3 ms·

A corporate VPN makes sense. Using an untrusted VPN to do something like tunnel an HTTPS connection to get around geo-blocking makes sense. Using a paid VPN t

A corporate VPN makes sense. Using an untrusted VPN to do something like tunnel an HTTPS connection to get around geo-blocking makes sense. Using a paid VPN to protect ones privacy, has never made any sense to me. The vast majority of those companies I've seen are sketchy as can be. A VPN is just about perfectly situated to track users - possibly better than even the ISP since the VPN provider doesn't have to contend with a NAT device obscuring the number of actual users. Combine that opportunity, with the fact that many VPN providers have minimal name recognition - in case of bad press, spend $10 on a new domain name - and are competing on price with what appear must be small margins. What would really surprise me would be a report that proved that the vast majority of paid VPN providers aren't up to some funny business. Yet, someone VPNs have a reputation of being a mechanism to protect privacy.

gruez 8y ago
>Combine that opportunity, with the fact that many VPN providers have minimal name recognition - in case of bad press, spend $10 on a new domain name meanwhile, if comcast/spectrum is injecting ads or monetizing your browsing history, you have no recourse. what are you going to do, switch ISPs?
- dagenix 8y ago
  Its reasonable not to trust your ISP. However, the majority of VPN services seem remarkably less trust worthy.
- jsoc815 8y ago
  The problem here is a lack of critical mass. IME, most people don't care about any of this. I recently tried to explain to my classmates why "free" apps are typically not free; they basically got mad @ me for doing so. And this, is generally factored into a business model by anyone slightly scrupulous. So, and I've not done this myself (yet), the options are: lower your standards to those of the unwashed masses; or 2) become the service provider yourself (hopefully w/ a group of like-minded individuals). Of course, #2 will be somewhat difficult because there's a lot behind-the-scenes non-technical stuff that goes into 1) forming and sustaining a company; and 2) bringing a thriving product to market. That said, you could try to fork #2, and instead of bringing your solution to the broad market, roll fight-club style and hope that obscurity guarantees its security/functionality. This, truthfully, is probably the best and most feasible option for the avg. person/people. (Sadly)

gruez 8y ago

>Combine that opportunity, with the fact that many VPN providers have minimal name recognition - in case of bad press, spend $10 on a new domain name meanwhile, if comcast/spectrum is injecting ads or monetizing your browsing history, you have no recourse. what are you going to do, switch ISPs?

dagenix 8y ago
Its reasonable not to trust your ISP. However, the majority of VPN services seem remarkably less trust worthy.
jsoc815 8y ago
The problem here is a lack of critical mass. IME, most people don't care about any of this. I recently tried to explain to my classmates why "free" apps are typically not free; they basically got mad @ me for doing so. And this, is generally factored into a business model by anyone slightly scrupulous. So, and I've not done this myself (yet), the options are: lower your standards to those of the unwashed masses; or 2) become the service provider yourself (hopefully w/ a group of like-minded individuals). Of course, #2 will be somewhat difficult because there's a lot behind-the-scenes non-technical stuff that goes into 1) forming and sustaining a company; and 2) bringing a thriving product to market. That said, you could try to fork #2, and instead of bringing your solution to the broad market, roll fight-club style and hope that obscurity guarantees its security/functionality. This, truthfully, is probably the best and most feasible option for the avg. person/people. (Sadly)