To VPN or Not To VPN: That Is the Question!

[Gabriel Theodoulos]

Here is a topic that is relatively important to me... personally.

I have learned over time that my ISP has a habit of watching their clients.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I don't do anything illegal, nor immoral.  I try to practice a habit of never doing anything I would be ashamed of doing in front of my pastor or my Lord Jesus Christ.  But I value privacy, and just as I don't appreciate my neighbors peeping into my open windows, I sure don't allow my ISP (or my government) snooping on my Internet activity.

This is why I use a Virtual Private Network or VPN.

Over the past year, I've used a lot of different VPNs.  Currently, I'm torn between two of them: AirVPN and PIA.

AirVPN is AWESOME!!!  They are a freedom lover's delight!  For about 15 Euros for 3 months, they give you a huge selection of servers, each of which can be monitored by their users.  You can see their traffic usage and speed ratings, and you can choose which server you want easily enough.  The thing I don't like about them is that whenever I crash, I have to go in and reset my firewall and IPv4 DNS by hand every single time! ... and this is usually about once a day!

I also like AirVPN, because I can use it in FRUHO on my Linux laptop (I'm a real n00b13 with Linux!).

The other VPN I am playing with PIA or PRIVATE INTERNET ACCESS.  They also provide a lot of good servers, and I just found out that they will play nice with FRUHO (will need to check that out).  The thing I really enjoy about PIA is that it is super super stable, and super super easy to use!  Just download the installer, and run.  Very nice and convenient.  PIA is also very privacy friendly.  If you want, go and grab almost any type of cash card (Starbucks, Walmart?, etc.) and use it to pay for an account... no questions asked, and your name isn't on the account!  I LOVE THIS!

 

So... what say you?  Do you use a VPN?  What are your thoughts and opinions on Internet Privacy?

[BryGen]

I use VPN when I do work from the house (ofcourse company policy) but other then that I do not. You see any performance loss with VPN? I torrent heavy but use seedbox and FTP for that stuff so I don't hear about it from ISP.

[Nevermore]

Also use VPN for work but just remember that some VPN "providers" still log your data so be sure to choose wisely

They are often bad for anything that reacquires a low ping and remember so of the "bigger sites just outright ban VPN's" 

so places like twitch.tv you can "bypass it by using a account"

you can also use SFTP 

for gaming it's often no a good idea unless your IPS really sucks

[Devil Khan]

I use VPN Avast! and IPvanish. Avast! works, but not too fast really. IPVanish is fine, but it would seem that it kicks you or reboots/resets it self every 6 hours.  It depends on how safer you are (no such thing as 100%). To be honest, VPN is standard nowadays, even my mobile phone has VPN. There are free ones, but you don't have the security or the up time. 

For gaming multiplayer or net conn, I don't have it off for obvious reasons, the latency.  

I'm still not fairly happy with the VPNs I have now and in the past, gotten better bandwidth, but either too much latency 150ms+ or not enough bandwidth.  I have 30-40ms atm from the VPN, usually 10ms> without. 

 

[Alex]

I do not like the idea of my ISP watching what I do, watch, search up or even watch. It isn't right. I have been looking for a VPN to use that will make me truly anonymous (where the VPN doesn't store logs) that doesn't cost a fortune per month, but that has been quite a battle.

 

Also, there should be a poll option for "No, but I want to".

[Gabriel Theodoulos]

2 minutes ago, Alex said:

I do not like the idea of my ISP watching what I do, watch, search up or even watch. It isn't right. I have been looking for a VPN to use that will make me truly anonymous (where the VPN doesn't store logs) that doesn't cost a fortune per month, but that has been quite a battle.

 

Also, there should be a poll option for "No, but I want to".

I've done a bit of research, and you do have to be careful.  There are a few VPNs which do record logs.

Here is a good article that might help.  

If you're careful and vigilant, you'll find that quite a few VPNs are based around a core philosophy of personal privacy.  The two I like so far are PIA and AirVPN.

I also liked ShadeYou, but I hated the fact that whenever they reset their servers, you were left high and dry without any notification.  I would look up and notice that I was UNPROTECTED, and didn't realize that three hours earlier, they decided to reset the server I was on, and didn't notify me.  I dropped them.

I would stay away from VPN services who main HQs are in the US.  They are going to be forced to adhere to US laws.

If you have a Windows-based PC, and you want a super-easy setup, go with PIA.  It will only cost you $40 for a year, and easy as pie.  

1. Pre-purchase a Walmart, or a Starbucks, or a _____ Gift Card.

2. Go to https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/ and purchase an annual account with that card.

3.  They will assign you both a User Name and a Password.

Privacy!!!!

So, when Big Brother subpoenas them, there is absolutely NOTHING they can give them.  NOTHING!

 

Do your homework.  It will be worth it.

Hope this helps.

 

[Squirrel]

I personally don't use a VPN but can understand people's concerns.  But, I have also seen examples of other advantages.  The biggest was a streamer trying to connect to a gaming server (used a separate machine to send the stream).  They were having problems maintaining connection from Canada to the servers in Texas.  So, they made a change to use their VPN service to make it look like they were in Texas.  That resolved a number of their dropping connection issues.  It was a very special case and had nothing to do with privacy but used the same tools.  May not work for everyone or in every case, but may be a useful tool in certain niche cases.

[Gabriel Theodoulos]

1 minute ago, Squirrel said:

I personally don't use a VPN but can understand people's concerns.  But, I have also seen examples of other advantages.  The biggest was a streamer trying to connect to a gaming server (used a separate machine to send the stream).  They were having problems maintaining connection from Canada to the servers in Texas.  So, they made a change to use their VPN service to make it look like they were in Texas.  That resolved a number of their dropping connection issues.  It was a very special case and had nothing to do with privacy but used the same tools.  May not work for everyone or in every case, but may be a useful tool in certain niche cases.

There have been times when I turn off my VPN connection.  I am a member of a MilSim group called the 7th Cavalry (Arma 3), and Ping is "king" <grin>.  If my ISP wants to watch ole' Gabby tromp around with a 249b ... then why not.  But when it comes to forum hopping and other activities, I will draw the blinds... so to speak.

 

 

[Alex]

@Gabriel Theodoulos

 

Thank you! $40 a year? Not a month? That's really good! How is the quality of that VPN service though? Super slow?

 

 

It is a shame there isn't a trustworthy free option available. Everyone could have the privacy they deserve.

[Ywaik]

It's hard enough to use my Chinese net on a regular basis, very regulated and the connection isn't that great. However using a vpn allows me to do some gaming with longer play times and social media that's usually blocked lol.

[Caldon]

I'm going to buy a Raspberry Pi soon, turn that into a little VPN machine. You know, for when I do some AHEM unofficial AHEM shopping.

[Devil Khan]

... that is a kinda bad idea. Sure it will work, but only from your PC to the raspberry pi. The pi won't encrypt to the internet. Only reason is when there are several pcs and they have a difficult time to narrow it down.

It would be a great proof of concept, but it doesn't really work like that. IE anonymous Internet.

[Caldon]

Odd. Had a friend who actually went and did it (he was eerily good with computers, and a little crazy). His IP adress was in Iran, Iraq, Syria, China, etc...

I believe he had his Pi route his traffic through the TOR network to make his browsing anonymous.

 

[Devil Khan]

Using Tor is a "spoofing", either with or without a VPN. Personally, I know that several countries such as US, or UK etc actively know who are TORing and =marked down as a terrorist (yeah seriously, terrorist). However, it's better if you use a VPN not on the same connection as you are.

[Caldon]

Oh. Oh.

Well, I guess I'll not be using the TOR network, even though I've probably been marked already. Been on the dark web once, used TOR. Saw some crazy stuff. 10/10 would not browse again.

 

[Devil Khan]

Dark web is  a lot less harmless than you would think and 99% of people on the net think so too. Dark net means  not on the "google" search engine.

[Caldon]

Oh I know that. Browsed a lot of harmless forums, also browsed some actual dark stuff. I quit when I saw the, ah... Underage section. Kinda made me a bit sick.

[Gabriel Theodoulos]

TOR is awesome if you have a number of folk around you also using TOR. But if you're solo, it is easier to trace.

Also, make sure you DO NOT use Bittorrent on your own system. ALWAYS PROTECT YOUR ISP. I would suggest using a seedbox. Mine is in Paris and is cheap! And use sftp when accessing it. Nice and clean.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I know TOR has also been compromised. Keep an eye out for something coming out of MIT. It's called Riffle. The alphabet soup club is panicking over Riffle. Much more secure than TOR.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[faquarl25]

2 hours ago, Gabriel Theodoulos said:

TOR is awesome if you have a number of folk around you also using TOR. But if you're solo, it is easier to trace.

Also, make sure you DO NOT use Bittorrent on your own system. ALWAYS PROTECT YOUR ISP. I would suggest using a seedbox. Mine is in Paris and is cheap! And use sftp when accessing it. Nice and clean.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

I know TOR has also been compromised. Keep an eye out for something coming out of MIT. It's called Riffle. The alphabet soup club is panicking over Riffle. Much more secure than TOR.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

TOR was never made to be the most secure as the alphabet soup club made it. Riffle will hopefully be awesome (but big brother will probably force them to but a giant back door on it).

[Gabriel Theodoulos]

11 hours ago, Devil Khan said:

Dark web is  a lot less harmless than you would think and 99% of people on the net think so too. Dark net means  not on the "google" search engine.

Good point!

A lot of folk misunderstand Deep Web/ Dark Web nomenclature.  So many get the notion that Deep Web and Dark Web are referring to illegal or underground only sites.

Deep Web are sites behind usernames and passwords.  Examples are Facebook and Twitter.  They are not accessible to web crawlers.  This forum would be a Deep Web site, if their forums were blocked and secured.

Dark Web are sites not accessible by normal browsers (Google Chrome, Firefox, MS Edge, etc.).  You need a proprietary tool, like a database front end, TOR (for onion sites), etc.  I am on USENET all the time, as well as BitTorrent (via a seed-box).  Both of these require proprietary tools.

Star Citizen game (as well as many other MMOs) are also classified as Dark Web.

Hope this helps!

11 hours ago, Devil Khan said:

Using Tor is a "spoofing", either with or without a VPN. Personally, I know that several countries such as US, or UK etc actively know who are TORing and =marked down as a terrorist (yeah seriously, terrorist). However, it's better if you use a VPN not on the same connection as you are.

Sad to say, but you're right.  The FBI has come out and stated that they consider anyone who uses TOR or a VPN to be suspicious.  This is very sad, b/c of folk who value their privacy.

I own my house, and on each window, I have curtains and window shades.  Do I have anything to hide? No.  Are people who use curtains or shades on their windows criminals, doing illegal things in their houses? NO!  We value privacy.  This is why I personally use multiple VPNs, Proxy Chains, and even at times, TOR.  

It breaks my heart that we need to use such tools, but we do.

[Caldon]

Quote

Good point!

A lot of folk misunderstand Deep Web/ Dark Web nomenclature.  So many get the notion that Deep Web and Dark Web are referring to illegal or underground only sites.

To be fair, the Deep/Dark Web is mainly used for people who do not want people to accidentally stumble onto their nefarious businesses But for every yang there is obviously a yin. Like I said, a lot of harmless forums.

Also, wasn't it so that the deep web was just the uncataloged web, whereas the dark web was the actual illegal web?

Quote

Sad to say, but you're right.  The FBI has come out and stated that they consider anyone who uses TOR or a VPN to be suspicious.  This is very sad, b/c of folk who value their privacy.

I own my house, and on each window, I have curtains and window shades.  Do I have anything to hide? No.  Are people who use curtains or shades on their windows criminals, doing illegal things in their houses? NO!  We value privacy.  This is why I personally use multiple VPNs, Proxy Chains, and even at times, TOR.  

It breaks my heart that we need to use such tools, but we do.

I wonder how much of their "if you have nothing to hide you don't need to hide" mentality would hold up if we installed camera's in their bedrooms, so to speak.

[Gabriel Theodoulos]

Or how about when the courts demanded that the FBI reveal how many Americans they are monitoring? To this day, the FBI, who are supposed to be upholding Justice, are they themselves refusing to submit to the courts by answering this question.

The argument that we shouldn't be hiding secrets if we are not doing anything wrong just does not hold up. We have an inalienable right to privacy until we have committed a crime.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Caldon]

Exactly. But everybody wants to rule the world, the FBI is no different. It's just a damn shame that there's a lot of people out there who don't realize, or just don't care that privacy is slowly becoming something only found in a dictionary. While I can understand everyone wants to be safe, this is just trading one villain for another.

[Gabriel Theodoulos]

On 8/27/2016 at 3:53 AM, Caldon said:

Exactly. But everybody wants to rule the world, the FBI is no different. It's just a damn shame that there's a lot of people out there who don't realize, or just don't care that privacy is slowly becoming something only found in a dictionary. While I can understand everyone wants to be safe, this is just trading one villain for another.

Privacy is a commodity that must not be neglected.

The VPN I've been using lately is ExpressVPN.  It's wonderfully fast, but it is pricey as compared to most others, running about $12-14 per month.

If super fast speed is important to you, I'd take a look at this one.

 

 

[Donut]

2 hours ago, Gabriel Theodoulos said:

Privacy is a commodity that must not be neglected.

The VPN I've been using lately is ExpressVPN.  It's wonderfully fast, but it is pricey as compared to most others, running about $12-14 per month.

If super fast speed is important to you, I'd take a look at this one.

 

 

Also Private Internet Access is fast too, and only $35 a year. It's the fastest and most secure VPN I've ever used, and a lot of sites such as Youtube and other streaming sites experience no lag. I can even game in SC while running the VPN from an Australian server if I wanted (And I have) lol