WEBVTT

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A VPN icon says Connected.

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A page will not load.

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Which one is telling the truth?

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A tunnel can be set up
and still carry nothing.

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So ForestVPN does not
stop at the handshake.

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It counts what really moves, in
both directions, on your device.

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It shows Working only once
data is flowing both ways.

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And when something is wrong,
it says which layer:

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your network, the path
to the exit, or the exit itself.

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This film shows how ForestVPN
is built, one step at a time.

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First, what a VPN changes.

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Without one, your network
and your provider

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can see which sites you reach.

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With ForestVPN,
they see encrypted

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traffic, not
the sites inside it.

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That server is the exit.

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It is a machine we
run, and it is where

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your traffic comes
out onto the internet.

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So the exit sees the sites you
reach, and your real address.

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That is unavoidable,
and we say it plainly.

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What we keep is another matter.

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There is no column
anywhere in our systems

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for the sites you visit
or the names you look up.

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A VPN changes who
can see your traffic.

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It does not change who you
are to the sites you sign in to.

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Now, what happens
when you tap Connect.

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Your device already holds
a key it made itself.

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No account is needed for that.

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Earlier, in a separate request,

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it asked the sign-in
service for tickets.

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A ticket says which
plan it belongs to.

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The service signs it blind:

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the signature is made over
a value it never sees.

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One record does tie
your device to each session,

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to meter it; we come back
to that record later.

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Now the device fetches
a signed server list,

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and checks the signature
before it uses it.

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It shows a ticket to the session
service, with a fresh

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key for this one session,
and says where it wants to go.

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The exit installs
that one-session key.

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It never sees an account.

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Then your device
and the exit shake hands,

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and a round of test packets
goes through the tunnel.

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Only when those come back does
ForestVPN say you are protected.

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Inside the tunnel,
everything you send is sealed

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on your device, with keys only
your device and the exit hold.

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The handshake is the published
one, unmodified,

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so the analysis that covers
it still applies.

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Your sealed data travels inside
ordinary internet packets,

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and the packets
that open the tunnel

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and keep it alive change
size on every connection.

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Your network sees
only the outer layer.

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The exit sees your packet.

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The cloud services that hand out
tickets never carry a packet.

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Your address inside the tunnel
is borrowed for the session.

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One tunnel, many roads.

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ForestVPN tries
the direct route first.

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If the direct route
stops carrying data,

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the app tries other roads
inside the same session,

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and keeps whichever one
actually carries data.

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Changing road does not
change the session.

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One of those roads
is the backup route:

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ordinary web traffic, through
a content delivery network.

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It has its own allowance,
because it costs more to run.

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When the direct route works,

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the backup route
is not used at all.

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ForestVPN keeps
checking the route while

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you use it and, when
it stops carrying data,

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moves you to one
that does, on its own.

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A location you choose
stays where you put it.

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Waking from sleep,
or switching from Wi-Fi

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to mobile data,
costs no new ticket.

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Two programs, one signed ticket.

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The program that knows
your device and plan is separate

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from the one that knows which
server you were sent to.

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The session service has no
database binding at all,

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so it has no way to look
up an account or a device.

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The ticket between
them is signed blind.

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One record does cross
the gap, and we say so.

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One row ties your device,
and any linked account,

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to each session it pays for,

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to meter data and to cut
off a revoked device.

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It is deleted an hour after
the session settles, or up

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to seventeen days later for
a ticket that was never used.

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Which exit a session used
is erased when the session ends.

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Daily data and connection counts
are kept for thirty-one days;

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monthly totals
are kept indefinitely.

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Apple, Google or the payment

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processor you choose
handles payment.

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We never see a card number.

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ForestVPN runs
on phones, tablets, TVs,

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computers and routers,
all on one shared core.

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Your account is a thirty-two
character number.

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No email, no password, and Free
needs no account at all.

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The same number signs
in on up to ten devices.

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A TV or a router
has no keyboard,

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so you link it
from another device.

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Your devices join one
private network and reach

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each other by name,
end to end encrypted.

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A computer that stays home
can be an exit for your phone.

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It has to stay on.

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If an exit goes
offline, ForestVPN moves

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you to another exit
you own, and tells you.

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If every exit fails,
traffic stays blocked.

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A router sends everything
behind it through the tunnel,

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including devices
that cannot run an app.

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What this design does not do.

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The exit sees where you
go, and your real address.

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No kill switch is absolute.

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Each one is enforced by the
system, and each has limits.

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Blind signing cannot hide
that a ticket request

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and a connection may come
from the same address.

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To start, download the app.

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Free needs no sign-up,
and gives you two

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gigabytes per connection,
five connections a day.

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Every step in this film
has a longer version

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on the How it works
page at fvpn.net.