Well I agree with you on the self hosted VPN option being the best. I’m just saying there’s not zero benefit to hosted VPN in some cases. And it sounds like yo

Well I agree with you on the self hosted VPN option being the best. I’m just saying there’s not zero benefit to hosted VPN in some cases. And it sounds like your just looking at http traffic and web browser traffic. Your computer is communicating over lots of other ports and protocols that are often not encrypted. Are you blocking all outbound traffic? Let’s take the recent iTerm vulnerability. ( https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/763073/ https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/763073/ ) I’m guessing you don’t have a plug-in to force curl to use https? What if you execute a script that curls http and you don’t realize? Now you could say well “I just make sure all my curls are https.” The problem with that approach is it requires unrealistic levels of vigilance, about every outgoing service you may use, and that all your software on your machine is patched or bug free. The easiest and quickest place for a hacker to learn their tools and skills is simply public WiFi. Want to try that iTerm exploit out... you go to the coffee shop and wait for a programmer to accidentally curl something over http. VPN is not perfect, but it does provide some protection in certain circumstances that can’t be ruled out. Best course, force https for web browser, and use your own hosted VPN anytime you are on a public network.