Vitrual Private Networks, Anyone educated?

[Reasonable Atheist]

So, what with the crummy internet laws being passed in countries all over the world, and the scummy nsa crap going on these days I got to thinking.

Who is looking at what I am doing? I would like it to be nobody if possible.

I have looked into Virtual private networks (VPN) that allow you to encrypt your traffic and route it through their IP address. As far as I can tell, this would allow me do do anything I like with my internet connection without anyone being the wiser, and that sounds good to me. However I do not exactly consider myself educated about this aspect of the internet, and I would like to remedy that.

Are any escapists particular knowledgeable?

Anyone have a favorite VPN service to recommend?

I am sure there are some other escapists that would also appreciate any expertise you would be willing to share.

Bonus points if the VPN is a tiny unknown simple and awesome service.

 

[01189998819991197253]

You mean a proxy? When did people start calling proxies "VPN"? Why would you need this service? You'll have to pay for it, it's going to increase your latency, and you're still entrusting your security to a 3rd party you don't know much about. Something like a VPN isn't going to stop a state-level actor from tracking you anyway. The idea that the NSA is going to be baffled by lightly encrypted traffic doesn't hold water.

So, why do you want to spend money for nothing, but a slower connection and protection from a threat you've never actually experienced?

 

[Hero in a half shell]

I was curious and looked into them, but I decided against it pretty quickly when I realised it would affect my latency (I need all my precious latency for online pwning of noobs and watching high definition minecraft videos.)

I think it's pretty unnecessary - a standard anti-virus and common sense should guard you from most attacks, and as for the government, I don't think a single VPN will in any way stop them if they want to look at your internet history, and if they don't then the protection is unneeded.

 

[Reasonable Atheist]

You mean a proxy? When did people start calling proxies "VPN"? Why would you need this service? You'll have to pay for it, it's going to increase your latency, and you're still entrusting your security to a 3rd party you don't know much about. Something like a VPN isn't going to stop a state-level actor from tracking you anyway. The idea that the NSA is going to be baffled by lightly encrypted traffic doesn't hold water.

So, why do you want to spend money for nothing, but a slower connection and protection from a threat you've never actually experienced?

I want to hide my traffic from being monitored by my ISP.

 

[Albino Boo]

You can use a vpn but that will cost you latency. If you add an extra layer of servers and routers your ping will suffer. Also if you think that using a vpn will hide your torrents from your ISP you are mistaken. Torrents have a telltale data usage that are a dead give away. Just the pattern of packets will say torrent, you don't have to break the encryption to know.

 

[Maladict]

I can't speak for whether it's worth getting one at all or not, but if you do decide to get one then I've always heard good things about Private Internet Access. I've seen lots of good user reviews, Torrent Freak rates it very highly, and the two people I know IRL who use it say it works great. It does slow their connection down (an inevitability with these services), but not significantly. It's noticeable if you're doing a lot of downloading, but otherwise you won't even feel it. And even when downloading the speeds are, in their words, "reasonable". From the website the monthly price is $7, and they have a 7-day money back guarantee, so you could always try it and see if it's right for you.

Hope that helps!

 

[DoPo]

You mean a proxy? When did people start calling proxies "VPN"?

A proxy and a VPN are two completely different things. With a proxy, you can ask it to make requests in your stead and you the results, while a VPN is an actual (as the name suggests) virtual network that takes over your traffic.

As far as I can tell, this would allow me do do anything I like with my internet connection without anyone being the wiser, and that sounds good to me.

You still have the VPN provider having literally all your traffic. You would need to have very high trust in them, in order to make that claim.

 

[01189998819991197253]

You mean a proxy? When did people start calling proxies "VPN"? Why would you need this service? You'll have to pay for it, it's going to increase your latency, and you're still entrusting your security to a 3rd party you don't know much about. Something like a VPN isn't going to stop a state-level actor from tracking you anyway. The idea that the NSA is going to be baffled by lightly encrypted traffic doesn't hold water.

So, why do you want to spend money for nothing, but a slower connection and protection from a threat you've never actually experienced?

I want to hide my traffic from being monitored by my ISP.

A VPN on its own doesn't protect your traffic from ISP monitoring. You need a VPN that also encrypts traffic, and doesn't keep records. Be prepared to pay significantly for that.

 

[LostCrusader]

OP, you may want to look into TOR. Its not something you have to pay for and it encrypts your traffic multiple times when your browsing. It will give you a decent slow down so I wouldn't recommend streaming or gaming while using it, but its still pretty good.

 

[antidonkey]

A VPN doesn't really work the way you're thinking. Sure, when you're connected to the VPN the data between you and those servers could very well be encrypted as you are part of a network. However, if you use a proxy feature on that VPN to access the internet, all that internet traffic won't be encrypted. That means there will still be a paper trail. It might be a little harder to follow but it will still be there.

 

[Beffudled Sheep_v1legacy]

OP, you may want to look into TOR. Its not something you have to pay for and it encrypts your traffic multiple times when your browsing. It will give you a decent slow down so I wouldn't recommend streaming or gaming while using it, but its still pretty good.

TOR will hide your traffic from your ISP but your ISP will know you're using TOR and they will not be happy about it.
You might also land on an NSA watch list for using TOR, but who isn't already on one of those eh?

 

[LostCrusader]

OP, you may want to look into TOR. Its not something you have to pay for and it encrypts your traffic multiple times when your browsing. It will give you a decent slow down so I wouldn't recommend streaming or gaming while using it, but its still pretty good.

TOR will hide your traffic from your ISP but your ISP will know you're using TOR and they will not be happy about it.
You might also land on an NSA watch list for using TOR, but who isn't already on one of those eh?

I don't see what the ISPs can do about users accessing TOR, its not illegal and they really shouldn't care about how their customers use the internet. Ultimately its just keeping your ISP from being able to record where you are going beyond accessing TOR, which is what the OP was asking about.

As for the NSA, they already have ways to watch everyone.

 

[Nickolai77]

I think you need to keep in mind what you want to use a VPN/Proxy for. It would be very difficult to have complete internet security and be able to browse the internet, stream youtube videos and download stuff as you would normally on a regular internet connection. You can't have your cake and eat it- for more security you sacrifice convenience.

For example I don't think TOR lets you stream videos because apparently video clips are notorious for leaking your IP, and the level of encryption TOR has means that the stream rate would be very slow anyway. Downloading anything through proxies or VPN's is much much slower as well.

Generally you have to pay for a decent VPN, but there's some that offer free, limited versions as well. When choosing a VPN make sure they don't keep customer internet use logs, and it's also helps to check where they're based. Preferably outside of countries like the US or UK.

I think other posters are right that if some spy agency was determined enough to find you, they probably will eventually regardless of what sort of encryption you use. However, you have to be doing some pretty fucking illegal stuff for the police to go to the bother of tracking you down. The police do have limited time and resources, they're not going to be tracking down and identifying teenagers in their bedrooms downloading stuff from Piratebay.


In my opinion, you're probably best using a free proxy or a trail or paid VPN service for particular purposes that you feel are private. For general internet use that you don't mind being public knowledge (like what you post on Facebook or comment on the Escapist) then you're better of using normal internet. I think the hindrance and cost of going completely "hidden" outweighs the benefit of being completely anonymous to everybody.

 

[Smooth Operator]

TOR browser is probably a good start for a newbie, it already comes set up to hide what you do on it's own and if you really get into it you can upgrade to faster networks as you see fit(usually those cost money).
And government agencies can't reliably track you through the network, none the less near all major companies datamine the crap out of you so even if you go through a secure network and connect to a service that keeps personal data they obviously know who you are and what you are doing. If you are serious about security then just plainly forget that Google/Facebook/MS/Apple/Steam... even exist, there are supplement services on TOR networks for that to an extent.
Also Windows 10 comes with a list of datamining shit that boggles the mind(all of it enabled by default), you actually need third party software to disable it all because the Win10 interface only allows that to an extent, and their forced updates allow themselves to add/enable snooping options without letting anyone know.

Finally if someone is really interested in you none of this helps because you are working against top end spies, but it will help against blanket surveillance.