8 ms·
How do VPNs protect you against advertisers?
by JeremyBanks 10y ago
How do VPNs protect you against advertisers?
- pier25 10y agoBecause ISPs can't read your traffic
- nosuchthing 10y agoYes, but every website you visit can potentially ID you with cookies or browser finger prints.
- mirimir 10y agoWell, you compartmentalize in multiple VMs. Using different VPNs, Tor, and nested chains of them.
- brokenmachine 10y agoThings are getting very inconvenient at that point, all to avoid being snooped on by the people who are supposed to be representing us. What a sorry state of affairs.
- mirimir 10y agoYes, it is unfortunate. But hey, you gotta deal with what's so. There is a learning curve, and extra steps in configuring a working environment. But once the host and VMs are configured, uptime is no worse than with typical LANs.
- erentz 10y agoBut now the VPN provider can just track you and sell all your browsing history instead of the ISP, so how is this better?
- Mahn 10y agoIt's not. There's no way to verify the VPN provider is not keeping logs and tracking you.
- dredmorbius 10y agoThis is the principle-agent problem, generally. Audits and reputation may help.
- mirimir 10y agoBecause you have much more choice for VPN providers than for ISPs. And you can change VPN periodically, far more easily than changing ISP. Also, you can use nested chains of VPNs, much like Tor, to distribute trust. So adversaries must compromise multiple providers, quickly enough that logs will be available. Edit: Also, you can pick VPN providers outside your adversary's sphere of influence. That's standard advice for users in China, for example.
- JumpCrisscross 10y agoAlso, you can pay for a VPN without revealing your identity. Not so with ISPs. I use a VPN, for instance, to mask my Tor usage from my ISP. (I'm an American using the Internet in the United States.)
- mirimir 10y agoTrue. But the VPN provider effectively knows who you are, because they see your IP address. Or rather, a resourceful adversary can get your IP address from the VPN provider, and then get your identity from your ISP. If you chain VPNs, however, it certainly makes sense to lease the second/indirect VPN anonymously.
- manquer 10y agoI don't think IP alone will not be sufficient, for ex i am sure my ISP extensibly NATs the network and shares the same IP for many users. So much so that Google keeps asking for captcha every couple of days