And if you use one, are you happy with it?
I’m trying to get more into privacy and security and VPN is currently a struggle for me (and it seems also for some people in my social circle). It’s mostly cost, effectiveness, but also connection issues (not being able to connect to servers, not reaching websites, sometimes slower speed.
commercial VPNs are sus. and israel have been buying up a lot of them.
i trust my ISP and my country’s laws more than i trust any of these shady providers which may or may not be tapped by the nsa. and that’s a low bar to clear let me tell you.
I’d like to not get doxxed (made mistake of befriending some one in the past who I find out years later mighta doxxed some one for drama I had nothing to do with (infact , was already excised from that friend group by that point)) , tho not sure how well VPNs protect against online (stalk|identity correlat)ing by random internet users
I strongly believe nobody is entitled to keep a registry of the sites that we visit online. Not the gov, not your ISP, not your carrier. Thats why its essential for me.
A few sites wont load sometimes, which is my only exception to turn it off, and then on again, but its a habit i have gotten used to and its not that much work, given the benefits of an always-on trustworthy VPN.
It’s become a critical aspect of my online experience. I currently use Mullvad since leaving PIA. Mullvad seems to suffer from being too popular for it’s own good. An Increasing amount of websites are trying to identify and block traffic coming from VPN servers, sites like Kroger.com, USPS.com, Reddit. I never previously had this much trouble on PIA, but maybe it’s just that the times are a changing. I may search for alternative VPN when my service is up with Mullvad, though. I definitely don’t like the idea of using the internet without a VPN anymore.
My assumption is that Mullvad allowing port forwarding previously forced a large number of their IPs to be blocked due to misuse and that’s having carryover effects. I know very little about Mullvad or the IP address market though.
It isn’t just Mullvad. I’m sure it is also AirVPN and I presume that it includes all of the popular ones. I doubt port forwarding has anything to do with it.
PIA isn’t, and IIRC it’s also the cheapest. This is deeply suspicious and I’m trying to think of an alternative explanation to the obvious one.
It’s not cost effective to lose your privacy, you’ve merely haven’t realized you’ve been paying all along. Also you are the product being sold.
I guess this really depends on the country you’re sourcing from.
I don’t think most ppl need a vpn for at home stuff but I do use Mullvad since I spend a lot of time on college WiFi and they might not like how I access my textbooks and research papers.
Unfortunately I live in a country where they once banned whole google drive because someone was sharing a pirated movie through it. And just recently they banned proton mail because someone used proton mail to blackmail some one else. OK I don’t condone second one but still would they have banned gmail if those idiots had used that. Yeah I know I don’t need a VPN I need a new government but till then a VPN and Tor is all I have
I’m doubtful it does much in most cases due to browser fingerprinting, but I still use it and it sometimes can be useful to get around geo issues, plus it’s just a bit more privacy to stack on top of the measures I’m already taking, so for the price I feel like it’s worth it.
A browser can be fingerprinted so I only use it in a separate OS install when I want to keep something private, but it’s indispensable so that I have that option.
It can, but it isn’t likely as specific as an ip is.
My view is that security/privacy is a sliding rule and that every little effort helps.
Browser fingerprinting is quite specific.
The only VPN I use is:
Wireguard and OpenVPN to connect to my home network.
AirVPN for a server that I may or may not have on my home network that may or may not be sailing the high seas (allegedly).
I use Mullvad daily. Never turn it off.
This is my rule, too.
Same
I use it everyday, so it’s very important.
Super duper important. I won’t run my network without one. So if we ever get to a point where a VPN is prohibited by law, I will unplug and go work on some of my other hobbies like creating bonsai. Any no, I don’t run the 'arr stack, I’m not a hacker, nor do I torrent. I just prefer the absolute minimum number of people knowing who I am or what I’m doing. I’m that way irl.
sometimes slower speed.
Indeed, anything you put between you and your target will slow speeds, especially if you’re running everything through a double hop Shadowsocks proxy. That is the trade off. All technology wields a double edged sword. Additionally, you will encounter more captcha than normal, tho 99% of what I see are Cloudflare verification. Again, yet another trade off. You might even be precluded from accessing some websites. Me personally, I’ll accept the captcha/verification, slower speeds, and occasional site blocks, for security, privacy and anonymity. Also, in regards to sites blocking a VPN ip, it’s not a common occurrence on my network, but when it does happen, I find that the information contained on the blocked site, is freely available somewhere else.
absolutely crucial. All my devices are always connected through a VPN, and usually I try to route my traffic through a different country. When your country is paying for a service to monitor citizen’s internet traffic, anonymity is worth paying for.
