Mozilla VPN launches in some countries officially

[harlan4096]

Mozilla announced the launch of the organization's VPN service, called Mozilla VPN, yesterday on the official blog. Rumors that the official launch was imminent surfaced in June 2020.

The service is available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand, and available for $4.99 per month. Mozilla plans to expand to other -- unmentioned -- countries later this year. A waitlist is provided for users interested in the VPN that cannot join because of country restrictions-

Tthe VPN is available for Windows, Android and iOS devices currently, but Mozilla promises that Linux and Mac clients are under development and will become available eventually as well.

The network provides access to more than 280 servers in more than 30 countries currently, and does not impose restrictions on bandwidth. Mozilla promises that network activity is not logged, and that it has not partnered with third-party analytics platforms. The VPN solution may be used on up to five devices.

The client uses the cutting edge WireGuard protocol which has a slim code base, is open source,  focuses on modern cryptographic techniques, and promises very high speeds when compared to classic VPN protocols.

The VPN network is provided by Mozilla's partner Mullvad, a privacy-focused VPN offered by the Swedish company Mullvad VPN AB.

Mozilla unveiled the VPN solution in 2019, then under the name Firefox Private Network VPN to beta testers from the United States. The organization changed the name because it wants to reach a wider audience with the service and not just Firefox users, and also to better distinguish the device-wide VPN solution from the Firefox Private Network browser extension which adds a VPN-proxy to the Firefox web browser.

Mozilla VPN is one of the main attempts by Mozilla to diversify the organization's income. Most revenue comes from search partner deals in the Firefox web browser, and one of Firefox's main competitors, Google with its Chrome browser, provides most of the income currently.

Mozilla started several projects in the recent past, some of them paid, to diversify the income. Firefox VPN is probably the most promising product at the time of writing as it fits well into Mozilla's privacy-focused image.

Details about the agreement between Mozilla and Mullvad are not available, and it is unclear how much of the $4.99 per month is ending up in Mozilla's pockets.

Now You: Do you plan to use Mozilla VPN?
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