3 ms·

>somewhere You mean on a VPS that you also rented from someone else, therefore essentially moving your traffic from your ISP to...?

homeland221 4y ago
I think he meant more control of the traffic by making sure personally it won't log anything. That is high technical skillset out of reach for most users. And if you do even set that up, you will waste a lot of time maintaining. The time lost need to get compensated as he will need to pay bills...and hence he himself quit his day job and become NordVPN. Again, not many users willing to go thru that.
- Last5Digits 4y ago
  But can you really do that? In the end, you still use the network architecture of the VPS provider. What's preventing them from logging traffic outside of your VPS? You also don't get the benefit of your traffic getting mixed together under the same address, since VPS providers will assign you an individual address.
- mintythoughts 4y ago
doix 4y ago
Everything is a trade-off, at some point you need to trust someone. I've got a box with OVH that I use as a VPN with wireguard. I just assume that OVH aren't logging all my traffic because it would cost them money and cut into their margins. I would never do anything illegal via that VPN though, since it would be trivial to trace it back to me. I'm sure OVH wouldn't hesitate to hand over my details if the authorities requested them. But as a privacy protection on public wifi, it works well. When choosing a VPN, you should think about what you're trying to achieve and what you're trying to protect yourself from. Most non-tech people I know that use VPNs, use them to bypass geo-restrictions. For that purpose, these giant commercial ones are probably fine.
- Last5Digits 4y ago
  Sure, but if I need to trust someone, I'd rather trust a company whose reputation is staked on not giving out my data. A VPN provider that easily bows to authorities is a VPN provider that will lose a massive portion of their user base. Some server farm probably profits very little from VPN servers, so if some government (or even some IP lawyer) knocks on their door, then they won't take the risk.
  - mintythoughts 4y ago

homeland221 4y ago

I think he meant more control of the traffic by making sure personally it won't log anything. That is high technical skillset out of reach for most users. And if you do even set that up, you will waste a lot of time maintaining. The time lost need to get compensated as he will need to pay bills...and hence he himself quit his day job and become NordVPN. Again, not many users willing to go thru that.

Last5Digits 4y ago
But can you really do that? In the end, you still use the network architecture of the VPS provider. What's preventing them from logging traffic outside of your VPS? You also don't get the benefit of your traffic getting mixed together under the same address, since VPS providers will assign you an individual address.
mintythoughts 4y ago

doix 4y ago

Everything is a trade-off, at some point you need to trust someone. I've got a box with OVH that I use as a VPN with wireguard. I just assume that OVH aren't logging all my traffic because it would cost them money and cut into their margins. I would never do anything illegal via that VPN though, since it would be trivial to trace it back to me. I'm sure OVH wouldn't hesitate to hand over my details if the authorities requested them. But as a privacy protection on public wifi, it works well. When choosing a VPN, you should think about what you're trying to achieve and what you're trying to protect yourself from. Most non-tech people I know that use VPNs, use them to bypass geo-restrictions. For that purpose, these giant commercial ones are probably fine.

Last5Digits 4y ago
Sure, but if I need to trust someone, I'd rather trust a company whose reputation is staked on not giving out my data. A VPN provider that easily bows to authorities is a VPN provider that will lose a massive portion of their user base. Some server farm probably profits very little from VPN servers, so if some government (or even some IP lawyer) knocks on their door, then they won't take the risk.
- mintythoughts 4y ago