As was stated here Whonix Forum we may use VPNs from vpngate.net pool to get a non-banned ip that can be used to avoid tor exit nodes bans.
Can you automate the process of getting a VPN ip and attach the new ip to a copy of Torbrowser so that a user could immediately use this pleasant possibility by clicking a shorcut to such a “VPN-torbrowser”.
Thank you for this suggestion. I won’t have time to work on this. And I think it would be a better use of time to join efforts (recently discussed on tor-talk mailing list) to complain about Tor exit bans and to educate them about alternatives rather than circumventing such bans. These circumventions won’t work for long, enjoy the difficulty of using them as long they last. As soon this is automated, so many people will use it, that they will also block these IPs. Anyone else is welcome to work on this.
We understand the problem concerning the lack of manpower…
VPNs on vpngate.net change every day and even several times per day. The spying bodies will have to use special software to constantly get the constantly changing list of VPNs and ban them. We have checked vpngate VPNs on several sites blocking Tor exit nodes and found that by the unknown reason spies prefer not to block those VPNs! Why? Because they don’t know that a person is using TOR under those VPNs! And they think they will capture that person by requesting logs from those VPNs.
Also we guess with whonix we may get TOR - VPN1 - VPN2 where VPN2 can belong to a spying body itself. Such vpns are extensively used as traps nowadays. There are some FREE VPNs which keep logs and belong to adversaries. We guess they are not so fools to block own VPNs.
VPNgate vpns hold logs for two weeks (officially). Spying bodies even do not state the period of keeping logs for their VPNs.
Unfortunately, doing this is simple and cheap.
Perhaps because Tor is used by many people, VPNGate is a niche?
I’m a fan of and have used VPNGate, and I see how it could be useful with exit node bans.
VPNGate makes windows software that loads the current list of VPNs. You could use that to easily do You -> Tor -> VPNGate -> Internet. Since you’d only need the extra vpn layer (and complication and speed hit and privacy issue that comes with it) if you run into an exit node ban, I recommend that you use tor until you hit a ban, then setup your VPN on the host OS. Be sure to always use SSL and secure connections when transferring passwords and sensitive data (since you now have potentially malicious exit nodes AND potentially malicious VPN servers).
I don’t predict that the tor network will reach a point where exit node bans are serious and constant problem.