> What benefits do VPNs bring over just HTTPS? Doxxing/blackmail protection. If a few people collude to secure moderator positions at different sites and each

> What benefits do VPNs bring over just HTTPS? Doxxing/blackmail protection. If a few people collude to secure moderator positions at different sites and each gains access to IP logs (or someone just bruteforces/exploits the site and dumps logs), anybody can be outed across those sites-- the adversary has effectively compromised the server and can map page accesses directly to your IP. They don't break HTTPS, they break the weaker link-- the trust of the server owner. The next step is gaining access to the VPN provider's logs (they don't keep any, right? Right?). They all keep logs. Even if they say they don't, assume they do. Nobody is held accountable for lying about it. Again, not breaking HTTPS, but breaking the weaker link-- an unscrupulous VPN owner already exploiting the trust of you, the customer. Tor is the only "safe" way to be anonymous, but even that is dead through fingerprinting, gatekeeping and forced Javascript enabling.