Who here uses a VPN?
- Thread starter Kalidor
- Start date
I've used Avast VPN. I don't know how it compares to others but I do not recommend anything Avast. They have a nasty habit of interfering with normal activities. I've had Firefox freak out because it thinks it's detecting a man in the middle attack but no it's just Avast.
I don't, mainly because I don't want to be on any government watch lists.
That sounds like a boring way to live.
I'm pretty sure they can tell if you're using a VPN and simply having one will get you on a NSA watchlist.
Bahahahahahahahaha.
Please tell me you're joking right now because the government has way better jive to do than add literally everyone who uses a VPN to a goddamn watchlist. Like do you seriously think if you use a VPN to watch shows that are on Netflix in another region or whatever is gonna make the government go 'THIS PERSON IS USING A VPN, ADD THEM TO THE WATCHLIST'.
You clearly have no idea what you're talking about.
Please tell me you're joking right now because the government has way better jive to do than add literally everyone who uses a VPN to a goddamn watchlist. Like do you seriously think if you use a VPN to watch shows that are on Netflix in another region or whatever is gonna make the government go 'THIS PERSON IS USING A VPN, ADD THEM TO THE WATCHLIST'.
You clearly have no idea what you're talking about.
I use Nord.. no problems with it, Also, no the GUBBERMENT doesn't give two rattraps rears if you use a VPN. They use VPN to log into their networks, lawyers use VPNS to log into their own networks. Hell, you can make your own personal VPN with most routers or a windows machine if you wanted to log into your own home network remotely.
That's not really how a VPN works. What makes you think that?
I use ExpressVPN. It’s simple and reliable. It’s not free, but I’m ready to pay for personal data security. I was a victim of identity theft once, and I don’t want to risk it anymore. The Internet is not a safe space, and people need to be more aware of that.
If you prefer proxies, then I recommend https://soax.com/4g-rotating-proxy. It’s a reliable technology that helps you stay unnoticed by the feds and hackers. It’s simpler and cheaper than a VPN, and it’s also more reliable. The IPs are 100% whitelisted, and the servers are up most of the time. It takes a bit more time to adjust a server like this, but it’s not difficult at all.
If you prefer proxies, then I recommend https://soax.com/4g-rotating-proxy. It’s a reliable technology that helps you stay unnoticed by the feds and hackers. It’s simpler and cheaper than a VPN, and it’s also more reliable. The IPs are 100% whitelisted, and the servers are up most of the time. It takes a bit more time to adjust a server like this, but it’s not difficult at all.
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Honestly, a VPN doesn't provide as much protection as you would think. In the end, you still need to trust your endpoint to not be logging, if you're trying to avoid logging, and as for tracking the unique fingerprint of your browser, or other methods(like cookies) are much easier than trying to track an IP. OPSEC is HARD if you're going to do it properly.
VPNs honestly have three actual usable functions IMO:
1) Prevent MITM traffic interception
2) Bypass content filters and/or country filters
3) Secure remote control(which really is just an application of point 1 above)
Using it to avoid tracking is a placebo.
If you want to look into fingerprinting:
And as far as no-log VPNs, here's one VPN that claims to not keep logs but apparently can at will:
So effectively you're trading one potentially logging endpoint for another. That said, I haven't seen any word about Surfshark having been caught out about logs, so if your only concern is about your ISP tracking you, then fair enough. Depending on how deep you want to go down the rabbit hole though, a simple VPN won't solve your problem.
VPNs honestly have three actual usable functions IMO:
1) Prevent MITM traffic interception
2) Bypass content filters and/or country filters
3) Secure remote control(which really is just an application of point 1 above)
Using it to avoid tracking is a placebo.
If you want to look into fingerprinting:
And as far as no-log VPNs, here's one VPN that claims to not keep logs but apparently can at will:
So effectively you're trading one potentially logging endpoint for another. That said, I haven't seen any word about Surfshark having been caught out about logs, so if your only concern is about your ISP tracking you, then fair enough. Depending on how deep you want to go down the rabbit hole though, a simple VPN won't solve your problem.
Nothing will save you from a determined NSA if you're doing some truly heinous jive. For my part, I use a no-log VPN while running PeerBlock and Firefox private browsing.
The idea isn't to be faster than the bear, just faster than the other guy running from the bear.
The idea isn't to be faster than the bear, just faster than the other guy running from the bear.
More like it comes down to your threat modeling. The OPSEC needs of someone the Chinese government is interested in and the OPSEC needs of some random guy working a 9-5 that just watches youtube and occasionally torrents are vastly different, to pull from two extremes. If you want to see what some determined people can do, look up the recent Kiwi Farms controversy. They actually geolocated one of their "targets" by a picture of some hotel bedsheets and a few other unrelated facts. Another person finally had their OPSEC cracked because they happened to mention needing to get new snow boots for the season. And that's just from the OSINT crowd.
All it takes is one mistake that might not even seem to be a mistake. That's why OPSEC is hard, and it's best to focus on your own personal threat model than try to assume you have the same importance to government agencies as, say, Snowden or a reporter(assuming you're not a reporter of course!). And keep in mind what the tools actually do or DON'T do, and their limitations.
All it takes is one mistake that might not even seem to be a mistake. That's why OPSEC is hard, and it's best to focus on your own personal threat model than try to assume you have the same importance to government agencies as, say, Snowden or a reporter(assuming you're not a reporter of course!). And keep in mind what the tools actually do or DON'T do, and their limitations.
This seems to indicate that I'm using a VPN. I can only guess it came with my antivirus, because I don't recall ever getting a dedicated VPN (and I think I'd remember).
If it is part of my antivirus, it would be Trend Micro. Not sure how to use it to watch Netflix in different regions though
