VPN,are you wasting your money ?

[Guydodge]

im going with yes,dont buy into it

https://youtu.be/XVPfyO0c_b4

[r.linder]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Omega:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από dru:

I don't get why people are obsessed with being anonymous online and making sure people don't know who they really are. Like..... I'm sure no one really cares about your online activities unless you're like a special agent on a secret mission, which you're not.
You're just some kid looking at fortnite videos lol

Because this data is used to influence and exploit you. The main example being how you see ads targeted at who you are as a person, this can be simple "please buy X" ads, but also political ads playing in to your interests and worries.

Often you don't even know that content is targeted at you. Examples of this being the videos YouTube recommends you and the posts Facebook shows on your main page.

Targeted ads and content are infringing on privacy and are unethical, they should not exist.


At least targeted content is starting to be cracked down on, take the cookie banners on most website as an example, this is an EU law cracking down on tracking cookies.


I have nothing against ads, I have DuckDuckGo whitelisted in my adblocker for example. Why? Because I like the service and want to support it. Not that you need to adblock DuckDuckGo, it even has a settings page where you can disable ads if you want.

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Escorve:

You're not 100% secure anyway unless you're taking every single possible measure to ensure you're not being tracked.

The irony is, most people have a smartphone, which can always be tracked in numerous ways, but yet they only seem to be concerned with their PC.

Yes most people are idiots. But not everyone. That is why I and others can be such a free software evangelists, I am trying to educate people on this topic.

But there are always people ignorantly pushing back with defeatism or out of blind loyalty to a company who's products they like.

Getting rid of all the bad stuff is really not hard.
1. Use exclusively free/libre software
- Exceptions are allowed for software you really can not live without
2. Don't (directly) use products and services which infringe on your privacy
- So no YouTube, no Facebook etc..
- You can often use alternative front-end to these services allowing you to still (semi-)privately interact with them, such as FreeTube and Invidious for YouTube, or Libreddit for Reddit.
3. Agressively block the crap out of web trackers
- Firefox set to Strict privacy mode will do this

This is all you have to do to avoid the vast majority of the bad stuff, and this should not impact your workflow or how you use your computer in any meaningful way, you can still do pretty much everything you did before. Only difference being that you will now be using something other then Google Chrome as your main browser.

Yeah, most people won't let go of things that infringe on privacy, especially YT and FB.

[emoticorpse]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Escorve:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Omega:

Because this data is used to influence and exploit you. The main example being how you see ads targeted at who you are as a person, this can be simple "please buy X" ads, but also political ads playing in to your interests and worries.

Often you don't even know that content is targeted at you. Examples of this being the videos YouTube recommends you and the posts Facebook shows on your main page.

Targeted ads and content are infringing on privacy and are unethical, they should not exist.


At least targeted content is starting to be cracked down on, take the cookie banners on most website as an example, this is an EU law cracking down on tracking cookies.


I have nothing against ads, I have DuckDuckGo whitelisted in my adblocker for example. Why? Because I like the service and want to support it. Not that you need to adblock DuckDuckGo, it even has a settings page where you can disable ads if you want.



Yes most people are idiots. But not everyone. That is why I and others can be such a free software evangelists, I am trying to educate people on this topic.

But there are always people ignorantly pushing back with defeatism or out of blind loyalty to a company who's products they like.

Getting rid of all the bad stuff is really not hard.
1. Use exclusively free/libre software
- Exceptions are allowed for software you really can not live without
2. Don't (directly) use products and services which infringe on your privacy
- So no YouTube, no Facebook etc..
- You can often use alternative front-end to these services allowing you to still (semi-)privately interact with them, such as FreeTube and Invidious for YouTube, or Libreddit for Reddit.
3. Agressively block the crap out of web trackers
- Firefox set to Strict privacy mode will do this

This is all you have to do to avoid the vast majority of the bad stuff, and this should not impact your workflow or how you use your computer in any meaningful way, you can still do pretty much everything you did before. Only difference being that you will now be using something other then Google Chrome as your main browser.

Yeah, most people won't let go of things that infringe on privacy, especially YT and FB.

You actually link to Youtube videos? Which one is it? use it or don't use it?

[Omega]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από emoticorpse:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Escorve:

Yeah, most people won't let go of things that infringe on privacy, especially YT and FB.

You actually link to Youtube videos? Which one is it? use it or don't use it?

Doesn't mean he actually uses YouTube (He probably does, a lot..), alternative YouTube front-ends often have a "Copy YouTube URL" option, it is prefered to share it since websites such as Steam use YouTube links to insert embedded video players in posts and chats.

Linking unfamiliar domains such as ytprivate.com, yt.cyberhost.uk or invidious.s1gm4.eu instead will probably cause people to mistrust these URLs and not click them thinking they are scam sites.


If you do not want embedded links on Steam simply deny cookies, then YouTube embedded players will then not be loaded. You can them copy these YouTube URLs in to an alternative front-end.

[AD]

Only VPN I've used is wireguard, which is an free and open source VPN. It's actually really good for what it's intended to do, but it's very different from the likes of NordVPN since it's not really a service you use. You have to set it up yourself I believe (I didn't, I used someone elses setup for it).

For the likes of NordVPN, I don't think they really enhances my internet security since websites should be using encryption anyway which is what actually enhances the security. And for privacy, you might get around the ISP logging your activity, but I suspect the VPN does it instead. So it's not that different (I admit I'm rather cynical when it comes to companies and privacy). I guess the main advantage of a VPN service is that you can route your internet traffic through a different country, which is a good reason to use one. I just don't think they necessarily provide that many benefits with regards to security and privacy.

[emoticorpse]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Omega:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από emoticorpse:

You actually link to Youtube videos? Which one is it? use it or don't use it?

Doesn't mean he actually uses YouTube (He probably does, a lot..), alternative YouTube front-ends often have a "Copy YouTube URL" option, it is prefered to share it since websites such as Steam use YouTube links to insert embedded video players in posts and chats.

Linking unfamiliar domains such as ytprivate.com, yt.cyberhost.uk or invidious.s1gm4.eu instead will probably cause people to mistrust these URLs and not click them thinking they are scam sites.


If you do not want embedded links on Steam simply deny cookies, then YouTube embedded players will then not be loaded. You can them copy these YouTube URLs in to an alternative front-end.

I didn't mean to imply he himself actually uploaded videos to it. What I implied is that he supports it in some way. And if you support it by linking to videos then you support Youtubers who are using it. So either way he'd be supporting an entity he just called out others for using. I just see a hypocrisy in that post. Might be wrong but so far I don't see how.

I started getting confused by the second paragraph in your post about "front ends". I really don't see how that can save someone. If you're supporting Youtube through a front end then just accept you use Youtube. You can really throw someone off by broadly saying "some people use Youtube" when you yourself use it but in a limited manner then you fall into the category of people who "can't let go of youtube".

[Omega]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από emoticorpse:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Omega:

Doesn't mean he actually uses YouTube (He probably does, a lot..), alternative YouTube front-ends often have a "Copy YouTube URL" option, it is prefered to share it since websites such as Steam use YouTube links to insert embedded video players in posts and chats.

Linking unfamiliar domains such as ytprivate.com, yt.cyberhost.uk or invidious.s1gm4.eu instead will probably cause people to mistrust these URLs and not click them thinking they are scam sites.


If you do not want embedded links on Steam simply deny cookies, then YouTube embedded players will then not be loaded. You can them copy these YouTube URLs in to an alternative front-end.

I didn't mean to imply he himself actually uploaded videos to it. What I implied is that he supports it in some way. And if you support it by linking to videos then you support Youtubers who are using it. So either way he'd be supporting an entity he just called out others for using. I just see a hypocrisy in that post. Might be wrong but so far I don't see how.

I started getting confused by the second paragraph in your post about "front ends". I really don't see how that can save someone. If you're supporting Youtube through a front end then just accept you use Youtube. You can really throw someone off by broadly saying "some people use Youtube" when you yourself use it but in a limited manner then you fall into the category of people who "can't let go of youtube".

Let's give two front-ends as an example;

Invidious: When watching YouTube videos on an Invidious instance the instance will scrape the videos from YouTube and send them over to you. YouTube only sees the Invidious instance, not you.

Freetube: When watching YouTube videos via FreeTube by default it will scrape the videos from YouTube directly, so YouTube only sees your IP address and the content you are accessing, no actual YouTube Javascript is run. Freetube can connect to a Tor router, then YouTube does not see your IP address anymore only that of the exit Tor node. It can also make use of the Invidious API of an Invidious instance, so YouTube now only sees the Invidious instance IP.


These alternative front-ends tend to have significantly more functionality than YouTube itself.

[emoticorpse]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Omega:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από emoticorpse:

I didn't mean to imply he himself actually uploaded videos to it. What I implied is that he supports it in some way. And if you support it by linking to videos then you support Youtubers who are using it. So either way he'd be supporting an entity he just called out others for using. I just see a hypocrisy in that post. Might be wrong but so far I don't see how.

I started getting confused by the second paragraph in your post about "front ends". I really don't see how that can save someone. If you're supporting Youtube through a front end then just accept you use Youtube. You can really throw someone off by broadly saying "some people use Youtube" when you yourself use it but in a limited manner then you fall into the category of people who "can't let go of youtube".

Let's give two front-ends as an example;

Invidious: When watching YouTube videos on an Invidious instance the instance will scrape the videos from YouTube and send them over to you. YouTube only sees the Invidious instance, not you.

Freetube: When watching YouTube videos via FreeTube by default it will scrap the videos from YouTube directly, so YouTube only sees your IP address and the content you are accessing, no actual YouTube Javascript is run. Freetube can connect to a Tor router, then YouTube does not see your IP address anymore only that of the exit Tor node. It can also make use of the Invidious API of an Invidious instance, so YouTube now only sees the Invidious instance IP.

Ok, I understand now. Simple enough. I still think it's hypocritical. Might as well say you use Youtube normally with a bogus account in a seperate browsing profile. The way I read it is that he's calling out Youtube all together. He was meant was that it's ok to watch or use Youtube as long as you somehow manage to keep it from keeping track of you.

Also, if even if he uses a front end and pushes out a full youtube link on here, he just screwed everyone who WOULDN'T have gone to youtube but now landed on Youtube.com because of his link, regardless of what his excuse is.

[shoopy]

I use VPN to hide from torrent trackers and stuff. It works for that because they're not going to bother going to the VPN provider for logs.

[r.linder]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από emoticorpse:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Escorve:

Yeah, most people won't let go of things that infringe on privacy, especially YT and FB.

You actually link to Youtube videos? Which one is it? use it or don't use it?

Didn't say I was either one of those people.

I don't care about my own privacy enough to where I would do things the way some people here do. It's not going to make an actual difference other than sate one's own paranoia and create a false sense of security.

Not that I even have data of any relevant value anyway. Any value is in the hardware, not ones and zeroes.

[Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD}]

i thought vpns were supposed to be used mainly for work to connect to your employers servers from home

[[N]ebsun]

Using a VPN from your own private network (like in your own house) is unnecessary - unless you have a very specific need to hide your ip or to get around some kind of geo restriction or to join multiple networks together that do not have a direct link.

VPNs have a very good use case - when connecting through public networks / public wifi.

With a VPN you can tunnel encrypted traffic through the public network and force the use of private DNS - this will help prevent DNS poison, MITM attack, and other general spying.

If you want to use a VPN, my suggestion would be to not pay for it as a service, but rather setup your own private VPN server using your home server or something light like a raspberry pi if you don't have other ways to host it.

[Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD}]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Coffee:

Using a VPN from your own private network (like in your own house) is unnecessary - unless you have a very specific need to hide your ip or to get around some kind of geo restriction or to join multiple networks together that do not have a direct link.

VPNs have a very good use case - when connecting through public networks / public wifi.

With a VPN you can tunnel encrypted traffic through the public network and force the use of private DNS - this will help prevent DNS poison, MITM attack, and other general spying.

If you want to use a VPN, my suggestion would be to not pay for it as a service, but rather setup your own private VPN server using your home server or something light like a raspberry pi if you don't have other ways to host it.

well if u have a work from home job you may need to use a vpn to connect to their workplace servers

[Der tüddelige Fußgänger]

If you want to be anonymous, you should use tor, even tho the connection is really slow and just enough to watch youtube in 1080p.
Oh and you should turn off all Java scripts which your website doesnt NEED to work.
And Tor is completely free and works like if you stack 3 vpns on top of each other.
No Money spent = no money wasted

Edit:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Escorve:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Omega:

Because this data is used to influence and exploit you. The main example being how you see ads targeted at who you are as a person, this can be simple "please buy X" ads, but also political ads playing in to your interests and worries.

Often you don't even know that content is targeted at you. Examples of this being the videos YouTube recommends you and the posts Facebook shows on your main page.

Targeted ads and content are infringing on privacy and are unethical, they should not exist.


At least targeted content is starting to be cracked down on, take the cookie banners on most website as an example, this is an EU law cracking down on tracking cookies.


I have nothing against ads, I have DuckDuckGo whitelisted in my adblocker for example. Why? Because I like the service and want to support it. Not that you need to adblock DuckDuckGo, it even has a settings page where you can disable ads if you want.



Yes most people are idiots. But not everyone. That is why I and others can be such a free software evangelists, I am trying to educate people on this topic.

But there are always people ignorantly pushing back with defeatism or out of blind loyalty to a company who's products they like.

Getting rid of all the bad stuff is really not hard.
1. Use exclusively free/libre software
- Exceptions are allowed for software you really can not live without
2. Don't (directly) use products and services which infringe on your privacy
- So no YouTube, no Facebook etc..
- You can often use alternative front-end to these services allowing you to still (semi-)privately interact with them, such as FreeTube and Invidious for YouTube, or Libreddit for Reddit.
3. Agressively block the crap out of web trackers
- Firefox set to Strict privacy mode will do this

This is all you have to do to avoid the vast majority of the bad stuff, and this should not impact your workflow or how you use your computer in any meaningful way, you can still do pretty much everything you did before. Only difference being that you will now be using something other then Google Chrome as your main browser.

Yeah, most people won't let go of things that infringe on privacy, especially YT and FB.

There is an Android app called Newpipe on F-Droid which lets you Watch youtube eith no ads and every google code removed.
It is perfect for me. Just watching youtube without the ability to log in.
Heck, you can even "subscribe" to channel but all your subs are safed offline on your phone and whenever you look if one of the channels has uploaded something, Newpipe just Checks all the Channels for new videos.

And for Phones in general, as already said they are a HUGE security hole. And no, apple isnt any better. Their os is entirely closed source so you cant proof apples promises.
If you want to be private, you would have to live without all the google services which is pretty hard for many.
And if you want a phone without google you have to install lineage or graphen os (later one is only for google pixel)
Which is not possible for me because Lineage os currently doesnt support my LG velvet.
Using Foss software on Pc is pretty easy for most people, but deleting google from your phone is much harder.
And even i would struggle because all my classmates from school use whatsapp so keeping in contact would be hard.

[Veni vidi vici]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Kali (MM):

No - Not all VPNs are created equally - however, I pay over hundred dollars for mine for this very reason.

Who with? I use torguard and get access to their network, and they give me their email package as freebie for 2.50usd a month

[Supafly]

Free VPNs are the worse. They have to cover the cost somehow so your data is used/sold.

As for the paid version some do keep records and will keep logs making them somewhat pointless. Ideally you want one based in a country where logs are not required and no law can make them keep or share your data.

Been using Surfshark for several years no. Purchase it when I get cashback, 70-80% usually. A few days ago I spent just under £45 for 25 months and expecting £33 back so when I get the cashback (always do) it'll have cost me £12 for 25 months......around £1 a month. So far no issues getting none UK based Netflix