I agree that it's but a single tool in a complex mesh of procedures to provide some privacy. But the reality is that it does work for a variety of usecases. Tr

I agree that it's but a single tool in a complex mesh of procedures to provide some privacy. But the reality is that it does work for a variety of usecases. Try to torrent in Germany (of all places) and you'll get blackmail letters from random lawyers. Do this with a VPN and no problem. For this scenario it's the tool for the job. If you're an insurgent trying to liberate Iran it's not. For general surfing privacy it doesn't add much value at all because most of the identifying information is in the session itself, not the IP. This is where the layered approach comes in. But I definitely see a value in these services. And they do offer many anonymous payment options, but some are heavily frowned upon in some regions (eg anonymous crypto in India) and mailing bills is inconvenient and risky. And I guess for some people it's worth the tradeoff.