Get a VPN, yes or no?

[Win2000Fan]

What are your thoughts on VPN's? I have been thinking of getting one for my family. However, I am not completely convinced getting one is a good idea. I have read here lately some have been raided by the police and some people are still being discovered even though they are using a VPN. I do not torrent download but it's more of a security thing for me as I do not want someone spying on me. Another issue I have is the bombardment of VPN ads and reviewers being bought out for said VPN company making their recommendations useless. What are your thoughts, broth pro and con? Thanks

[Boblin the Goblin]

The story of them being raided by police is a bit overblown.

Mulvad was visited by police to serve a warrant. The didn't even make it past essentially the front desk because Mulvad doesn't store any user information. They don't even allow you to create an account with an email. They generate a random string of numbers that is tied to your account.

Other VPN companies will have 3rd party audits to verify they don't store any identifying information of their customers that shows which connection to the server is from their(the customer's) computer.

Ones that have been shut down have been forced to for not following the law in where they are based. That's really the only thing you need to look out for because some countries may require the VPN to keep logs on individual connections which ties information directly back to the user.

[Sixtyfivekills]

I don't see a situation when I'll ever need it, so it's a no.

[Q-T_3.14.exe]

I hanen't really seen any point in using one. Then again my ISP knows too much. 😐

[Your_White_Knight]

Escrito originalmente por 10Transistor:

Get a VPN, yes or no?

What are your thoughts on VPN's? I have been thinking of getting one for my family. However, I am not completely convinced getting one is a good idea. I have read here lately some have been raided by the police and some people are still being discovered even though they are using a VPN. I do not torrent download but it's more of a security thing for me as I do not want someone spying on me. Another issue I have is the bombardment of VPN ads and reviewers being bought out for said VPN company making their recommendations useless. What are your thoughts, broth pro and con? Thanks

VPNs are the virus masks of technology...

And work just as well... but if it's peace of mind, sure, whatever... if it lets people sleep better.

[Win2000Fan]

Interesting responses so far. I thought for sure that here on Steam, I would read a show of support for VPN's yet????

[Your_White_Knight]

Escrito originalmente por 10Transistor:

Interesting responses so far. I thought for sure that here on Steam, I would read a show of support for VPN's yet????

Oh I'm sure it's coming...

"oMg bUt hOw wIilL yOu pRoTeCt yOuR pRiVaCy iF yOu dOn'T uSe a vPn!!1!!"

Like they're Jack Sparrow and their VPN is The Black Pearl sailing circles around others on the Internet.. and totally being 100% gullible that their VPN is all it's company is selling itself to be...

Like I said.. scare people into believing they need it and you can sell them anything...

[Xero_Daxter]

So VPN protects you completely? So you’re saying I can hack the pentagon and get away with it?

[󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡⁧⁧Kei]

a VPN is honestly a scam
changing your IP won't hide you from your provider because they're the ones giving you access to internet in the first place

[Boblin the Goblin]

Escrito originalmente por Nekoborg:

Escrito originalmente por Your_White_Knight:

VPNs are the virus masks of technology...

And work just as well... but if it's peace of mind, sure, whatever... if it lets people sleep better.

VPNs are also risky to use for other reasons like:

The IP address no longer matching original IP address used to create an account on PRIVATELY owned site where users might have invested money to buy games that requires said users to log on to get access to.

We all know IP addresses need to match or PRIVATELY owned sites might lock out anyone trying to access an account if their IP address does not match match original IP address used to create account.

Even if the correct password is used to log on users might still get locked out of "their" account.

This can still happen if the user somehow also knows the code sent to the e mail address that is associated with the account if there is a 2 way factor security agreement.....

This is to protect the "true" owner of account from hackers getting access to account.

Many PRIVATELY owned sites also bans users who are exposed or discovered of using VPNs.

Sites don't use IP as the sole identifier for an account. Steam doesn't even do that. In fact, I've never heard of a site completely locking an account over just an IP mismatch.

[apathy]

Its a scam.

You can't stay anonymous on the public domain. When the telephone exchanges and internet infrastructure was devised, lines were dedicated for law enforcement and military use. It is literally impossible to stay off-grid while you are surfing the web or having a phonecall.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Escrito originalmente por 󠀡󠀡⁧⁧Orange Mint:

a VPN is honestly a scam
changing your IP won't hide you from your provider because they're the ones giving you access to internet in the first place

That isn't how it works.

The ISP give you an IP address. You use that IP address to connect to a VPN server. All your ISP sees is that you connected to the server's IP.

They can't see any information past that connection. For all they know, you sped all day accessing the same server and never actually use your internet for anything else.

[Q-T_3.14.exe]

I hear you can get shadow banned in Call of Duty Warzone 2.0 for playing with a VPN on.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Escrito originalmente por apathy:

Its a scam.

You can't stay anonymous on the public domain. When the telephone exchanges and internet infrastructure was devised, lines were dedicated for law enforcement and military use. It is literally impossible to stay off-grid while you are surfing the web or having a phonecall.

Except this is literally false.

If this were the case, IP holders would have a field day go after every internet pirate and there's nothing that could stop them. Authorities wouldn't have issues stopping the spread of CSAM because they have a backdoor to every connection.

[Boblin the Goblin]

Escrito originalmente por Nekoborg:

Escrito originalmente por SlowMango:

Sites don't use IP as the sole identifier for an account. Steam doesn't even do that. In fact, I've never heard of a site completely locking an account over just an IP mismatch.

I never wrote STEAM did this.

Never said you did. I said sites in general and used Steam as an example since you specifically mentioned the purchase of games that require a login for users to access.

[Your_White_Knight]

Escrito originalmente por Nekoborg:

Escrito originalmente por Your_White_Knight:

VPNs are the virus masks of technology...

And work just as well... but if it's peace of mind, sure, whatever... if it lets people sleep better.

VPNs are also risky to use for other reasons like:

The IP address no longer matching original IP address used to create an account on PRIVATELY owned site where users might have invested money to buy games that requires said users to log on to get access to.

We all know IP addresses need to match or PRIVATELY owned sites might lock out anyone trying to access an account if their IP address does not match match original IP address used to create account.

Even if the correct password is used to log on users might still get locked out of "their" account.

This can still happen if the user somehow also knows the code sent to the e mail address that is associated with the account if there is a 2 way factor security agreement.....

This is to protect the "true" owner of account from hackers getting access to account.

Many PRIVATELY owned sites also ban users whom are exposed of or discovered of using VPNs.

Agree... that too, I'm not sure if it's still a problem but people playing on VRChat were having problems using VPNs because the game wouldn't recognize their connection even with the right password... but not only because of protecting it's accounts and members..

Also for ad reasons.. it needs to sell the ad space to the right locations... Japanese ads won't do Polish people any good... and ad companies want and pay for the correct ads to go to the right place. Ads = money and websites need money to survive... that's how reality works.

More and more websites are now blocking anyone with a VPN...