clearbluesky15

Makes sense, I think that's the best one can do.

Which gets us back to the intent of the thread... advice for new folks. in the cited examples, we don't know what ads the clients saw, so we'd be speculating as to what they looked like. We only know the reported outcomes as presented by LE's public facing folks. When you say "those types of ads" ... I's agree there's a class of LL (or equivalent) ads, previously discussed, that use fake pictures, or pitch unsafe practices, or unworkable hours or rates (too low... 24 hour, etc)... those seem to have high correlation to scam and bad situations. I think one can never be sure though. One never really knows which ad is BS, or what the situation is with a new person. In support of the goals of this board to support consenting choice, and spurn coercive situations... the best one can do is try to lower risks. I've continued to have good experiences staying with prominent well-reviewed providers.

I'd agree that it would make more sense to focus enforcement of any type where safety is most at-issue... how much that guides stings I don't know. I found a couple more anecdotes (these from Ontario) that seem to include hotels and online stings: https://globalnews.ca/news/6486523/pair-charged-sting-operation-london-police/ https://globalnews.ca/news/4740015/2-dozen-charged-human-trafficking-london-police/ In the absence of more comprehensive data, we just have anecdotes :-(. I think it gets back to the point frequently made about sticking with well-known providers. I'm also thankful for forums like Lyla that can serve as an information resource for folks (especially for the new folks that most need the info) that want to stay safe.

Well we'll have to agree to disagree that the example was a case where the crown practiced a sting to target clients of sexual services. That said, agreed that street isn't a safe environment. That said, as defined by Canada... environments or individuals that control seem worse: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/campaigns/human-trafficking/sex-trafficking.html . I do find myself wonder how Canada could further ensure vulnerable people don't find themselves controlled, and what clients can do to ensure they don't contribute... it seems most efforts and campaigns conflate/confuse (as mentioned in other posts on the board) legitimate consensual arrangements with those that are coerced.

Example: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/john-be-gone-prostitution-sting-cape-breton-charter-rights-1.3735767

Yeah, and for the homeowner that's a lot of battery storage cost with current tech... I like Pumped Hydro Storage for large scale... for cost per watt-hour ... stuff like https://www.novascotia.ca/nse/ea/CBWindHydro.asp ... but capital cost is beyond the home. Still, its an ever evolving field... I was hearing about lithium sulfur ... reducing cost, and increasing battery lifetime (cycles).... Total-Cost of Ownership keeps going down... just seems like glacial progress some days.

Makes sense, and the legal brief is a nice companion piece, by definition, authoritative 🙂. Thanks for the link! Very good to know the government's position.

Saw the following guide. It was well written and well presented. I found it a source of good tips for folks who are new and a rood review for the rest of us. How to book an escort.

Interesting point, and fair. The process whereby more folks use more electricity is sometimes referred to by power companies as "electrification" and increased base (the load that is 'always' present') loads justify to regulators rate increases to increase the infrastructure ... so there is something to that. I would note though, that generally scale tends to increase efficiency per-kwh... so I'd expect any increase to be small. That said, as more folks put solar on their roofs (even in Canada), that can offset loads as well, though at a cost of more variability (sun doesn't shine at night, and wind doesn't always blow)... which means that energy producers either have to invest in more energy storage, or use more expensive fuels (natural gas) for times that wind doesn't blow, or sun doesn't shine, as cheaper fueled plants have more lead-time to light up (i.e. coal). So yes, expect some capital investments, which will have some rate cost impact, and of course power companies have profit incentive... but at least kept to a dull roar by regulators... Personally, I'd love to have an EV, and solar, and a big battery... just not quite fast enough return on investment for me yet.

Makes sense. A lot of the poor client-experiences we hear about on this board are from folks that haven't yet learned how to research. Its in everyone's interest that the new folks learn. I thought this was a good combo... offered the direct answer, and offered how to do it more generally.

I don't disagree... but when you intentionally share data with an online service, you're getting outside the design of what a VPN is supposed to help with. I'd phrase instead as "VPNs do not solve every information leakage problem, but they do solve the problems they were designed to fix." Other unreasonable things to expect of a VPN: is unreasonable to ask a VPN to protect my interaction with a website the way an in-browser extension like PrivacyBadger does. Trying to use a VPN to keep the hackers out of your network... that's what a firewall is for. Use screwdrivers for screws and hammers for nails... use VPNs to mask your traffic from the ISP and network providers between you and your virtual destination. -cbs

I think we agree on marketing... promising silver bullets in security belies the complicated nature of the field... and I suspect for most categories of security tools then and now, you'd find a marketing campaign that promised their one tool does it all... by marketing Firms that likely don't understand the tech in the first place. That said... using your example... firewalls have blossomed into a regular and valuable staple of corporate and personal network security. Similarly as we continue to see companies and vendors continue to innovate in how they monetize and distribute our private information, things like VPNs are a useful tool. I think its nice that concepts popularized by TOR-Onion routing (also used by Hidden Services AKA the "dark web") are getting pulled into more robust paid services like Secure Core. -cbs

One other detail... I like ProtonVPN's new secure core... so that even if they get an order in Switzerland... they have components in multiple jurisdictions... so all those jurisdictions would have to be served successfully... from their website. Under Swiss law, Proton VPN is not obligated to save connection logs, and we adhere to a strict no-logs VPN policy. Therefore, we are unable to comply with requests for user connection logs, even if they are legally binding. With US and UK servers, the hosting companies themselves may be compromised which is why enabling Secure Core will put a ProtonVPN run server either in Switzerland, Iceland or Sweden in between you and any potentially compromised server.

Well, not quite that easy 🙂 from your article from your quoted vendor: While NordVPN is based in Panama, where data retention is not required and gag orders are not legally possible, we want to give you extra assurance by publishing our own warrant canary, updated daily. We, NordVPN, confirm that we take full control of our infrastructure. We have never willingly disclosed any user data or provided any access to user traffic to any third party. We do not collect user traffic logs and have never been compelled to do so by any third party. We have not disclosed any private keys or any information of our users, and we have not been forced to modify our system to allow access or data leakage to a third party of any kind. As of 2022-06-22, we: Have NOT received any National Security letters; Have NOT received any gag orders; Have NOT received any warrants from any government organization. So agreed, in theory its not foolproof but I feel better with a company on my side, and a business-stake in my privacy and lawyers using concepts like warrant canaries, innovations advocated by EFF and EPIC, among others... vs. my ISP which works against my interests (see my link above). I think of it as wearing a bulletproof vest... it won't help a headshot, and there's always a bigger gun for a given panel or Kevlar thickness... but its not bad within the scope of the original intended design.

Fair... and nothing makes you 'completely' anonymous... its an arms race... I deploy things that obscure, others deploy technology to look. I like VPNs for regional content (not just movies, but banking, shopping, and news (some places show different articles, depending). I also prefer my browsing habits (like this site) stay out of the logs of my local partial-monopoly ISP that would monetise it, or inject ads, and outside the logs of my local coffee shop's. While this older article has some elements that have aged-out... I like the easy-to-read overview... https://www.infoworld.com/article/2925839/code-injection-new-low-isps.html . I tend to do all of : Harden my (non-Windows) OS, patch regularly, use, VPN, use AV, use non-US-based end-to-end encrypted email and messaging (Proton and Signal), use mailinator to lower spam count, and password management to increase the quality and quantity of my passwords... none is perfect... but all contribute to safety.