VPN are they worth it?

[Chuck Wintle]

Considering a VPN to avoid any sort of online censorship as it looks like they will do it. What can you tell me about a VPN? :D

[Andrew More]

They're pretty simple, and I don't see a lot of difference between them. You might need to try a few if you run into performance problems. I live in the states, so my results might differ from yours, or somebody who lives another state over.

[Jonathan Pace]

If you value your online privacy, then a VPN is worth it. It protects you from hackers and snoopers, even if you are connected to a public Wi-Fi spot.

[Doug Garson]

I'm curious what "online censorship" you are referring to?

[Greg Funk]

Considering a VPN to avoid any sort of online censorship as it looks like they will do it. What can you tell me about a VPN? :DI use NordVPN to spoof my IP and make it look like I'm in the UK in order to watch bike races. Don't care about privacy. It is significantly slower than the fiber internet we have but works fine for streaming video. I don't know if there will be any censorship or if Google will just need to pay some media companies for sharing their content. I subscribe to a couple news feeds and doubt they would be affected.

[Greg Funk]

I'm curious what "online censorship" you are referring to?https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/what-is-bill-c-18-and-how-do-i-know-if-google-is-blocking-my-news-content-1.6286816

[roger wiegand]

So not censorship but a dispute over whether news creators should be paid for their work by companies like Google and Meta who profit from redistributing it. Presumably all of this content is available from the original providers, albeit perhaps for a fee.

[Keegan Shields]

Alternately, you might consider subscribing to a reputable news provider that does actual investigative journalism. The quality is much higher than the free stuff. It’s been my experience that the free news sites are “reporting” on other reporters that actually do the leg work.

[Brian Elfert]

I don't know what a VPN is going to help with here. Is Google going to allow access if you appear to be coming from a different geographic location?

This is hardly censorship. Google is not blocking, and really cannot, block direct access to these news sites. It is an economic move by Google because they don't want to pay when user click on a link from their search engine.

[Monte Milanuk]

A good first step in my opinion would be to stop using Google directly - they (and others) have a history of 'tuning' your search results to what they think you want to see. There are other sites that will submit the search in an anonymous manner for you and return less biased results.

[Jim Becker]

VPNs are great for privacy when you are out and about using WiFi connections that are not under your control...they add an additional security layer to help prevent nefarious folks from intercepting your private information by monitoring the publicly accessible WiFi connection network. They are less valuable for security at home because your network is already secured. The big benefit there might be "appearing to be somewhere else" in order to access content that's not normally accessible where you live. In all cases, there is exactly ZERO additional security benefit once the stream of ones and zeros exit the VPN at the other end.

[Alan Rutherford]

I have used and been happy with PIA (Private Internet Access), primarily when traveling. One problem is that when I tried to use Google, Google recognized that I was using a VPN and would ask me to prove that I was a human by finding all the motorcycles or something in one of those blurry picture montages in which it's hard to recognize anything. Annoying and time-wasting. If they were going to filter your content based on your location, they might not know your true location but would likely know you were hiding it.

[Curt Harms]

If you value your online privacy, then a VPN is worth it. It protects you from hackers and snoopers, even if you are connected to a public Wi-Fi spot.

ESPECIALLY if you're using public WiFi. That's the primary reason I have a VPN, another layer of encryption. Some sites won't permit a connection if they detect a VPN is use (yes bad guys use them too). With a home network connection you sorta control both ends of your network connection. I say sorta because most gateways are controlled by the ISP or manufacturer and if there's an exploit the ISP or manufacturer hasn't gotten around to fixing your home network may not be as secure as you think it is. Same issue with wireless access points at restaurants, airports, hotels etc., you have no control over the other end of your network connection. Most connections these days are encrypted so if a bad guy intercepts your data it's of no immediate use to them.

[Chris Parks]

This follows what happened in Australia, the major media took Google to court backed by the Government. australia media fights google - Google Search (https://www.google.com/search?q=australia+media+fights+google&oq=australia+media+fights+google&aqs=edge..69i57j0i546l2.18374j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)

[Bill George]

I use Duck Duck Go for a search engine. Yes and your local IP will track you also.

[Brian Elfert]

Public WI-FI doesn't concern me all that much. Any website that has sensitive data is going to have HTTPS or similar encryption these days. Even Sawmillcreek.org has HTTPS now. You should never use the same password at more than one site. If your password is compromised on a site that doesn't have encryption that likely means that site doesn't have anything really worth stealing. It a site has sensitive data and is not using HTTPS then you shouldn't be using that site at all no matter what network you are on.

Most hackers these days are more interested in cracking huge databases full of millions of passwords and other valuable data than connecting a device to public WIFI and sniffing the traffic. There is little value when any data that is valuable is all encrypted now. I usually don't connect to public WI-FI simply because my phone usually has service that is fast enough without hopping on WI-FI.

[Larry Frank]

What are the downsides to using a VPN ? Its is slower? Are their sites you can not teach or have trouble with? I can see advantages when out using public WiFi but do I need it at home?

[Keegan Shields]

VPNs can be slower. The downside is most people don’t need the added security. If you are connecting via your home WiFi to surf the internet, there’s no need. In many cases, companies are selling a complex product to people who don’t understand what they are buying or if they really need it.

When connecting to public WiFi, VPNs can add an extra layer of security if the VPN software is written correctly. Also, if you work remote and need to connect to your companies network, VPN is the secure solution.

Is a given no-name VPN company’s software written correctly? Hard to tell until there a publicly disclosed security breach.

IMHO you are better off following the NSAs basic PC hardening steps.

[Curt Harms]

What are the downsides to using a VPN ? Its is slower? Are their sites you can not teach or have trouble with? I can see advantages when out using public WiFi but do I need it at home?

I have run into a few sites that wouldn't connect using a Private Internet Access VPN. Turn off the VPN and the site would connect. Not common but I have seen it.

[Bill Howatt]

It's unfortunate that the advantage of using a VPN is lost at some public locations because they detect VPN use and block the connection. Sometimes you can get around it by trying different VPN settings but it makes you wonder if the location has an interest in collecting your data to sell. Financial institutions may block VPN because they make your connection appear to come from some unusual city and they consider that a possible theft attempt on your account.
The key, as has been said, is to ensure that the site is designated with htttps and this is in effect immediately, I don't know if it still happens but in the past some sites did not encrypt login info and only used an encrypted connection when you got into the main part of the site.
I use VPN in public WiFi places but not at home.
VPN can slow things down but in my case, I haven't had an issue, and I would never go with a freebee VPN, I use NordVPN but there are other reputable ones.
I look at a VPN as a belt and suspenders safety approach.

[Monte Milanuk]

One potential downside to a VPN (service) is that if someone else using that same service did something naughty, then you may find yourself lumped in with them as well. Case in point... another forum I visit, if I am using my (paid, privacy) VPN when out and about, if I use one particular server as my exit node, I get blocked from that forum. Apparently someone did something bad using the VPN and that particular server address at some point, so now the forum blocks any traffic from that particular IP address. If I switch to a different exit node (same VPN service) it's all good. Irritating, but not a big deal. Worth being aware of, though.

More and more, I find myself using what some call a 'mesh' VPN like Tailscale or ZeroTier. Basically it allows you to connect *your* devices together like they were on a flat local network - so my phone, tablet and laptop can all connect to my NAS at home - and each other - like they were *on* my home LAN, without all the usual BS headaches of port forwarding, punching thru CGNAT, etc. All well and good for file sharing, backups, etc. but what's really nice is the ability to use a device on my home network as the exit node for my mobile devices... so all my traffic, whether I'm somewhere on public wifi (ick) or on my phone, etc. gets routed via the VPN back inside my home network... and then exits there normally. Subject to the ad blockers / content filters I have set up on the home network, etc. Of course, you need to have an 'always on' device like your NAS or firewall that is capable of running this kind of software, and a reasonably robust home network connection to handle the traffic... but it is pretty sweet if you do.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Interesting discussion on VPN's.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MHBMdTBlok