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... and a lot of those VPN companies are probably VC-funded. Tom Scott made a good video on the uses and non-uses of VPNs [1]. VPN advertising has changed sinc

by rchowe 4y ago

... and a lot of those VPN companies are probably VC-funded. Tom Scott made a good video on the uses and non-uses of VPNs [1]. VPN advertising has changed since that video to downplay "security", but what I think is odd is that they've replaced that with advertisement that basically is "violate the terms of service of Netflix". [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVDQEoe6ZWY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVDQEoe6ZWY

franga2000 4y ago
Glad I'm not the only one that got the feeling this video impacted the entire VPN advertising space. All of us techies have been screaming this from day one and many tech-focused creators even talked about this publicly, but the ads kept going. Tom Scott seems to be in the perfect position where he has the technical background to understand why the ads were wrong, but also has a much wider and more general audience that includes many other creators. I'm guessing many creators learned about just how blatant the lies they were selling were for the first time from him and put pressure on their sponsors to chill with the fear-mongering. And even those that knew and lied regardless were probably scared that their audience now knew too, so shifting away from these talking points was in their best interest too. TL;DR: Tom Scott is awesome and he did a lot of good by making that video
- iudqnolq 4y ago
  Tom Scott's current VPN ads are an interesting balancing act. He generally opens with him using the VPN to get around geo-targetting in a way that isn't in violation of TOS. He does a huge amount of travel, so he does run into poorly designed websites that try to be helpful and serve content by location sometimes. He doesn't say outright that such opportunities are rare, and normal people may never encounter them. He does say that before using VPNs to get around restrictions by streaming services users should make sure they're not in violation of any TOS. He never talks about security.
- shalmanese 4y ago
  I hope someone does a similar takedown of Masterworks (fractional art investing). I've seen way too many financial planning or finance adjacent podcasts regurgitate Masterworks claims completely uncritically to a way too impressionable audience.
  - sneak 4y ago
    If He didn’t want them shorn, He wouldn’t have made them sheep.
  - tjs8rj 4y ago
    Could you list the erroneous claims made in Masterworks ads? I’m not affiliated with them in any way other than as an interested potential customer (and I’ve seen the charts on their site, but haven’t made any deposits)
- PoignardAzur 4y ago
  I kind of wonder how much NordVPN paid him to make that "actually VPNs are great sometimes" ad with the robot head. They had to be gunning for it for a while.
musicale 4y ago
> violate the terms of service of Netflix It's a technical solution to a business-created problem. And Netflix and VPNs probably create incremental business for each other.

by rchowe 4y ago

franga2000 4y ago

Glad I'm not the only one that got the feeling this video impacted the entire VPN advertising space. All of us techies have been screaming this from day one and many tech-focused creators even talked about this publicly, but the ads kept going. Tom Scott seems to be in the perfect position where he has the technical background to understand why the ads were wrong, but also has a much wider and more general audience that includes many other creators. I'm guessing many creators learned about just how blatant the lies they were selling were for the first time from him and put pressure on their sponsors to chill with the fear-mongering. And even those that knew and lied regardless were probably scared that their audience now knew too, so shifting away from these talking points was in their best interest too. TL;DR: Tom Scott is awesome and he did a lot of good by making that video

iudqnolq 4y ago
Tom Scott's current VPN ads are an interesting balancing act. He generally opens with him using the VPN to get around geo-targetting in a way that isn't in violation of TOS. He does a huge amount of travel, so he does run into poorly designed websites that try to be helpful and serve content by location sometimes. He doesn't say outright that such opportunities are rare, and normal people may never encounter them. He does say that before using VPNs to get around restrictions by streaming services users should make sure they're not in violation of any TOS. He never talks about security.
shalmanese 4y ago
I hope someone does a similar takedown of Masterworks (fractional art investing). I've seen way too many financial planning or finance adjacent podcasts regurgitate Masterworks claims completely uncritically to a way too impressionable audience.
- sneak 4y ago
  If He didn’t want them shorn, He wouldn’t have made them sheep.
- tjs8rj 4y ago
  Could you list the erroneous claims made in Masterworks ads? I’m not affiliated with them in any way other than as an interested potential customer (and I’ve seen the charts on their site, but haven’t made any deposits)
PoignardAzur 4y ago
I kind of wonder how much NordVPN paid him to make that "actually VPNs are great sometimes" ad with the robot head. They had to be gunning for it for a while.

musicale 4y ago

> violate the terms of service of Netflix It's a technical solution to a business-created problem. And Netflix and VPNs probably create incremental business for each other.