What is a Virtual Private Network?

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dademoss

dademoss

What I specialized in is oboslete
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Pearl said:
I could see where VPNs could be a tool for "someone" up to no good!!
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Same as encryption could be a tool for someone up to no good. Same as a gun. Same as a car. Same as a kitchen knife. Bad people can use anything that good people can use. Doesn't mean all those "anythings" are bad in and of themselves.

Someone knows your identity when you're using a VPN ... that being the VPN provider. Does that VPN provider maintain log files that the government snoops could obtain? Many VPN providers claim they do not maintain logs for this very reason. Even without log files, the information that identifies you could possibly be obtained from the VPN provider if extreme enough measures were taken in doing forensics on their servers.

If you want to be anonymous, VPN alone is not good enough. You have to combine that with use of the TOR network (sometimes called "the dark web"). And even that is not perfect. You have to be knowledgeable about info leaks and behave in a very strict and paranoid way in all your internet dealings. Even then, a minor slip-up where you reveal something about yourself - a location, nickname, metadata automatically embedded in a photo you posted, etc. - could be your downfall.
 
I use a VPN all the time when I'm away from home. Mine is not a commercial VPN - it is a VPN that I have set up myself back into my home network. I use this so all my network traffic is encrypted. Yes, all my network traffic would then appear to originate from my house - identifying me. But anonymity is not my goal. Privacy is. If I wanted anonymity, I would use a well-selected commercial VPN and TOR. If I wanted security, I would do all my work from a computer running the OS totally out of RAM memory - no hard disk or flash memory even being installed.
 
We live in an unprecedented time when allegedly democratic governments are holding political prisoners, taking pictures of people protesting and later arresting and/or fining them, freezing bank accounts and more. Who's to say sites you visit or words you write online won't one day be sought out by government officials and then you'll be facing serious problems? If a VPN can assist in keeping what I do online obfuscated, that's a good thing. It's basic privacy and it's acknowledged in 4A.

I'd be curious to learn what VPNs people here are using and what they cost annually.

It might also be interesting to understand how VPN providers protect their servers in the various countries that host those servers. If governments were to declare VPNs for individuals are illegal, could they shut them down by blocking traffic from those servers? If so, how can we mitigate that?
 
I currently use "ExpressVPN". I got a "Ben Shapiro special" the first year. It works well, it's fast, has good reviews, easy to install and has good customer service. Annually it's $99.95.

I have used the "free" version of protonVPN, it seemed slower but worked fine as far as I know.

One of the "issues" with a vpn is with some websites. you have to put in a zipcode for restaurants, or you get the ones local to your perceived VPN location. Other websites freak out completely, exactly why petsmart won't load using a vpn is weird, and kinda worries me, what do they need to know ?
 
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I follow and swear I was going to try and take the time to learn to install Linux on an old laptop. Then go a bit further and learn about the vpns but havent sat down long enough to do so.
 
lilmissy said:
I follow and swear I was going to try and take the time to learn to install Linux on an old laptop. Then go a bit further and learn about the vpns but havent sat down long enough to do so.
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Linux is a whole different tin of Herring :). I got lazy and went back to Mac OSX.

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dademoss said:
One of the "issues" with a vpn is with some websites. you have to put in a zipcode for restaurants, or you get the ones local to your perceived VPN location. Other websites freak out completely, exactly why petsmart won't load using a vpn is weird, and kinda worries me, what do they need to know ?
Click to expand...
Some websites actively block people coming in from known TOR exit nodes. I have not heard of this being done for VPN exits though. Could be, that if enough of their customers use the same VPN service, they see a lot of traffic from their exit node IP address, think it is a DOS (Denial Of Service) attack, and block things. They may not even be doing that intentionally. They could be using Cloudflare, which one of it's prime features is protecting a website from a DOS attack.
 
Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "http://www.petsmart.com/" on this server.
Reference #18.be85d817.1647137465.1eb4c221
Turn off the VPN, it's fine, but they can kiss my 🐴

Menards gives you a security check.

Seen the Cloudflare crap more than few times running Tor, I just move on.
 
Many websites will have you complete a Capta puzzle but that is relatively easy to by-pass or complete if you don't mind the process.
 
I would think so since I can do it manually in a few seconds. I never actually get to the picture map.
 
There are several sites that I cannot access when my VPN is on. Lowe's is one of them. One of my credit unions block my VPN the others don't.
Credit Karma blocks VPNs.
I just shut it off then restart after I'm finished on the sites that block me.
 
Haertig said:
Which defeats the purpose.
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That's true.
If I was truly worried I would just get rid of all my devices that can track me.
I don't like it but that's the way life is now. Either live in a cave or live with it.
However if someone wants my information I'm pretty sure they already have it. We are not anonymous on the web. There are too many government agencies and private companies that have so much information it's too late to worry now.
Have you ever click OK to an user agreement? You probably just gave away a bunch of information that can be used by the site.
 
You are right. None of us will ever be able to "clean up" our current identities on the web.

If push ever comes to shove regarding being tracked on the web, we'd have to completely abandon our current and past identities. Usernames, forums we visit, photos we've posted in the past, avatars, mannerisms of speaking, all of our online friends, mention of locations we enjoy, credit cards we've used online, etc. A total abandonment of anything we ever were. And the IP addresses we post from and the equipment we post with - our computer(s), smartphones, etc. Not even necessarily posting - simply lurking on a forum, reading but not posting, and you still show up in the webserver logs.

I could no longer use all the commas I do in posts. No more use of the word "etc" or starting a sentence with "Well, ..." I would have to change my core being - no more joking around and using sarcasm. I would have to become a libtard to hide my true political beliefs. Move into a big city. Listen to rap music. Start driving a Prius. Man, it would be pure hell to break away from my old identity.
 
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