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I agree with you, but, to be clear, the issue isn't VPNs, it's that the VPNs you are using are also used by spammers/bots/etc. or a large amount of other people
by Cacti 8y ago
I agree with you, but, to be clear, the issue isn't VPNs, it's that the VPNs you are using are also used by spammers/bots/etc. or a large amount of other people. If you set up your own VPN somewhere that is just used by you and your family (for example), you will never run into this issue.
As a case in point, the same issue crops up with lots of users going through the same corporate proxy.
And it's the same reason that you can run Netflix (for example) through a personal VPN with no issue but will run into problems if you use a popular, retail VPN service.
- nprateem 8y agoWhat's the point of a VPN if you're easily identifiable? Surely you want to blend into a crowd?
- Cacti 8y agoI mean, unless you're going through additional effort, you're still identifiable through a VPN. Any web tracking, whether through cookies or through fingerprinting, still works just fine. At best you're merely making it more difficult. Also, there is also no reason, though it would be a PITA, that you can't add your own measures to a private VPN, whether that's rotating IPs or some other measure. Is it going to keep your illegal activities truly anonymous? No, but neither is a retail VPN. It is a matter of degree and what tradeoffs you're willing to make. As far as uses for a private VPN, the most obvious is to ensure intermediate parties, particularly on the same subnets, can't snoop on your actual traffic _content_. This isn't going to keep you anonymous from the NSA, but it sure will help against corporations (ISPs and their numerous corporate parents/cousins/siblings). Another benefit is that by protecting against packet level inspection, you are protecting yourself from many current forms of traffic shaping and bandwidth metering/throttling, as well as from limits on services you are running or the content of files you are downloading, as well as from intermediaries (e.g. ISPs) from inserting ads or additional tracking or whatever else into your (mainly web) traffic. This also comes into play not just with your normal ISP but any you are using while traveling (coffee shops, airports, hotels, and other untrusted networks).
- wl 8y agoI run a VPN from home for using at coffee shops and the like. While the proliferation of HTTPS has made sketchy networks less of a problem, DNS is still leaky.
- Cacti 8y agoYou can run the DNS through your VPN and have it use secure DNS outside of your home ISP, and then cache the DNS results on a DNS server at home. It's not perfect but leaks will end up being pretty minimal, even in accidental situations.
- wl 8y agoI route all traffic, including DNS, through my VPN when I'm not at home. I was just commenting on the leakiness of DNS to preempt people saying "HTTPS means you're safe!" I used to run my own DNS server when I was on Comcast. Now that I have a real ISP run by people I trust who have the same opinions on privacy that I do, it's no longer worth the hassle.
- tootahe45 8y agoYou could just pay double ($10 or so) for a VPN that logs, has less users, more IPs, and should be able to avoid these issues.
- Cacti 8y agoPossibly, sure. Depends on what IP blocks it has and how well known they are. Ultimately there is great incentive to track any retail VPN service, even the less well known ones.