system where different wallet apps will work anywhere in the EU, aligning with the bloc’s Digital Single Market mission. 

An EU digital ID wallet for everything?

One obvious motivation for setting up the EU Digital Identity Wallet is convenience.

Europeans will be able to download a wallet app to their smartphone or device and use it to store and selectively share key credentials when they need to do things like verify their identity or prove their age. The wallet will work both for ID checks online and in the real world. It’s also intended as a digital repository for official documents, such as a driver’s license, medical prescriptions, educational qualifications, passports, etc. E-signing functionality will also be supported. 

So less hassle managing different bits of paper, or even remembering where you put your bank cards, is the general idea. 

But there are other more strategic motivating factors in play. The bloc has woken up to the value of data in our fast-accelerating AI age. Policies that remove friction and grease the flow of information — or at least try to when it comes to getting citizens to share personal data to do things like sign up for new services or to transact — fit the political game plan.

The EU has an extensive and growing body of digital regulation. A Pan-EU e-ID would clearly come in very handy here. For example, aspects of the online governance regime established by the Digital Services Act (DSA) could be easier to implement once the EU can point to having a “universal, secure and trustworthy” digital ID system in place, as the EU Digital Identity Wallet is being billed. Think privacy-preserving access to adult content websites for people who could use the digital ID to verify they’re over 18, for example. 

Another big EU digital policy push in recent years aims to remove barriers to the sharing and reuse of data, including across internal borders, by setting up infrastructure and rules for so-called Common European Data Spaces. Again, a universal EU digital ID that promises citizens privacy and autonomy could make Europeans more comfortable doing more info-sharing — helping data flow into these strategic spaces. 

Interestingly, though, the EU’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, opted for a very different framing for the opportunity for the wallet when announcing the plan in her September 2020 State of the Union address, pointing to growing privacy risks for citizens who are constantly being asked to share data in order to access online services. The wallet responds to this concern because a core feature is support for selective data sharing. So in addition to an EU pledge that use of the wallet will remain voluntary for citizens, the main pitch to users is that it’s “privacy-preserving” as they get to remain in control: selecting which data they share with whom. 

Having a privacy-preserving approach could help the EU unlock finer-grained digital regulation opportunities, too, though. As noted above, it could give citizens a means to share their verified age but not their identity, allowing a wallet app user to sign into an age-restricted service anonymously. The EU wants the wallets to support wider governance goals under the DSA, which look set to usher in harder age verification requirements for services with content that might be inappropriate for kids — that is, once the appropriate “privacy preserving” tech exists. 

Other use cases for the wallet that the EU has discussed include an apartment-rental scenario where a citizen could share a bunch of verified intel about their rental history with a potential landlord without having to confirm their identity unless/until they get to sign the contract. Or someone with multiple bank accounts around the Union could use it to simplify transaction authorizations. 

Online services will be obliged to accept the Pan-EU credential. So it’s also being pitched as a European alternative to existing (commercial) digital identity offerings, such as the “sign in with” credentials offered by Big Tech players, like Apple and Google. 

Challenging Big Tech’s grip on data

Here the bloc’s lawmakers look to be responding to concerns about how much power has been ceded to platform giants on account of the key digital infrastructure they own and operate. 

It’s no surprise the EU Digital Identity Wallet proposal was adopted by the Commission in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, when apps that could display a person’s COVID-19 vaccination status were on everyone’s mind. But the public health crisis also starkly underscored an asymmetrical power dynamic between lawmakers and the commercial giants controlling mainstream mobile technology infrastructure. (Apple and Google literally set rules on how COVID-19 exposure notification data could be exchanged, with their technical choices overriding governments’ directly stated preferences in several cases.)

Beyond considerations of strategic digital sovereignty, a universal e-ID wallet concept ties tightly to the EU’s general push to amp up digitalization as a flywheel for better economic fortunes. Assuming the system is well-executed and reliable, and the wallets themselves are user friendly and easy to use, a universal EU ID could boost productivity by increasing efficiency and uptake of online services. 

Of course, that’s a big “if”; there are sizable technical challenges to delivering on the EU vision for the universal ID system. 

Security and privacy are obviously essential pieces of the puzzle. The first is fundamental for any identity and authentication system to fly. The second comprises the bloc’s main pitch to citizens who will need to be persuaded to adopt the wallets if the whole project isn’t to end up an expensive white elephant. 

Poor implementation is a clear risk. Low uptake of flaky national e-ID scheme shows what could go wrong. Wallet apps will need to be slick and easy to use across the full sweep of planned use cases, as well as having robust security and privacy — which demands a whole ecosystem of players get behind the project — or users simply won’t get on board. 

Remember, competition on digital identity is coming from already baked-in mainstream platform offerings, like “Sign in with Google.” And, sadly, convenience and ease-of-use still often trump privacy concerns in the online arena.

Privacy could also create barriers to adoption. After the proposal was unveiled, there were some reservations expressed about the EU setting up a universal ID infrastructure, with some commentators invoking the risk of function-creep toward a China-style social control. Having a credible technical architecture that both secures and firewalls citizens’ data will therefore be critical to success. 

Universal availability by 2030

Getting the EU Digital Identity Wallet system off the ground has already involved years of preparatory work, but there’s plenty more testing, standard setting and implementation ahead. 

So far the bloc has put in place a legal framework for interoperable EU wallets (i.e., the Digital Identity Regulation, which entered into force in May this year). Work on the development of a secure technical architecture, common standards and specifications is ongoing, but a common EU Toolbox has been established. The Commission has also published an architecture reference on GitHub. Code is being open sourced, and the EU intends ecosystem infrastructure to be based on common standards to drive trust and adoption. 

The bloc is also engaged with industry and public sector stakeholders on large-scale pilots to test the proposed technical specifications. 

More paving needs to be laid in the coming years, including through a series of implementing acts affirming critical technical details. Plenty could still go wrong. But the EU has at least given itself a fairly generous lead-in to get this one right. So while the first wallets are supposed to be coming online in a couple years’ time, the bloc is not expecting universal system access for its circa 450 million citizens until 2030.

Europe wants to go its own way on digital identity

The EU Digital Identity Wallet: Everything you need to know about the EU's plans for a universal digital identity system

by with No Comment Tech

3D rendered depiction of a digital avatar

Image Credits: DKosig / Getty Images

The EU Digital Identity Wallet is an ambitious project by the European Union that’s still a bit under the radar but worth paying attention to, as it could deliver big things in the next few years. 

The goal is to set up a universal digital identity system for citizens. If all goes to plan, Europeans will be able to download and use a free EU Digital Identity Wallet to access a wide range of public and private services, relying on identity verification and authentication of other credentials stored in an app on their smartphone. 

Following recent adoption of a key legal framework, EU countries are expected to issue the first of EU Digital Identity Wallets by the end of 2026. Unlike current national e-ID schemes, the future Pan-EU wallets will be recognized by all member states.

While national e-ID systems have been available in some European countries for many years — Estonia is a particular pioneer in digital identity — regional lawmakers have, since 2021, set themselves the goal of creating conditions for a digital identity system that works across the bloc’s single market. 

So while there won’t be a single, universal EU wallet app for everyone to use, the goal is to establish a system where different wallet apps will work anywhere in the EU, aligning with the bloc’s Digital Single Market mission. 

An EU digital ID wallet for everything?

One obvious motivation for setting up the EU Digital Identity Wallet is convenience.

Europeans will be able to download a wallet app to their smartphone or device and use it to store and selectively share key credentials when they need to do things like verify their identity or prove their age. The wallet will work both for ID checks online and in the real world. It’s also intended as a digital repository for official documents, such as a driver’s license, medical prescriptions, educational qualifications, passports, etc. E-signing functionality will also be supported. 

So less hassle managing different bits of paper, or even remembering where you put your bank cards, is the general idea. 

But there are other more strategic motivating factors in play. The bloc has woken up to the value of data in our fast-accelerating AI age. Policies that remove friction and grease the flow of information — or at least try to when it comes to getting citizens to share personal data to do things like sign up for new services or to transact — fit the political game plan.

The EU has an extensive and growing body of digital regulation. A Pan-EU e-ID would clearly come in very handy here. For example, aspects of the online governance regime established by the Digital Services Act (DSA) could be easier to implement once the EU can point to having a “universal, secure and trustworthy” digital ID system in place, as the EU Digital Identity Wallet is being billed. Think privacy-preserving access to adult content websites for people who could use the digital ID to verify they’re over 18, for example. 

Another big EU digital policy push in recent years aims to remove barriers to the sharing and reuse of data, including across internal borders, by setting up infrastructure and rules for so-called Common European Data Spaces. Again, a universal EU digital ID that promises citizens privacy and autonomy could make Europeans more comfortable doing more info-sharing — helping data flow into these strategic spaces. 

Interestingly, though, the EU’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, opted for a very different framing for the opportunity for the wallet when announcing the plan in her September 2020 State of the Union address, pointing to growing privacy risks for citizens who are constantly being asked to share data in order to access online services. The wallet responds to this concern because a core feature is support for selective data sharing. So in addition to an EU pledge that use of the wallet will remain voluntary for citizens, the main pitch to users is that it’s “privacy-preserving” as they get to remain in control: selecting which data they share with whom. 

Having a privacy-preserving approach could help the EU unlock finer-grained digital regulation opportunities, too, though. As noted above, it could give citizens a means to share their verified age but not their identity, allowing a wallet app user to sign into an age-restricted service anonymously. The EU wants the wallets to support wider governance goals under the DSA, which look set to usher in harder age verification requirements for services with content that might be inappropriate for kids — that is, once the appropriate “privacy preserving” tech exists. 

Other use cases for the wallet that the EU has discussed include an apartment-rental scenario where a citizen could share a bunch of verified intel about their rental history with a potential landlord without having to confirm their identity unless/until they get to sign the contract. Or someone with multiple bank accounts around the Union could use it to simplify transaction authorizations. 

Online services will be obliged to accept the Pan-EU credential. So it’s also being pitched as a European alternative to existing (commercial) digital identity offerings, such as the “sign in with” credentials offered by Big Tech players, like Apple and Google. 

Challenging Big Tech’s grip on data

Here the bloc’s lawmakers look to be responding to concerns about how much power has been ceded to platform giants on account of the key digital infrastructure they own and operate. 

It’s no surprise the EU Digital Identity Wallet proposal was adopted by the Commission in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, when apps that could display a person’s COVID-19 vaccination status were on everyone’s mind. But the public health crisis also starkly underscored an asymmetrical power dynamic between lawmakers and the commercial giants controlling mainstream mobile technology infrastructure. (Apple and Google literally set rules on how COVID-19 exposure notification data could be exchanged, with their technical choices overriding governments’ directly stated preferences in several cases.)

Beyond considerations of strategic digital sovereignty, a universal e-ID wallet concept ties tightly to the EU’s general push to amp up digitalization as a flywheel for better economic fortunes. Assuming the system is well-executed and reliable, and the wallets themselves are user friendly and easy to use, a universal EU ID could boost productivity by increasing efficiency and uptake of online services. 

Of course, that’s a big “if”; there are sizable technical challenges to delivering on the EU vision for the universal ID system. 

Security and privacy are obviously essential pieces of the puzzle. The first is fundamental for any identity and authentication system to fly. The second comprises the bloc’s main pitch to citizens who will need to be persuaded to adopt the wallets if the whole project isn’t to end up an expensive white elephant. 

Poor implementation is a clear risk. Low uptake of flaky national e-ID scheme shows what could go wrong. Wallet apps will need to be slick and easy to use across the full sweep of planned use cases, as well as having robust security and privacy — which demands a whole ecosystem of players get behind the project — or users simply won’t get on board. 

Remember, competition on digital identity is coming from already baked-in mainstream platform offerings, like “Sign in with Google.” And, sadly, convenience and ease-of-use still often trump privacy concerns in the online arena.

Privacy could also create barriers to adoption. After the proposal was unveiled, there were some reservations expressed about the EU setting up a universal ID infrastructure, with some commentators invoking the risk of function-creep toward a China-style social control. Having a credible technical architecture that both secures and firewalls citizens’ data will therefore be critical to success. 

Universal availability by 2030

Getting the EU Digital Identity Wallet system off the ground has already involved years of preparatory work, but there’s plenty more testing, standard setting and implementation ahead. 

So far the bloc has put in place a legal framework for interoperable EU wallets (i.e., the Digital Identity Regulation, which entered into force in May this year). Work on the development of a secure technical architecture, common standards and specifications is ongoing, but a common EU Toolbox has been established. The Commission has also published an architecture reference on GitHub. Code is being open sourced, and the EU intends ecosystem infrastructure to be based on common standards to drive trust and adoption. 

The bloc is also engaged with industry and public sector stakeholders on large-scale pilots to test the proposed technical specifications. 

More paving needs to be laid in the coming years, including through a series of implementing acts affirming critical technical details. Plenty could still go wrong. But the EU has at least given itself a fairly generous lead-in to get this one right. So while the first wallets are supposed to be coming online in a couple years’ time, the bloc is not expecting universal system access for its circa 450 million citizens until 2030.

Europe wants to go its own way on digital identity

Everything you need to know about VPNs

by with No Comment Tech

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

It’s hard to spend an hour or two on YouTube without encountering an ad or a paid promotion for a VPN subscription service like NordVPN, ExpressVPN or Surfshark. The companies behind those services usually tell you that a VPN is a great way to browse the web safely and privately. It also lets you watch geo-blocked content, bypass censorship in China or explore the internet without disclosing your IP address. They sometimes even claim that VPNs can help you secure your data.

But the reality is that VPNs are only useful for very specific use cases. A VPN is like a tunnel that connects two locations. Originally designed to connect people working from home to the office network, or as a way to connect several offices to the same network, VPN use cases have changed in recent years. Many people now use it to browse the web through this encrypted tunnel thinking it’s a way to avoid surveillance.

We break down what VPNs do and don’t do, because using a VPN can be as dangerous as not using one if you don’t know what you’re doing.

What is a VPN?

A VPN is a virtual private network. It lets you remotely connect to a private network. For instance, your office might be using a VPN for remote employees. This way, you can establish a connection with your company’s intranet and use your computer as if it were in the office. You’re virtually in the office, just like when you’re connected to the company’s Wi-Fi network with your laptop.

If you have multiple computers, phones and tablets at home, you are using a local area network. These devices are all connected to the same Wi-Fi network (or with an Ethernet cable) and you can even transfer photos or movies from one computer to another without using the internet. Local area networks are private networks by design.

Using a VPN is quite simple. Usually, a company or an individual installs a VPN server on a computer in the office, at home or in a data center. Then, users with the right credentials can connect to this server using a VPN client — this client is an application running on your device. There are many VPN clients out there for computers, servers or routers. There are even mobile VPN clients for smartphones. Windows, Android, iOS and macOS also come with a basic VPN client in your device’s settings.

Let’s say you’re establishing a VPN connection on your computer. Your computer and the VPN server will start a point-to-point connection and all your network traffic will go through this connection. Think about this connection as a tunnel between your computer and a server. This tunnel is usually encrypted, and everything goes through the tunnel, from one end to another.

Do I need a VPN?

There are several reasons why you might think you need to use a VPN. You may want to work from home and be able to access the file servers and internal tools that you regularly use in the office. Or if you’re living in a country with internet restrictions, a VPN could be used to bypass censorship. Or maybe you just want to access a video streaming service that isn’t available in your country.

Many of you probably first started using a VPN for work, especially when you’re working from home. There are a few advantages in using a VPN for a company. For example, it lets employees access office servers that aren’t connected to the internet, as you’re all connected to the same private network. Back in the days before cloud-hosted Microsoft 365 servers or Google Workspace, many companies were managing their own email and calendar servers. IT services could force you to connect to the company’s VPN first to access your emails and calendar events. It’s a good way to protect sensitive information.

But office environments aren’t the only use case for a VPN. If you live outside of the U.S., you know that a VPN can save the day when you’re trying to stream an HBO show on Max or access Netflix’s library of anime in Japan. Even if you’re just traveling for work or vacation, many streaming services restrict you from using them abroad.

Many companies provide access to a bunch of servers around the world so that you can pretend you’re in another country. As I told you, once you set up a VPN connection, all network traffic goes through a tunnel and Max’s servers will think that they’re sending data to a customer in the U.S. They’re sending data to an American IP address indeed (the address of the server), but everything is then sent through the VPN tunnel to your device on the other side of the world.

Sometimes, the VPN server doesn’t have enough bandwidth to upload the movie through the tunnel in a good resolution and your movie will look like crap. Sometimes, content companies like Netflix try to ban IP addresses that belong to well-known VPN servers, rendering this trick useless.

And finally, if you’ve traveled to China or another country that blocks many internet services, you’ve been relying on a VPN to connect to Gmail, Facebook or Wikipedia. China blocks websites at the network level. You need to connect to a VPN server outside of China to access those websites. Just like Netflix, the Chinese government tries to ban IP addresses of popular VPN services, making it more difficult to establish a reliable connection with a server outside of China.

Reasons why you don’t need a VPN

But there are a few drawbacks as well. When you use a VPN connection, all network traffic goes through the VPN, including your internet traffic. Your company’s IT service could enforce strict browsing rules and prevent you from using YouTube. Or they could even watch and record your internet browsing habits to find a good excuse to fire you later down the road (too much Reddit, kthxbye).

When you use a VPN to change your country, avoid censorship or protect your connection in a coffee shop, the VPN server at the other end can see all your network traffic. You’re just moving the risk down the VPN tunnel, and it can be quite dangerous if you’re not careful enough.

Assume that all the free VPN apps that you see in the App Store and Google Play are free for a reason. They’ll analyze your browsing habits, sell them to advertisers, inject their own ads on non-secure pages or steal your identity. You should avoid free mobile VPNs at all costs.

When it comes to paid options, some of them promise you internet privacy for $5, $10 or $15 per month. But look at the privacy policy and terms of service first. I’ve seen plenty of VPNs that log your internet traffic, share information with law enforcement and more. Read the small print.

And even if the privacy policy looks good, you’ll have to blindly trust them as it’s hard to verify that they actually do what they promise they’re doing. In many cases, a secure home connection with a guest WiFi network that only lets your friends access the internet is better than connecting to some random company’s VPN server. You don’t want to give a stranger your home keys even if they say that they promise they won’t break into your house.

Similarly, you shouldn’t trust a VPN company that doesn’t have a public-facing leadership team and that doesn’t publicly release security audits of their infrastructure and apps  from well-known cybersecurity teams. You also shouldn’t trust VPN comparison sites as they often have financial incentives to promote one service over another.

Free VPNs are bad for your privacy

Will a VPN make me anonymous on the internet?

Many coffee shops or hotels don’t spend too much time securing their Wi-Fi networks. Just like at home, it means that a user can see another user’s computer on the local network. And if there’s a hacker in your favorite coffee shop, they could snoop on your internet traffic to learn some information about you.

This was a serious issue a few years ago. Many websites didn’t use a secure connection on their login page. Hackers could get your bank account’s login and password and steal all your money.

Not using the Wi-Fi network at all was the best way to avoid that. But if you really needed to checke your email account, you could use a trustworthy VPN server to prevent snooping — nobody can see what’s happening in the tunnel.

Things have changed quite a lot. Now, a vast majority of internet services have switched to HTTP and end-to-end encryption to make sure that nobody can see your private information, even without a VPN.

All of this leads me to today’s false assumptions about VPNs. No, a VPN doesn’t mean that you’ll be more secure on the internet. It depends on the VPN server.

If you’re really concerned about your privacy, you should think about using Apple’s iCloud Private Relay or Microsoft’s Edge Secure Network. These proxy services have been designed so that nobody can see your web browsing activity.

As for encryption, some protocols aren’t as secure as you might think. L2TP with a pre-shared key for authentication can be decrypted for instance, destroying the concept of the unbreachable tunnel. WireGuard is the gold standard of VPN protocols — it is based on public and private keys. A secure server running OpenVPN with a server certificate is also a robust option.

How I made my own VPN server in 15 minutes

Types of VPNs

VPN for remote access: This would be a perfectly fine tool to have. But make sure you disable the VPN connection before taking a break, because your company could see how much time you spend on social networks and other non-work services.

VPN for developers: Developers use VPN technology all the time to access remote servers or create a site-to-site VPN connection so that these servers can talk to each other. It’s like bringing different computers to the same room, even if they’re thousands of miles apart.

VPN services and mobile VPN apps: These could be used to bypass censorship or access geo-blocked content. But don’t leave them on all the time as it’s a security risk — the service provider handles all your internet traffic. If you never feel like you can’t access a service because it’s blocked, you don’t need to subscribe to a VPN service.

The final word on VPNs

All of this might sound a bit complicated, but the bottom line is quite simple: A VPN is great and can fill different needs, but don’t do business with someone shady.

What is Bluesky? Everything to know about the app trying to replace Twitter

by with No Comment Tech

Blue sky with clouds illustration, representing Bluesky social

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

Is the grass greener on the other side? We’re not sure, but the sky is most certainly bluer. It’s been more than a year since Elon Musk purchased Twitter, now X, leading people to set up shop on alternative platforms. Mastodon, Post, Pebble (which has already shuttered operations) and Spill have been presented as potential replacements, but few aside from Meta’s Threads have achieved the speed of growth Bluesky has reached.

After being invite-only for almost a year, Bluesky is now open to anyone who wants to join. Within a day, Bluesky gained almost 800,000 new users and is slated to break 4 million total signups. Though that number is promising, the network has a lot of catching up to do to compete with Threads’ 130 million monthly active users or even Mastodon’s 1.8 million. And while X users flock to Bluesky anytime Musk makes less than favorable changes, the platform is still able to hit the top of the U.S. App Store.

Here we answer the most common questions about Bluesky social:

What is Bluesky?

Bluesky is a decentralized social app conceptualized by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and developed in parallel with Twitter. The social network has a Twitter-like user interface with algorithmic choice, a federated design and community-specific moderation.

Bluesky is using an open source framework built in-house, the AT Protocol, meaning people outside of the company have transparency into how it is built and what is being developed.

Dorsey introduced the Bluesky project back in 2019 while he was still Twitter CEO. At the time, he said Twitter would be funding a “small independent team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers,” charged with building a decentralized standard for social media, with the original goal that Twitter would adopt this standard itself. But that was before Elon Musk bought the platform, so as of late 2022, Bluesky is completely divorced from Twitter. Dorsey has even used Bluesky to express his dismay with Musk’s leadership.

How do you use Bluesky?

Upon signing up, users can create a handle which is then represented as @username.bsky.social as well as a display name that appears more prominent in bold text. If you’re so inclined, you can turn a domain name that you own into your username — so, for example, I’m known on Bluesky as @amanda.omg.lol.

The app itself functions much like a bare-bones Twitter, where you can click a plus button to create a post of 256 characters, which can also include photos. Posts themselves can be replied to, retweeted, liked and, from a three-dot menu, reported, shared via the iOS Share Sheet to other apps or copied as text.

You can search for and follow other individuals, then view their updates in your “Home” timeline. Previously, the Bluesky app would feature popular posts in a “What’s Hot” feed. That feed has since been replaced with an algorithmic and personalized “Discover” feed featuring more than just trending content. 

There is also a “Discover” tab in the bottom center of the app’s navigation, which offers more “who to follow” suggestions and a running feed of recently posted Bluesky updates.

Screenshot of Bluesky menu tab
Image Credits: Natalie Christman

Who’s on Bluesky?

By the beginning of July 2023, when Instagram’s Threads launched, Bluesky topped a million downloads across iOS and Android. Notable figures like Neil Gaiman, Dril and Chelsea Manning have migrated to Bluesky. It’s also home to news organizations and journalists like Bloomberg, The Washington Post and Engadget. With Bluesky now open to the public, it’s possible that other figures could soon make the move over.

Does Bluesky work just like Twitter?

In many ways, yes. However, Bluesky does not yet have DMs or some advanced tools like adding accounts to lists. Additionally, Twitter does not use a decentralized protocol like ActivityPub or AT.

Bluesky was initially kicked off as a project convened by Jack Dorsey in 2019 when he was CEO of Twitter. But the social app has been an independent company since its inception in 2021.

Is Bluesky free?

Yes, and it is now open to the public.

How does Bluesky make money?

Bluesky’s goal is to find another means to sustain its network outside of advertising with paid services, so it can remain free to end users. On July 5, Bluesky announced additional seed round funding and a paid service that provides custom domains for end users who want to have a unique domain as their handle on the service.

Is Bluesky decentralized?

Yes. Bluesky’s team is developing the decentralized AT Protocol, which Bluesky was built atop. In its beta phase, users can only join the bsky.social network, but Bluesky plans to be federated, meaning that endless individually operated communities can exist within the open source network. So, if a developer outside of Bluesky built their own new social app using the AT Protocol, Bluesky users could jump over to the new app and port over their existing followers, handle and data.

“You’ll always have the freedom to choose (and to exit) instead of being held to the whims of private companies or black box algorithms. And wherever you go, your friends and relationships will be there too,” a Bluesky blog post explained.

Is Bluesky secure?

In October 2023, Bluesky added email verification as part of a larger effort to improve account security and authentication on the network. The addition is an important step forward in terms of making Bluesky more competitive with larger networks like X, which have more robust security controls. In December 2023, Bluesky allowed users to opt out of a change that would expose their posts to the public web following backlash from users. 

Is Bluesky customizable?

Yes. In May 2023, Bluesky released custom algorithms, which it calls “custom feeds.” Custom feeds allow users to subscribe to multiple different algorithms that showcase different kinds of posts a user may want to see. You can pin custom feeds that will show up at the top of your timeline as different tabs to pick from. The feeds you pin, or save, are located under the “My Feeds” menu in the app’s sidebar.

In March 2024,​​ the company announced “AT Protocol Grants,” a new program that will dole out small grants to developers in order to foster growth and customization. One of the recipients, SkyFeed, is a custom tool that lets anyone build their own feeds using a graphical user interface. 

Is Bluesky on iOS and Android?

Yes. Bluesky rolled out to Android users on April 20 and was initially launched to iOS users in late February. Users can access Bluesky on the web here.

Are Bluesky posts really called ‘skeets?’

There is technically no name for posts, but internet users have adopted the name “skeets,” a portmanteau of “tweet” and “sky.” Users still widely refer to posts as “skeets,” despite protests from Bluesky CEO Jay Graber and others who don’t find the slang for semen amusing.

How does Bluesky tackle misinformation?

After an October 2023 update, the app will now warn users of misleading links by flagging them. If links shared in users’ posts don’t match their text, the app will offer a “possibly misleading” warning to the user to alert them that the link may be directing them somewhere they don’t want to go.

Image Credits: Bluesky on GitHub

Has Bluesky had any controversies?

Bluesky has been embattled with moderation issues since its first launch. The app has been accused of failing to protect its marginalized users and failing to moderate racist content. Following a controversy about the app allowing racial slurs in account handles, frustrated users initiated a “posting strike,” where they refused to engage with the platform until it established guardrails to flag slurs and other offensive terms in usernames.

What moderation features does Bluesky have?

A December 2023 post from the Bluesky Safety account announced a large batch of moderation updates. 

Bluesky is rolling out “more advanced automated tooling” designed to flag content that violates its Community Guidelines that will then be reviewed by the app’s moderation team. 

Bluesky launched moderation features similar to ones on X, including user lists and moderation lists, the latter of which can be used to mute or block many users at once. The app is also developing a feature that lets users limit who can reply to posts.

Some Bluesky users are still advocating for the ability to set their accounts to private — a feature they have an increased need for after Bluesky announced it would launch a public web interface. 

In March 2024, the company launched Ozone, a tool that lets users create and run their own independent moderation services that will give users “unprecedented control” over their social media experience.

What’s the difference between Bluesky and Mastodon?

Though Bluesky’s architecture is similar to Mastodon’s, many users have found Bluesky to be more intuitive, while Mastodon can come off as inaccessible: Choosing which instance to join feels like an impossible task on Mastodon, and longtime users are very defensive about their established posting norms, which can make joining the conversation intimidating. To remain competitive, Mastodon recently simplified its sign-up flow, making mastodon.social the default server for new users.

However, the launch of federation will make it work more similarly to Mastodon in that users can pick and choose which servers to join and move their accounts around at will. 

Who owns Bluesky?

Though Jack Dorsey funded Bluesky and sits on the company’s board, he is not involved in day-to-day development. The CEO of Bluesky is Jay Graber, who previously worked as a software engineer for the cryptocurrency Zcash, then founded an event-planning site called Happening.

If you have more FAQs about Bluesky not covered here, leave us a comment below. 

Apple vs US antitrust lawsuit: Everything we know so far on the DOJ's iPhone case

by with No Comment Tech

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

Apple’s antitrust scrutiny has reached a fever pitch. The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it filed a lawsuit accusing the company of behaving like a monopoly in locking in iPhone customers and limiting competitors building hardware and software. The lawsuit, which comes on the heels of significant antitrust cases against Apple outside the U.S., is a wide-ranging and complicated affair, but we’re covering the ins and outs of the DOJ’s case, the industry’s response and all the ongoing implications for companies and customers.

We’ll be updating this page as the Apple antitrust case evolves, but keep in mind that there will be little settled in the short term. Experts estimate a three-to-five-year timeline for any resolution for the case.

The DOJ’s claims against Apple

If you want to dive into legal docs immediately, you can read the DOJ’s lawsuit right here. But for the rest of us, there are five categories that the complaint identifies as areas in which Apple actively suppressed competition.

“Super” apps: These are applications that contain numerous functions within a single app. This should ring a bell for anyone following Elon Musk’s “everything app” aspirations for X, and the DOJ claims Apple is inhibiting their success to increase dependence on the iPhone.

Messaging apps: The blue bubble, green bubble effect is specifically cited by the DOJ as a factor discouraging iPhone users from adopting a competitor device. “This effect is particularly powerful for certain demographics, like teenagers — where the iPhone’s share is 85 percent, according to one survey,” the DOJ said in the lawsuit.

Cloud streaming gaming apps: The DOJ lawsuit highlights Apple’s alleged opposition to cloud-based gaming, claiming its actions are to prevent consumers from playing games “without the need for users to purchase powerful, expensive hardware.”

Digital wallets: Though the 0.15% fee Apple takes for all transactions made through Apple Pay is a fraction of the company’s total revenue, the DOJ alleges that the ubiquity of Apple Pay within its mobile ecosystem means it has “complete control” over users’ NFC payments and that it hinders competitors.

Smartwatch cross-platform compatibility: This DOJ claim is straightforward. By limiting the functionality of Apple Watches with non-iPhone devices, the lawsuit claims “it becomes more costly for that user to purchase a different kind of smartphone.”

Apple, and the wider industry’s, response

Apple issued an extensive series of rebuttals to the DOJ’s claims Thursday, which you can check out in full detail right here. The core of Apple’s argument is that regulators are selectively picking metrics that make Apple’s strength in the smartphone market seem more dominant than it actually is, in their view. And in regulating the behaviors that the DOJ claims are monopolistic, Apple’s competitive advantage in the market would be diminished and iPhone customers negatively impacted in the process.

“This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets. If successful, it would hinder our ability to create the kind of technology people expect from Apple — where hardware, software, and services intersect,” Apple said in a statement provided to TechCrunch

App makers are less critical of the DOJ’s case, with the Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) voicing strong support for the DOJ’s regulatory action, which comes as no surprise given several of its members, like Epic Games and Spotify, have already had public disputes with Apple on its App Store practices.

“The DOJ complaint details Apple’s long history of illegal conduct — abusing their App Store guidelines and developer agreements to increase prices, extract exorbitant fees, degrade user experiences, and choke off competition,” CAF Executive Director Rick VanMeter said in a statement Thursday. “The DOJ joins regulators around the world, who have recognized the many harms of Apple’s abusive behavior and are working to address it.”

What could this mean for iPhone users, and what’s next?

In the immediate term, not much. The release of the lawsuit, and the ensuing back-and-forth between Apple and the DOJ, was a flurry of activity that will take years to settle. The DOJ’s antitrust case against Google, which was filed back in 2020, went to trial last year and could still take a couple more years to reach a conclusion.

What you shouldn’t expect is for the present to play out like the past. Though the DOJ cites the successful antitrust prosecution against Microsoft in the 1990s, there are many distinctions between the two cases, mostly notably a gap between how easily defined Microsoft’s market dominance was compared to Apple’s current status quo.

For more on Apple’s antitrust lawsuit, check here:

Apple sued by DOJ over iPhone monopoly claimsDOJ claims green bubbles are an issue in Apple iPhone antitrust lawsuitWhy Apple’s antitrust lawsuit could be a silver lining for Epic GamesApple’s iPhone is not a monopoly like Windows was a monopoly Epic, Spotify, Deezer, Match Group and others applaud DOJ’s Apple lawsuitDOJ calls out Apple for breaking iMessage-on-Android solution, BeeperHere’s what the DOJ suit could mean for Apple WatchDOJ says Apple’s ‘complete control’ over tap-to-pay transactions stops innovationApple slams DOJ case as misguided attempt to turn iPhone into AndroidDOJ’s Apple antitrust case neatly aligns with EU on one key point: NFC and mobile paymentsThe DOJ’s case against Apple adds to a growing pile of antitrust problems for Cupertino