About the project: The VPN zines is a 4-issue-collection and each zine addresses the following:

1. Tunnel UP/ Tunnel Down covers what is a VPN, what’s the difference to a proxy service, when should we use a VPN, main concepts of VPN, namely authentication, confidentiality, encryption, what tools are accessible for installing VPN services, how certificates work. (https://archive.org/details/vpn-zines, https://mara.multiplace.org/vpn-zine/)

2. Troubleshooting OpenVPN covers the best practices when installing OpenVPN, how to debug the installation, and best practices for encryption and options for creating certificates.

3. VPN on raspberry-pi and on mobile will cover: How to install a VPN on a raspberry-pi at one’s home, and how to enable VPN services on Android, F-Droid and iPhone. Plus a list of existing VPN services are trustworthy and provided for free or on donations.

4. Secure backups over a VPN will cover: How to set up a VPN for remote backups between servers, and how to enable remote server connections with ssh only via a VPN as an extra layer of security.

The goal is to spread the use and installation of VPN services on premises, meaning on physically located or dedicated servers in feminist spaces and collectives, and to inform of reliable VPN services provided by non profit organisations and other tech activists rather than purchasing commercial VPN services, which are either costly, or the inexpensive options do not often comply with best practices, e.x use of the same certificates for a bulk of users, pass-phrases posted on websites. The educational material created will also serve as resources for other activists/spaces to organise workshops and circulate the knowledge.