VPN questions, advice

Way2Low

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Looking for advice surrounding VPN's.....Should I have one? why? how much should I pay? Are there any downsides to having one? Thanks in advance, Pops
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

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Do you use Macs, pops? If you use a Mac and the Safari browser, there is a built-in feature called iCloud Private Relay

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212614

It requires iCloud+, which starts at .99 cents per month. With iCloud+, you get:
  • Private Relay
  • Hide My Email (a way to automatically create fake email addresses that forward to your real address, so that marketers never get your real email)
  • 50 GB of storage

  • But really, the big question is why you think you might need one.
 

Nick Kaufman

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Looking for advice surrounding VPN's.....Should I have one? why? how much should I pay? Are there any downsides to having one? Thanks in advance, Pops
Depends on why you want one. I can't speak to how much privacy or security it offers. Supposedly it does, but it depends on the VPN provider, whether they keep your traffic records, in general technical details that the average end user doesn't know or even can imagine.

You can use a VPN to watch tv streams from other countries. For example, the BBC might show a game not shown in the US TV package you have. Or the international version of Netflix has a show that's not available on the US one, though I suspect the opposite tends to happen much more.

Then, you can use VPN to avoid being tracked when pirating stuff. In this instance, you really need to be careful not to reveal your true IP address.

I have a VPN and one downside is that your VPN address can be shared by unsavory characters. For example, I suspect that my VPN address has been used my email spammers, so nowadays, whenever I try using google, i get a CAPTCHA to verify I am not a robot, which is a just a pain in the ass multiple times a day.

Last, but not least, the more VPNs get popular, the more i am afraid they will invite countermeasures that will render them ineffective. For example, not being able to visit a site, if you are using a VPN.
 
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The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa

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Depends on why you want one. I can't speak to how much privacy or security it offers. Supposedly it does, but it depends on the VPN provider, whether they keep your traffic records, in general technical details that the average end user doesn't know or even can imagine.

You can use a VPN to watch tv streams from other countries. For example, the BBC might show a game that's not available to use and watch it through them. Or the international version of Netflix has a show that's not available on the US one, though I suspect the opposite tends to happen much more.

Then, you can use VPN to avoid being tracked when pirating stuff. In this instance, you really need to be careful not to reveal your true IP address.

I have a VPN and one downside is that your VPN address can be shared by unsavory characters. For example, I suspect that my VPN address has been used my email spammers, so nowadays, whenever I try using google, i get a CAPTCHA to verify I am not a robot, which is a just a pain in the ass multiple times a day.

st, but not least, the more VPNs get popular, the more i am afraid they will invite countermeasures that will render them inefficient. For example, not being able to visit a site, if you are using a VPN.
About the bolded part, I have had that happen to me several times. I've never been able to trick my paid streaming services to watch non-US shows.
 

Way2Low

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I'm paranoid...beyond that I live in New York, upstate, subscribe to MLBtv which forces me to listen to the Yankee broadcast when playing the Yanks at the Toilet. In addition it seems as tho my privacy is slipping away more each day....thanks for the replies....Pops
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

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I'm paranoid...beyond that I live in New York, upstate, subscribe to MLBtv which forces me to listen to the Yankee broadcast when playing the Yanks at the Toilet. In addition it seems as tho my privacy is slipping away more each day....thanks for the replies....Pops
Paranoia/protecting privacy are very good reasons for using a VPN!

I think iCloud Private Relay is solid on Apple devices. Otherwise, check out these options: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-vpn-service/

Sadly, I don't think you're going to be able to use a VPN to save you from the Yankee broadcast.
 

AlNipper49

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I'm paranoid...beyond that I live in New York, upstate, subscribe to MLBtv which forces me to listen to the Yankee broadcast when playing the Yanks at the Toilet. In addition it seems as tho my privacy is slipping away more each day....thanks for the replies....Pops
Then your first step should be using the Brave browser. Fpr VPN I use Mullvad. I think that they are all about the same.
 

tonyandpals

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Let's take a quick break from our video to tell you about our sponsor, INSERT NAME OF VPN HERE.
--
My kids don't know what a VPN is but damn do they want one!
 

cgori

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I shall explore...thanks, Pops
You can also look into Firefox, it'd be a decent alternative to Brave. And if you configure it the right way, I think it might be considered more robust (privacy-wise), depending on what you do. I believe you have to install some kind of adblocker in Firefox, whereas Brave has that by default. But it's not exactly difficult to do.

Opinions around most-secure/most-privacy-centric browser will vary, a lot.
 

JoePoulson

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I've used Vypr VPN for years, no complaints. I only use it on a virtual machine though, not my whole network. The VM is for torrents the other nefarious stuff I'm into.
 

Way2Low

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You can also look into Firefox, it'd be a decent alternative to Brave. And if you configure it the right way, I think it might be considered more robust (privacy-wise), depending on what you do. I believe you have to install some kind of adblocker in Firefox, whereas Brave has that by default. But it's not exactly difficult to do.

Opinions around most-secure/most-privacy-centric browser will vary, a lot.
Firefox was slower than Chrome....
 

cgori

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Yes, but Brave is based on Chrome, so that's really the comparison.

Install Brave and mess around with it, see if you like it. If not, Firefox is your backup plan, even if it's a bit slower (if you do that, remember to find an adblocker for firefox, something like ublock origin is a good start).
 

SumnerH

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