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Are widely shilled VPNs any good/useful?
| privacytools.io used to have a really nice breakdown of VPN providers, but I believe they have since experienced some internal struggles and a full split-off/rebranding. Might still be worth checking them out. Goes by privacyguides now.
One thing you can do is outline what you need (pricing, user-friendly client, wireguard support, logging, etc.) from a VPN then individually research each one of interest.
| >>836745
I've used a few and I actualy like Surfshark, haven't used any other since. I did a lot of research and found that Surfshark seems like most based and its really fast too. No issues with leaks either, which I've experienced with multiple (including Nord). I like TunnelBear too, but they're Canadian, had less servers, and were definitely slower
| Sooo most trustworthy that I'm aware of is mulvad
And I recommend against Nord because the last time they had a security issue they decided to try to keep it quiet instead of notifying their users
they were notified by their server provider in April 2019 and only went public in October when a set of their private keys (expired) were posted to Twitter
| And vpns are debaitably useful for hiding your traffic if that's what you're worried about, if you still sign in while using it those services can still track your habits and such same with cookies and such
Basically if you're doing something less than legal you will want to change your browser, habits and such too
If you're just torrenting you're fine so long as you set your torrent client correctly
| It's impossible to know what any of these VPN companies do internally. If you are seriously concerned with what they do then it may be worth considering the investment of time into a 3-5 USD/month VPS and settings up openvpn/wireguard.
Alternatively, I would second Mullvad. Atleast they have source available for some of their tooling, allowing for public audit.
| >>836845 Worth mentioning if you do decide to host your own VPN that you should ensure the both the hosting provider's location and the VPS' physical location. So you get an idea of what laws are applicable. iirc Finland and Sweden are the most ideal.
| Don't expect to hide from any government with a VPN alone. Even a non government entity can and will trace you with stubborness/money/spite alone.
But it will make it much harder.
| Just like 2 years ago, nord was compromised. People make videos about it, including people who has shilled it. They probably spend way to much money on ad than improving their service.
| Look up: ExpressVPN Snowden
| Since there's no way to verify any claims of no-logging—and considering the widespread use of technologies like HTTPS/SSL—I think you'd be much better off switching to FOSS apps and hardening Firefox rather than routing all your traffic thru some honeypot.
The only reason you should use a VPN is to circumvent censorship and/or to torrent shit if you live in a country where copyright trolls can sue you.
When a product is 99% marketing budget & shilling, it's probably a scam.
| I can't say for certain but there's evidence that ExpressVpn is a shell company for Chengbao Ltd in Hong Kong. This makes it subject the internet security laws of Mainland China which require user data. Of the vpns that work in China, it has long been suspected that the vpns work because they are allowed to work by the government.
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| Like Nord or Express, has anyone conducted independent analysis on what they do? I'm afraid my government might start putting *anal* in *analysis* soon so I'm looking for at least some options to bypass it.