He're the deal. I run a business which has a significant software component. I wrote some of that, and understand all of it. I'm an electrical engineer, and actually understand exactly what's going on at the packet level with the TCP/IP protocols (as well as a few others). If you'd like to continue this discussion at that level of facts, I'm more than happy to do so. If we're going to claim that "other countries forbid VPN, therefore I claim Facebook, which I've never used, is using IP addresses to track me" and that somehow IP addresses are getting "abused", well then you're operating on a different intellectual plane which I'd prefer not to descend to. Are the reporters at Wired or Macworld idiots? Do you really need me to answer that? First off, many of them are and in fact have little experience or knowledge about what they're writing about. Second, it's very possible that a knowledgeable reporter writes an entirely factually correct article and you dear reader misinterpret or misunderstand or conflate it with something else. Which is exactly what you appear to have done. Recommending that you use a VPN is not claiming that VPN will protect you against a litany of things that you erroneously seem to think it will protect you against. And bad enough that you hold those views, you feel the need to pontificate them to those around you despite not actually knowing what you're talking about. So again, knock yourself out with your VPN, just realize that you're the guy wearing the hospital gown blissfully unaware that everyone behind you can see your behind hanging out!
VPNs are your safest bet for public Wi-Fi If you ask a security professional for tips on improving your privacy and security when connecting to public Wi-Fi or other untrusted networks, the first thing they’ll usually say is “use a virtual private network (VPN).” And while this is a great recommendation, it can intimidate most people, who often ask questions like “is it really necessary,” “where do I even start?” and “how do VPNs really protect me?”(GeekWire)
https://thebestvpn.com/118-vpns-logging-policy/ http://www.wired.co.uk/article/android-vpn-apps-malware https://blog.csiro.au/tinker-torrentor-streamer-spy-vpn-privacy-alert/ Where to stay away: Many countries have aggressive legislation which could force VPN providers to conduct active surveillance on VPN users on behalf of government agencies. These laws include the Investigatory Powers Act in the UK, and FISA in the US. In fact, there are over a dozen countries that collaborate on surveillance. These are collectively known as the Five Eyes and Fourteen Eyes countries (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Sweden). In addition to these, you probably also don’t want to use a Chinese, Russian, or Turkish VPN provider for similar reasons. VPN providers from Fourteen Eyes countries should be avoided at all cost because they can be legally compelled to spy on users. A lot of care must be done when performing this check, as many VPN providers go to great lengths to disguise their true jurisdiction. For example, VyprVPN uses a Swiss shell corporation, but is actually based in Austin, Texas, USA. Private Internet Access is operated by a company known as London Trust Media, which sounds like it is based in Europe, but it is actually based in the US (one of the Five Eye countries) and could be legally compelled to spy on users. This type of jurisdiction obfuscation is very common in the VPN industry.
First of all, NSA could give fuck-all what you're doing on your internet, no need to flatter yourself about your sense of importance. But if they did, using a VPN in a third country is going to require them to take an additional 5 seconds to break the encryption to read whatever it is they want to read. But what's really funny is that your advice actually makes a person more likely to have their communications intercepted and makes it easier for the U.S. government to do so, if you're a conspiracy nut going on about various numbers of eyes. If you are a U.S. citizen communicating with a U.S. citizen in the U.S. the government needs a court order to intercept and read your communications. As soon as you cross the border to your "safe" third country where your VPN is hosted, NSA has free reign to intercept away with no need for a court order. And NSA are the ones best suited to break the encryption your VPN is using. So you just made it easier and gave yourself less due process protection by following your advice. Brilliant!
You have no clue where I live. I am lucky as I don't live in the US. Don't you know that there is also life outside of the US? You are far from brilliant! I have the right to protect my privacy, has nothiong to do with flattering myself. NSA has not much job as Google delivers them all they need. Like Facebook, Twitter... If your story would be true, why does Russia (and many other countries) forbid the use of VPN? To make it more difficult for themselves? LOL. And Russians are far more smarter than the NSA. So logically the US/NSA should promote the use of VPN? LOL.
Why keep this going? I think this thread went on a massive tangent from ops original post... I'm fairly certain original op just wanted some basic protection when using public wifi and was not interested in hiding themselves from any government entity. If you really want to hide yourself from a government entity, don't use the internet, a credit card, or phone. Heck stay away from electronics in general. Otherwise, just accept the fact that someone somewhere can probably know what you are doing if they put enough effort and money into it.
You think black/white. Typical. I never said I want to be invisible. There are some things that I want to keep private. What people don't know cannot be used against you. That's a stupid and irrelevant argument. Because they should then check billions of people as they have no clue who is interesting and who is not. I am just a grey mouse that nobody knows about. Why did the NSA not know about terror attacks as they, according to you, could easily know everything? Because they first have to have a link to these terrorists. And they did not find that, although the NSA can "break any code and see everything". LOL.
Like the NSA I could give fuck-all about you and your information, let alone where you live. That doesn't change the fact that your advice is horrible for anyone in the U.S. (As I type this from Europe where I am able to use VPNs to get around U.S. services that IP block by location, a real reason for a VPN!)
Why is my advice horrible for US citizens? As they have nothing to hide? At least that is the argument people like you always use. The NSA will not be interested in them as you tell yourself. So you admit that you use VPN too. VPN does not harm me and can be helpful in certain situations, so I always use it. Not using it would be stupid. The fact that you use it confirms this. https://theintercept.com/2018/03/20...-down-bitcoin-users-snowden-documents-reveal/