Why VPNs are a WASTE of Your Money (usually…)

[@cometsands]

Imagine he says: "That's why thid video is proudly sponsored by Nord VPN"

[@ElliotOcean]

Haha tbh I did think it was headed towards a sales pitch at the end 😂

[@hirakchatterjee5240]

Nord VPN is the only one I would trust tbh. It has a very good reputation and so far there is no dent to their reputation.

[@shimotsuki2811]

@@hirakchatterjee5240 Yeah not a single dent at all... look up the 2018 server breach which nordvpn took 1 and a half year to report. Trust none, especially those who are being shilled everywhere like nordvpn.

[@whoknows8678]

@@hirakchatterjee5240 Same for PIA. They've been tested in court cases under subpoena to provide info more than once and they never turned anything over on the defendant since they don't keep user logs. They were even raided to see if they were just saying that, but it was true. They couldn't turn over the info even if the wanted to...because they truly don't keep user logs...

[@InMaTeofDeath]

@@whoknows8678 Yup been using PIA for years without issues.

[@pt8306]

"I use a VPN to stay anonymous on the internet" >Logs into Facebook using their VPN

[@JW-bc4nd]

But there's no reason to not trust Facebook. It's just a friendly business run by a very trustworthy guy who is definitely a human and has never casually made fun of people for trusting him with their information.

[@kenlee2923]

You can use VPN to access facebook. People in China does it all the time.

[@pt8306]

@@kenlee2923 Sure you can access Facebook in china. My point is that by logging into Facebook over a VPN, you are effectively compromising your anonymity, especially if you use your real name on Facebook (which most people do)

[@PrivateJoker0119]

I dont really get why people want anonymity in the internet.. mostly, you'll only get targeted ads,.

[@pt8306]

@@PrivateJoker0119 The main reason for anonymity is to avoid big tech categorising you based on your opinions and then trying to either reinforce or change your opinions based on their algorithm

[@vapesnob7603]

He says, “Practicing digital hygiene isn’t that complicated.” Then goes on to name like 50 different bullet points to practice digital hygiene.

[@SigurdBraathen]

It's not complicated! - for him! =-P

[@Ceelvain]

You don't have to do all of them perfectly to make yourself much harder to track.

[@RyanHevernDowntoExplore]

Yea this is what I was thinking lol. There are easier ways to do this though

[@dennisjungbauer4467]

Yeah, found that amusing as well.^^ Those are not just some simple steps to follow for the average internet user (that does know how to use it), but rather a pretty good foundation for people that are concerned about their privacy.

[@Cyberspatial]

Blame it on the curse of knowledge 😄

[@nicopootato2330]

All i have learnt in this videos is that I either have to go all out James Bond style clearing my name off the internet, or do nothing and accept the fact that I will die to a dark web hitman one day. Using a VPN isn’t really worth for security sake.

[@methodicalmayhem5881]

Yes and no. I am just a humble noob, but please hear me out. The solution to this problem is Layers of Protection.

[@wills242]

@@methodicalmayhem5881 good point but individuals rarely have time to establish one layer of protection

[@RelianceIndustriesLtd]

you are more likely to die from "natural causes" like leukemia caused by some covert CIA op where they were trying to kill someone with high energy radiation and you were just a collateral (or maybe event the target)

[@IMelkor42]

When does James Bond clean anything off of the internet? He's a cold war era trope spy. He just shoots people and shags birds.

[@t.c.2776]

@@methodicalmayhem5881 LMAO... so you create a new email and password for EVERY SITE?... I have 3 pages of websites I do transactions with, whether business or pleasure and some of them want two resource confirmation and I have only ONE phone and don't always have it sitting next to me... Google has also scammed me into allowing IT to manage my log-ins and even tries to block me from using my actual original password on those sites without jumping through several hoops.🙄😉

[@HyenaEmpyema]

Another crappy thing about it is when you use a VPN, most major websites treat you like a criminal and force you to "prove you're not a robot" or just block you. Cloudflare often blocks or throttles me when I go to normal websites from my VPN.

[@needsmoreclipping]

Why do you need to visit normal websites with a VPN?

[@HyenaEmpyema]

@@needsmoreclipping privacy is more than hiding specific things only. but ad tracking and ISP snooping are 2 that come to mind.

[@polocatfan]

I mean that's pretty understandable... they'd rather inconvience a small number of users than risk the likely 5 attempted ddos attacks happening at once succeeding.

[@Cyberspatial]

Lot of bad apples poison the whole pool.

[@ericcheah6528]

Yup. The speed was slow as well. Damn frustrating

[@HMan2828]

Main uses for VPNs outside of corporate VPNs is geospoofing, bypassing traffic shaping from the ISP, and hiding your IP for peer-to-peer applications... All very useful and worth the couple of dollars a month price... But you have to do your homework and make sure you are getting what you are paying for.

[@catch.22]

I use a vpn to access content from my home country in America, avoiding isp throttle, and paying in foreign currency

[@One.Zero.One101]

My country blocks Pornhub. I'm not ashamed to admit why I use VPN lol.

[@masterTigress96]

@@One.Zero.One101 Just curious, which country is this? This is the first time I've heard of any government passing laws to block the hub and I assume similar sites. Is this like the UK opt-in program they had in mind for certain adult content on the web (which I can't remember if that was implemented)?

[@mrmaster8884]

schill

[@Spankyy811]

​​@@masterTigress96In Indonesia pornhub and all other porn sites are banned. Even reddit is banned cause they said it contains pornography. A few years ago steam and paypal was banned for a while too due to bureucratic reason. Our department that supervise this is called Ministry of communication and informatics which frankly is staffed by incompetent and stupid people which has no experience at all in this field. They only managed to get their job by inside relation and bribing which is very common in Indonesia. The head of this ministry which is the minister has just been caught for US$510m corruption. Its really unbelievable.😂

[@leewallis5067]

I run an IT MSP company and this is by far the most accurate, well thought out and research/fact based synopsis of ‘Big VPN subscription providers’ I’ve ever seen. For years I try and have this conversation with our clients but the words I use and the understanding of our customers when it comes to tech means it largely falls on deaf ears. Thank you for this and I will be adding your video to our new customer induction resources. Big thumbs up from here 👍👍👍👍👍.

[@letsgiveall]

@@keinlieb3818 i'm just some rando, know-nothing so who can accurately know my level of delusion(projection etc.), but i had a different take. to me it reads like 'Lee Wallis' as a sincere service provider in a technical industry is wanting to navigate the clients needs to provide them the best service that they don't understand the details of and has found a great video in this post to help educate them. which i think is the intent of this video's author. so i didn't immediately jump to anyone 'stealing' but rather see this being an example of sharing exposure to useful information which is getting the author visibility/validation and raising the knowledge of a services consumer, allowing them to make more informed(accurate) choices to meet their needs. how is this anything except a win-win? -maybe i have been watching too much Care Bears lately but i see only good here. Even in you vigilance to guard against laziness and misappropriation of effort. thank you for your thoughtfulness

[@westfwestf9322]

@@keinlieb3818 it's KZbin. Views are compensation. As long as he links to the original video he is providing compensation.

[@martinkrauser4029]

@@keinlieb3818 ... you think a KZbinr is bothered by someone showing their video to someone else? have you ever been to this website before

[@maplenerd22]

@@keinlieb3818 - This is KZbin. The purpose of KZbin is to be viewed by the public genius.

[@wiljagerhardt1219]

@@keinlieb3818 lol ur so cringe man

[@ajirhussain786]

i really enjoy these 'deep dive' videos types, telling a story while educationg and exposing industry secrects. this is awesome keep it up

[@Cyberspatial]

Thank you for watching! Really want to do more storytelling down the road.

[@rob-123]

I like the next level of data security where they fire an electron around the data packet and send them off through the internet, they can tell if the data packet has been messed with or not by the receiver if the electon tag is still there or not.

[@MrKeith-hc2fv]

I wish I could speak this clearly and directly. I love this letter of detail. I love the pace. Simplicity is genius.

[@xarfram]

The thing to remember is that the data from websites still has to reach you somehow, and if the data can do that someone can probably follow it

[@TheUnofficialMaker]

kinda like copy protection!

[@resonate9815]

If you can see it, so can they.

[@Omsip123]

Or probably not…you guys don’t know how it works

[@AndyRoidEU]

"Use an unique email for every site." Haha, 900 email adresses coming in.

[@filda2005]

5 minutes mail take you covered. Or just use not existing adress as many sites does not require email verification at all.

[@Morboxx]

@@filda2005 I do that, but only for less than trustworthy services. 5 min can become a lot when you do it every other day and sometimes it can become problematic, if you can't really get their E-mail.

[@markbooth3066]

With your own domain there is practically no limit to the number of e-mail addresses you can have, you just need to look at your catch-all mailbox to see any that aren't delivered to a non ad-hoc mailbox.

[@N73B60]

I have so many different logins and passwords I don't know who I am anymore. I'm having a multiple personality crisis.

[@garyes]

I have at least 900 email addresses. Not a problem.

[@NutritionalZero]

Deliberately polluting someone else’s analytics (for whatever reason you may wish to do that) is a perfect case for a VPN. Data like that is usually looked at only by suits to make “data-driven roadmap decisions”, so getting your opponent to think their product is really, really popular in, say, New Zealand can be hysterically funny and possibly also profitable.

[@Cyberspatial]

Interesting thought! Thanks for sharing.

[@wolf1066]

But what if we don't want your opponent thinking we like their shitty product? Hmmmm?

[@RainaRamsay]

Love it

[@smileyp4535]

God capitalism is horrifying

[@strehlow]

@@wolf1066 I think its more about getting them to lose trust in what they're collecting. Like why are all these rural New Zealanders suddenly studying Ojibwa on Duo? It must be that the analytics are messed up.

[@trentterryfriends3934]

I was expecting "VPN's are a waste of money, now here's a word from our sponsor NordVPN" 😂

[@Cyberspatial]

Gotcha there :)

[@larsrons7937]

@@Cyberspatial VPN, you opened my eyes to some things here, thanks. I believe that you *did* "give a clue" (and more) to which VPN you sort of would recommend without naming it. I saved the site as bookmark and will investigate later.

[@l3rucewayne1]

@@larsrons7937 so which one was it, and how did the clue(s) point to them?

[@ronnienicklas9682]

i understood about 30% of the video tbh however it did help me understand that vpns aren’t everything that my favorite channels have hyped them up to be. thanks a lot

[@Megaman-2407]

ehhh i dont care if my stuff get hacked i have nothing i just wanted to watch/play stuff without being region block

[@H4ckRn00B]

@@Megaman-2407 wow................ even now, when your "stuff" can be hacked to be used to sell kiddie porn, drugs, illegal guns etc, by Russians, other criminals, the KKK, Fox News, Trump, your school friends or, the CIA/NSA and Facebook..... you STILL are using this "I don't have anything to hide" bullshit!?!?

[@anjayl]

If you only understand 30%, than maybe use a good vpn :)

[@H4ckRn00B]

@@anjayl If this is your advice, then you understood approximately ZERO PERCENT of the video......

[@anjayl]

@@H4ckRn00B Or maybe you did not understand the point of my comment.

[@patc2515]

This stuff is truly exhausting. I'm starting to understand old ppl who chose not to learn about computers, smartphones, etc. I've used the internet my entire life and know how to use all devices like second nature but this topic of security, privacy, etc is absolutely exhausting. It seems like a massive mountain you could never expect to fully cross. Thanks for making this video and sharing what you do. It's clear to me that if you want to truly secure your activity and information, it's an all in or all out game and I'm no where near all in. A VPN for me is clearly a pointless waste of money and false expectation.

[@louistournas120]

If you don't want to spend money on VPN, there are free VPNs. The word is in the following sentence. Do you know about substomic particles? Did you know that the Proton is found in the nucleaus? That's right, the Proton!

[@bambooindark1]

Yeah I feel exactly the same as you. Regarding Privacy and Security they are two Mountains that exhaust all one's energy, and it's not easy to pass through (though not impossible). And I also agree Privacy is either all-in or all-out game, the tracing/clue is like this, as we leak more and more information, up to one point suddently they all connected/clicked/linked together (make sence) and form our real identity. To prevent this there is just no "little privacy" since it is an useless effort, it's all-in or all-out game To my knowledge only few things that reasonable works (now) is TOR related solution: Tor Browser, Whonix, Tails, but not sure if there is bigger picture, maybe people here have more ideas to add...

[@KaputOtter]

I don't want to toot my own horn here. But when all my friends started getting VPNs in 2013, I immediately thought something was up, that it was going to prove to be futile. The reason why is because they were PAYING for a premium service; of course those services are going to use your information somehow, probably not how you expect nor want. While my friends were all in tech, none of them had any direct connections to VPN companies, so they were all taking a risk because the advertisements got them. We of course have to compromise and make choices about which services we use (ISPs proper being one of them, not that we have much choice there -- ) but the fact that a corpo is a) making a profit off you c) gathering your personal information, should both be red flags for virtually anything else. Yes, I may be a hypocrite because I rely on Google services every day for a lot, but I am at the very least disillusioned about it.

[@OurFreeSociety]

And what's worse is that the evils are behind a lot of the fear porn online. Why? Because of the digital prison. If you want the video on it, reach out, but you will have to really pick the right time to watch it because it will depress you unless you believe in all of the lies, then you won't care. The digitail prison is out in full force, & it will only get worse due to people who believe in all of the lies they are told so they ar willing to give up their FREEDOM just like they did at the beginning of the war. SMH

[@B.Ch3rry]

My pirated 8,000 movie and 15,000 episode collection begs to differ!!!

[@mchenrynick]

That's why he mentions the Netflix example...

[@SupraSav]

Ding ding ding. This is why this entire video becomes pointless to most people - media piracy. Better to be safe then risk being made an example of by Universal, MGM, Sony or other rich corps.

[@dookdomini6535]

intel officer coming soon.. ripe for 'blackmail' ? Joke, I hope.

[@alwayscallingmeblaze]

Confession secured. Get em boys!

[@TheMechanator]

It's when you try to sell them on the street is when the media companies take note and bust you high to hell. They are after the Chinese duplicators who sell bootleg DVDs and steal IP en mass.

[@bws7037]

I've been a netsec engineer for a large company for over 25 years and the video above is exactly what I've been preaching to people for years. Bottom line, there IS NO privacy on the internet, no matter how much you try to hide or mask. People make mistakes, become complacent or simply refuse to believe the sheer scale of the amount of information that most commercial businesses collect. Every individual byte or bit is just another contributor to each users digital fingerprint.

[@MydasNeomagie]

Stating that "There is NO privacy on the internet" is useless. There are degrees to privacy. And having MORE privacy is something that people can desire and achieve.

[@archieames1968]

even if its the truth that things suck doesn't mean it should stay that way.

[@IPendragonI]

@@MydasNeomagie Unless you're hosting your own VPN server you're literally sending your network info to these hosted VPN servers run by these shady companies. Unless you're 100% on what they're going to do with your data you aren't securing yourself by using a VPN.

[@MydasNeomagie]

@@IPendragonI Not what I was talking about

[@psycedelic]

actually you can be 100% anon on the internet if you really want to just need the howto.

[@TheWayManREAL]

As a cybersecurity engineer I see all of these partnerships with VPN's and advertisement claiming you are safe as long as you use a VPN, oh gosh I am so glad someone came out with a video to finally debunk it. VPN's have always been a threat more than a help, think about it like this "Secure virtual network with site to site connections, trusting traffic between locations" or in the consumer world we look at VPN's as just changing the public IP. A agreement is made, thus opening the door to new, or bad possibilities.

[@thegeneralist7527]

Microsoft has a lot more at stake in IT security than any other company or any individual. This is why Windows updates and upgrades are free. You pay when you buy the system.

[@johndododoe1411]

@@thegeneralist7527 Since 2014, Microsoft has systematically reversed its security policy. Now a "security update" can really be installing additional spyware, and those of us trying to keep machines secure are fighting a loosing battle to pick needed fixes out of their crapload of dubious updates.

[@johndododoe1411]

Hiding behind publicly shared IPs at VPN providers may be useful to leave websites confused as to which of the other visitors from that site each request comes from. But this requires many people to log into that service at that time through that one VPN gateway. Another key aspect is to choose a tunneling method that very effectively hides the sizes and number of packets, so an outside observer cannot tell that the pattern of long-long-short-long packets that go out of the VPN is coming from your real IP, and not any other VPN customer.

[@thegeneralist7527]

@@johndododoe1411It is simple if you know the proper way to do it using SMS. I managed the security patches for a 5,000 workstation defense network. Configuration and patches could be rolled out in a day. The configuration was tightly controlled and it would take us a few days to track down all the workstations that were not up-to-date. Configuration management was critical to license tracking.

[@johndododoe1411]

@@thegeneralist7527 The near impossible task is finding out which patches contain hostile payloads, not deploying the list of patches (which is slightly more work when not trusting Microsoft tools to honestly stop Microsoft attacks). In military terms, Microsoft is a hostile force occupying essential positions within the ranks.

[@kinshihypha3833]

-VPNs are a WASTE of Your Money! -I live in China. -Ohh...

[@Cyberspatial]

We do mention bypassing firewalls if you're in a restricted country as one use case at the end of the video... VPNs get harder to use each day in China. Setting up your own obfuscated web proxy like V2ray might become the only option down the road.

[@abdullahnadeem1823]

This channel is seriously underrated. Hope to see more like this

[@Cyberspatial]

You absolutely will, thank you!

[@Andronicus87]

THis is the new gated information. The big tech bozos don['t want the masses learning cyber security at all. Kinda like how before America was founded the elites did not let the peasants learn to read and write.

[@LeiSharks]

I am one of those who believe what you have said is nothing but the absolute truth

[@omarstovall3021]

@Abdullah 93.k subs is underrated?

[@shaikhaali7447]

@@omarstovall3021 Yes, compared to most with similar videos. Also consider the views.

[@pugnate666]

Since there is a huge market for personal data, routing yours through a company and just trust they will not screw with it, because you pay them 2 bucks/month always felt weird to me. The crazy marketing was the next hint (like that's expensive, how do they pay for that?) and then Tom Scott's video ... Thanks for the deeper dive! Much needed reassurance!

[@raylopez99]

At the end of the day, the central purpose of a VPN for me is simple: to download free stuff like academic papers, books, and porn. Before I started using a VPN (I use ExpressVPN) I occasionally got a notice from my ISP saying I had been detected downloading copyrighted materials and to stop. After the VPN was hired, I got no such email letters. Can you tell me what I'm doing "wrong"? Sure I can spend a couple of hours learning how to set up my own VPN, with html https certificates and so forth (I code for fun and at one point for my https website that I used for web service / web methods inquires I did have such a certificate, forget how I did it however as it was many years go), but it's easier just to pay whatever ExpressVPN charges me and be done with it. Good channel though, the author drops a suitable amount of information and innuendo to make it appear they know more than the average viewer, and I'm sure they do.

[@randomnobody660]

@@raylopez99 If by html https certificate you mean the ssl thing that adds a padlock to your site on most browsers, that's just somebody else certifying you own the domain. If you didn't pay for it, you could have gotten that from say Cloudflare or Let's Encrypt. I'm also interested in a vpn for...researching free software and hopefully routing them angry isp letters elsewhere. Isn't Express one of the more expensive ones? Also how is the speed?

[@raylopez99]

@@randomnobody660 I recall I had to pay for the certificate to get the https padlock thing, as it was my own site. I like ExpressVPN since here in DC it's pretty fast, sometimes not different from Verizon FiOS. For when I'm overseas, it's slower but for my purposes it does the job.

[@Finalizor]

@doubleyouseenah9972 what if i pay mullvad with paypal

[@mrmaster8884]

the logs will be handed to the feds anyhow...

[@dragonofparadise]

I use VPN's to change my geographical location and it has helped me watched new shows and get amazing deals on Airline tickets. The deals on airlines tickets pretty much pays for the VPN 5 times over.

[@IllidanS4]

Thanks for the video! To me the most horrendous thing is that the core of their product is not actually a VPN, but a VPN routing/proxy service. You use VPNs for other things than they advertise, but they just decided to grab a completely meaningless abbreviation for their marketing.

[@spvillano]

And never forget "military grade encryption", which is bullshit packaged as a meat pie. It's still shit inside. I've used military grade encryption, it was issued and used by the military and overall, the same as what you'd buy or lease in the corporate world. One level encryption used specialized encryption devices, whose keys are provided by the NSA, the rest is off the shelf stuff with keys provided by DISA. I even had an iPhone issued, which was 100% VPN traffic to DISA VPN devices, ran through DoD networks and to the internet via DISA owned routers. Configuration from bare metal was decidedly not a click a button affair, with lengthy checklists to go through to ensure no leakage. When abroad, I ran everything from vanilla security, through a leased proxy and up to a trusted and reputable VPN service, depending upon my risk exposure and needs.

[@keithlevkoff8579]

A lot of people these days view the Internet as a scary place - which they cannot avoid... like having to go through a bad neighborhood to get to your bank. The strategy they're using to sell VPNs is actually pretty simple... and it's the old "FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) pitch".... "You're in terrible danger from hackers and all sorts of other scary stuff you don't understand... but we can keep you safe online... for only $9.95 a month". This is why we're seeing so many ads for VPNs on what are really mainstream media targeted at folks with minimum computer literacy. They have no idea what a VPN actually does... but that friendly little icon that lights up when they click it makes them FEEL safer.

[@erf8406]

Bro without a vpn I'm not even able to use YT in my country 😂

[@ariavachier-lagravech.6910]

This though Sometimes I need to use VPN to piss off Korean by pretending to be Japanese

[@eisblumens6187]

Are you from Iran?

[@erf8406]

@@eisblumens6187 yup

[@bambii-_]

@@elem3088 what a dumb comment. you think youtube is so ''heavily censored'' its not worth unblocking and using at all? what you doing here then bro? youtube is one of the best website out there atm when it comes to FREE content & also available knowdledge.

[@bambii-_]

@@elem3088 alright buddy. the only way censorship would affect you is if you consume far-right media or are a conspiracy nut.

[@leijing767]

So is there an alternative? VPN is still mandatory for me, I just have to use it. but paying a constant monthly fee and hoping it can work stably and constantly is truly a pin in the ass

[@Cyberspatial]

Setting up your own box or web proxy (V2Ray/Shadowsocks) is an alternative.

[@seanwarren9357]

It's free as a part of Opera GX... I made the move 2 months ago and it's a great option.

[@oly3214]

@@seanwarren9357 those aren't VPN's, they're proxies and don't bother encrypting anything.

[@seanwarren9357]

Without making much further assumptions, I might suggest TOR, though security is always a losing battle when the organizations ruling our activities have the resources to abuse. GL out there, humans.

[@daywalkernightstalker2339]

Deeper is good as well, or even better than Tor. Tor is over-advertised.

[@g0odnite]

The only reason I use a VPN is because some content are restricted to few regions; it helps me access those contents. I use a free VPN because the necessity is short lasting; mainly, browsing a website and it takes about 2 minutes or less. I don't always use a VPN, it slows my Internet. Usually the best practice of privacy is to not connect to a public network, never save your password in your browser instead writing in down in a physical notepad, always cleaning out the browsing data, use strong passwords, etc. And while you're browsing just doing normal stuff, I don't think you need a encrypted network or something, it has become a serious gimmick of all softwares these days.

[@esgee3829]

disagree. i save 100s of usd per year net using vpn to adjust the country from which i access certain digital services...so many digital service providers charge different rates for same/similar services on vpn (think of your favorite media content subscription services) depending on the country from which you access their site. can't say more...but you can easily find out more if you want.

[@PrivateJoker0119]

@@esgee3829 that might be a good use case for VPN, i'll try to remember that in the future

[@juz882010]

crazy that in the whole video he didnt explain why its slow. hahahaha

[@PrivateJoker0119]

@@juz882010 any added security overhead like VPN encryption to network traffic will make it slower, ...

[@Budinav777]

using vpn for log in cause they said safe is just too ignorant. The owner of vpn can just sell the information about user. Only use VPN to open block website in your country. If you are super rich then just buy phone or laptop when browsing or play game using fake account. But for very private and important data use another device.

[@nattsurfaren]

Well, your ISP can log your browsing activity. But with a VPN that log could reside in another country. Because it is in another country it will be more difficult to get a hold of a log by people in the first country.

[@TealJosh]

https encrypted traffic doesn't expose urls to the isp. Just the start and end point. Dns does, which again is easily circumvented. Most online services are behind CDNs with revolving pools of ip addresses. ISP is pratically unable to track your browsing activity unless they are exchanging data between the big actors like facebook, google and such. If that's the case VPN doesn't help at all because those big companies can serve data of users with a certain likelyhood of identifying the user and ISP absolutely knows your identity.

[@LTPottenger]

especially if they have favorable laws in that country

[@nattsurfaren]

@@TealJosh If you didn't use a VPN when you created your Facebook account then I believe you're right. That being said it is very hard to create a FaceBook account behind a popular VPN service because Facebook doesn't allow it. They don't like that you want to be anonymous. So that is why you need to use a VPN with IP addresses that are not blacklisted. But Fck FaceBook, just don't use them.

[@BearBoiBlake]

@@TealJosh HTTPS does still expose hostname in most cases unfortunately - so your ISP can see that you visited a website, but not what specific documents/pages you viewed. And like you said DNS is at present highly insecure by default. The truth is that tech companies don’t want to close those loopholes because they prefer to exploit them.

[@TealJosh]

@@BearBoiBlake well the op said browsing activity. I'd argue ISP doesn't get your browsing activity from ServerHello part of the handshake where the client receives the certificate, which has a cleartext list of hostnames the certificate is valid for. For example it's not possible for ISP to know whether you are connected to youtube or google, because the same certificate applies to both.

[@apwelsh]

Thank you for this. I have answered so many Quora questions about VPNs, and why they are not a security tool, and people flame me for this. It matters not how much I know, people use them, so I am wrong, and they are never wrong. I have spread the message so many times that a VPN only provides obscurity of location -- nothing more. (note, I mane VPN in the terms of the current commercial offerings, not site-2-site nor remote access VPNs which are about security). A TOR browser is better than a VPN, provided you never login to a site. Anytime you sign into a site, you should just do that of SSL with a normal browser.

[@OurFreeSociety]

Quora used to be a great site until the war broke out in March 2020. sigh Now they are almost all braindead zombies.

[@olas3154]

For the record, HTTPS is NOT a substitute for a VPN. HTTPS prevents man-in-the-middle attacks but does not anonymize you to the client service you're contacting. Both are important (HTTPS moreso) but they serve different purposes.

[@juicygirls3989]

mitm is still possible with https by making victim accepting custom certificates, which a lot people dont realize when they trust random CA from random wifi's

[@stevesteve8098]

HTTPS DOES NOT prevent MITM, go take a look at some AV software & proxying..... all you need to do is control the DNS

[@invalid8774]

@@stevesteve8098 no thats not enough. you need an x509 certificate that is signed by an accepted CA. So unless you have your root ca accepted by Microsoft, Apple and Google to get it added to their accepted CA lists, you cant mitm HTTPS. And cracking x509 is pretty much impossible.

[@invalid8774]

VPNs dont anonymize you either. As pointed out in the video, there are several ways of identifying you, one of which is by IP adress. This one gets covered but its also pretty easy to tell that the ip is meaningless and so other methods get applied automatically. Only thing VPNs can offer properly is encryption in an open WIFI hotspot for any traffic thats not encrypted already. Web and Mail usually are already and a lot of other communication services also use the HTTPS protocoll so thats encrypted aswell already.

[@stevesteve8098]

@@invalid8774 nope..... if you control the chain you control the cert....

[@giftedfox4748]

I always found the VPN companies being pushed ever so hard on people funny. When I was in the military in South Korea just a few miles from North Korea we used a VPN. All we do is connect our stack to the dish that is pointing to a satellite that is encrypting not just one set of data but three sets of data that is combining them into one set of encryption. Also each set will have their own hardware to encrypt and decrypt the data going through. Having to set this up and keep it running for a year makes you understand that just a mask to your IP address isn't enough. People caught up in this belief from these companies are not really protecting themselves very well. One of my online friends contacted me because they were being targeted by scammers from India. Just looking at their IP address I knew which VPN compony they are using but also the general area of their source location. If you really want to protect yourself from threats then yes, do everything that is recommended in this video to do so. You may be wasting time, forgetting passwords and which email goes where, money on different phones and hardware. But hey, at least you won't targeted by whatever you are scared of.

[@alviGD]

too long

[@mrmaster8884]

Vpn wont save u trolling ZOO sites, they sit right on the server! fools . it dont work.

[@luckynhlanhlatshabalala2475]

Can you please tell us more about your experience as a SK soldier who worked closed to the North Korean border

[@ExtaTer]

I just use the same junk email to which they can send their spam. Never use the official emails for logging on a website or buying stuff.

[@HieronymousCheese]

And yet......despite all the time, effort and money the BBC expend in order to stop me from viewing their content from outside the UK, they FAIL. This video started with snake oil and then drank Kool-Aid. I'll stick with my VPN, thank you.

[@GamingBlake2002]

I haven't looked deeply into this yet, but my guess would be that any entity that's serious about fingerprinting people is primarily going to do it via the browser by collecting data tied to the OS and hardware. It doesn't generally make sense to place much emphasis on an IP address which can easily be changed or hidden, especially in an age when, like you said, proxies and VPNs are simplistically marketed left and right as the end-all-be-all to privacy and security. This is why Tor recommends you completely disable JavaScript, as it can expose so much about someone, even across browsers.

[@gamingtonight1526]

If you have different I.P's for each mobile/PC/laptop etc, the fingerprinting mentioned won't work.

[@99lysergic50]

how are you gonna use the internet without java script

[@GamingBlake2002]

@@gamingtonight1526 It would if the IPs remained consistent, which is often the case in home networks since dynamic IPs tend to get re-leased periodically. It still isn't a great method by itself, given how easy it is to change/spoof an IP.

[@GamingBlake2002]

@@99lysergic50 It's up to you whether you want to take the risk. One nice alternative would be an open source browser which blocks the specific APIs that are used to fingerprint, but I'm not aware of any.

[@yessum15]

My experience is that every guide to attaining true "internet anonymity" involves at one point or another wrangling the homeless. . In every guide, regardless of how simple or advanced, at some point there is always some step which requires you to rustle up a homeless guy to either buy a sim card for you, pick up a laptop, deliver money, create an account, or something. Seriously, online security is like 20% homeless rustling.

[@RabbitsInBlack]

VPNs are not a waste depending on the situation. KNOW WHY YOU ARE USING A VPN.

[@psrdirector]

I use it to save money on wrestling PPV and fuck all else

[@sparkclouding5302]

I have a VPN because yes, but I'm not stupid enough to pay for a VPN "just because yes" (Proton has a decent free plan)

[@Twisted_Code]

I am an IT student and cannot stand VPN ads. I perhaps should give them some credit: the sponsorship scripts have gotten better (probably from channels like this and Tom Scott calling them out), in that they don't seem to imply that your entire connection is encrypted anymore or anything blatant like that... However, they still put a lot of BS in them, and what they can't get away with from KZbin creator awareness, they still try to get past on broadcast tv

[@Cyberspatial]

It's somewhere on here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UV8RozvFDOMnCcfwryEnyGp5GKYY4XJQHXJUG2gN8hU/edit#gid=1044595561

[@martincday007]

It would make perfect sense for a country's intelligent service to launch a low cost, no log VPN service to attract hackers and terrorist. If state run intelligent services are not behind the most popular VPNs then they are not doing their job. The good thing for everyone other than hackers and terrorist is that in order for state intelligent services that run VPNs to maintain their secrecy they would have to allow the low hanging fruit to flow un-headed. Too often people assume intelligence services are on the outside of secure systems, what better way to eavesdrop than launch a "highly secure low cost/free", VPN or Messaging System? The more secure the system, the more it promotes its privacy credentials, the more it promotes its fight against Big Brother the more wary you probably want to be.

[@rulofmg]

there's auditing company for these vpn services

[@dt8977]

the hackers and terrorists launching vpns to help their brothers

[@samuelcalkin3516]

@@rulofmg A fiber splitter being installed without the provider's knowledge/or ability to detect is not unheard of.

[@paulogaspar8295]

not really because hackers and terrorists are not going to use normal service payed vpn's. The most they get is people that want to watch content that is banned in their countries. And again most people that use vpn's for privacy reasons they just don't want your internet provider to know what you are searching and sell your data to countries or other companies. Yes vpn's companies can allways sell themselves your data to anyone, including police and other governments but it's better than just outright telling your internet provider everything.

[@minimushrom]

@@paulogaspar8295 You would be surprised.

[@Friday_Night_Frights]

Torrents. Bypassing download limits. Streaming services. What more can you honestly trust a VPN for?

[@levsonc]

In countries like China or Russia most independent media are banned along with services like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (even Google in China). VPN is the only reliable way to reach those, though some VPN services are banned too. Or being slow down through Deep Packet Injection sophisticated hardware to negligible speed.

[@asmonull]

P2P connections where you don't trust other parties involved and happen to have public static IP address - it's not fun to get DDoSed whenever you start doing well in a video game. But for that a VPS-based VPN is more than enough.

[@Friday_Night_Frights]

@@asmonull That too, but I don't play online games with people. You are right though.

[@Friday_Night_Frights]

@@levsonc How does Tor work in your neck of the woods?

[@OurFreeSociety]

@@asmonull - wow, I didn't know that was a thing. sigh Just proves to me even MORE than video games are very dangerous. SMH

[@tjmcguire9417]

You have done a very good job educating people on this situation. I have been in the software business a very long time and did not know some of this. Perhaps it boils down to this. VPNs can be useful. They are no guarantee of privacy and security but you should still pick one that has a good track record. Use it as needed....because many ISPs will throttle you the moment you enable it. 5 eyes? I laugh. A million eyes. Still. Anytime you can be more private is worth it.

[@tylercoombs1]

I built my own using OpenVPN and AWS but even this kinda felt like a placebo. Thanks for the comprehensive breakdown.

[@Cyberspatial]

That's a step above the commercial option at least :) Thanks for watching!

[@pizzacheeseman2854]

Same, it wasn’t all that hard

[@bellabear653]

Well using aws would of made it pointless as they have tracking software in all the servers.

[@tylercoombs1]

@@bellabear653 yeah tbh at the time, i wasn't sure how logs worked but you def have a point

[@bellabear653]

@@tylercoombs1 oh still a good project great way to understand server workings. But even if you disabled the logs im sure they have tracking on the underlying bare metal of it. They would have just for monitoring what the server was doing.

[@anythingoriginal]

Stopped me from getting letters from Comcast. Fully worth it. Once you do the math, building a home theater and paying for a VPN is far far cheaper than a family of 4 going to the theater once a week for a year. Noting that the theater is 2 hours of enjoyment surround by other people talking on phones and kids crying and people laughing at the setup so you don’t hear the punchline.

[@mr_fuji_mintsmr_fuji_mints9873]

I was hoping he would mention that in the video, lol. Some of us just don't want the letters!

[@audigex]

For commercial VPNs, I agree that they're over-hyped, although they can be a way to keep your torrent client relatively private and avoid hassle from your ISP - It's not REAL privacy and if I was uploading pre-release leaked movies every week it's not gonna keep law enforcement away, but it does the job for the purpose of keeping the ISP off my back when I'm just downloading a few torrents occasionally and nobody is REALLY determined to find me Which is to say, I doubt that most people don't actually *really* care if the government can find them if the government *really* wants to, they just want to not be worth the effort of finding them for the minor stuff they do. Sure, if I threatened to kill the president or something stupid like that, a VPN wouldn't be any real protection (nor, I suspect, would anything else I could do to protect my connection)... but for stopping Paramount from seeing that I've downloaded the latest Star Trek, it's probably going to be okay But moreso than using my VPN to tunnel out I like to VPN *into* my network... and that's VERY useful. And I do think there's some benefit to using a VPN when on public WiFi, even though it's nowhere near as important as in the pre-ubiquitous-HTTPS days

[@cirewillen243]

Thanks for the insight to some benefits remaining to VPNs. I understand CyberSpatial didn't want to name names in regard to demonstrating how to find a "trustworthy" VPN, but which exactly would you recommend for torrenting?

[@mrico523]

Yepp 👍

[@commontater1785]

I love how he says digital hygiene is easy, and then follows with "set up a unique email address for every site you want to visit."

[@----.__]

It doesn't cost much to set up a mail server with a static IP, much less than VPN can cost yearly anyway.

[@ahabwolf7580]

Some email providers let you set up aliases, so you have a single inbox with various addresses dumping into it. That makes it easy, just create an alias for each site, or maybe just a few for different levels of privacy you want to maintain. If you start getting unwanted email, you can quickly identify where it came from based on the alias they sent it to, delete the alias or take whatever action you want. This can save your ass if you fall for a phishing scheme, since they won't have the email address that you use for everything.

[@panama2468]

Srsly. As if most people have the time and energy to create a separate email and password for every online clothing store they want to log into. It's pretentious snobbish overkill. VPNs have their use, just like cars and scooters hace their use. People who post videos like this are ppl who make things overly complicated for the average end user solely on the basis of trying to look super intelligent and certified, not for the benefit of the user. All in all, this was a futile and unnecessary egotistical exposé, promoting a position that is of no use to most people. It's performative showboating at best. Also, guaranteed the dorks going "vpns are useless" are the same ones logging into fb with their Google account. 😂

[@brindlekintales]

> All in all, this was a futile and unnecessary egotistical exposé, promoting a position that is of no use to most people. It's performative showboating at best. Nailed it, thank you and have a great day!

[@OurFreeSociety]

LOL, yeh I have over 50 emails & I still only use a handful.

[@uppilibadri2170]

After a long time. Please don't make us wait this long in the future😅 Your work is awesome as always! Thank you!

[@Cyberspatial]

Will do my best!

[@abdullahnadeem1823]

But if we don't wait this long, then how will we get more amazing videos like this

[@fogshot]

How insane is your production quality? And how did I just discover your channel? You just earned yourself a sub, my good sir!

[@Cyberspatial]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@2Sor2Fig]

As a programmer, I always believed that HTTPS solved 95% of my client's security needs. I run a website for farmers looking to manage their livestock, and I have no incentive to leak their information to 3rd parties, simply on principle. I don't even log their websocket/http calls (excluding Nginx access logs or if an exception's raised) so they're safe, no VPN required. Also, the day someone hacks my server is the day I accept my mom was right and I should have been a teacher instead of a server dev.

[@sirfer6969]

Hilarious! =D

[@khaldrogo9451]

Not sure if you should be proud of saying this :D but hey if it works it works!

[@Nick-ce6lt]

All this talk of hackers reminds me of those call center scams "the hackers are in the server". I also don't use anti-virus software and I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter. However if I were you I'd get anti-virus software, even if it doesn't work (99% sure it doesn't) your PL insurance will care if it ever comes to that. Just saying. From what I've seen, when people in the corporate world get hacked, it's usually the emails so the robbers can send emails with incorrect bank detail invoices to clients or get more company information such as debtor lists. They get access to the emails through phishing by sending emails that look like outlook emails. We all get these emails and delete them. I doubt any anti-virus software or VPN that protects against naivety.

[@2Sor2Fig]

@@Nick-ce6lt There's a reason 75+% of servers run on a Linux distro, not Windows, a major one being that viruses are much less of a concern. If your OS _needs_ an extra layer of virus protection, you're using the wrong OS. One easy fix is to run you applications in a dockerized container, which allows you to explicitly control user privileges and access rights. With regards to the mailserver, if an attacker can fraudulently sent mail via your server, either 1) they've gained access to a user/root on the remote. You should have disabled root logins and require SSH keys for authentication, that way any attacker would need to first get access to your physical machine 2) You've configured your mail-server as an open relay, so you deserve it 3) One of your users leaked or had their password phished.

[@2Sor2Fig]

@Brandon I never said I haven't heard of him. What does a fugitive NSA operative have to do with SSL? He's in trouble for publicly exposing the American governments duplicity and shaming them publicly, not because he didn't use SSL encryption.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I feel like the most honest promotion they can do is with region locks. Another thing would be adblocking. With things like a pihole or phone apps that tunnel traffic through them and block ads during it. But "security" of those public VPNs is truly a snake oil industry. Also great tips on the sanitization, but with so many emails and passwords it just leads back to people having an analog, physical notebook with all stuff written down.

[@fogcat5]

the fact that the VPN companies have sketchy "discounts" is a big red flag. How many have an offer for lifetime VPN at 70% discount if you buy in the next 24 hours? Then after 24 hours, the discount is offered again.

[@stinkycheese804]

You are not logical, trying to pretend what a few VPNs offer is somehow lumping together "the VPN companies" as if they are all a conspiracy together, which they are not. Indeed, do not settle for a cut rate VPN selling a lifetime service. Eventually it becomes unsustainable and they will have to drop those customers or sell the business. That has happened to me, years ago, though I had paid such a ridiculously small sum for the lifetime service, that by the time the company (anonvpn) wormed their way out of it, I had gotten my money's worth so didn't pursue them for abandoning my service.

[@vpnranksofficial]

You make a good point. Some VPN companies use aggressive marketing tactics, including constant discounts and limited-time offers, which can seem sketchy. It's important to do thorough research and choose a reputable VPN provider based on independent reviews, security features, and user feedback rather than just the discounts they offer. Always prioritize quality and trustworthiness over price.

[@user-tz5uq2bt1s]

I used a VPN when I was in Oman so I could freely use the internet. That's the only time in my life I ever paid for a VPN.

[@thebeatles9]

bruh i got shipped to Qatar

[@meshowzq1430]

@@tomd2633 well now we know what sites you were searching for… 😎

[@felobatirmoheb4884]

@@meshowzq1430 how did you know he was searching for a disney plus subscription to watch zootopia 😩😩

[@sparkclouding5302]

You don't even need to pay for a decent VPN if you're concerned about "privacy" only, Proton VPN has a free plan that actually isn't that bad.

[@user-tz5uq2bt1s]

@@sparkclouding5302 I didn't care about privacy. Was just trying to get to websites that were blocked by the Oman government.

[@bloodgain]

Good reminder on the DNS over HTTPS. Apparently it wasn't active on all my browsers like I thought. While I don't totally agree with you, a private VPN is, obviously, the most private and the only _relatively_ sure thing. But Steve Gibson of GRC doesn't seem to be against all commercial VPNs, and I trust his security judgment over pretty much anyone. You can also look on his page for explanations of why HTTPS isn't foolproof, especially when you don't own the network. Are _you_ validating the SSL Certificate fingerprints your on a regular basis to make sure you're not getting spoofed? Here's the thing: A commercial VPN company's entire purpose for existing is providing the VPN, and they would lose that business if they were shown to be lying about something like not keeping logs of users' activities. Many of them are frequently audited by a third party to help build users' confidence for that reason. The good ones also have warrant canaries in their privacy policies. Compared to most large ISPs, who have been shown on multiple occasions to be bad actors, and often admit that they track and sell your activity data? Yeah, the odds are better with the VPN. I mean, FFS, I'm on Google Fiber. I _know_ Google captures whatever data they can, even if it'll only ever be used for their own enrichment.

[@thomasmaughan4798]

"Good reminder on the DNS over HTTPS. Apparently it wasn't active on all my browsers like I thought." I despise dns over https since it interferes with blocking trackers by way of intercepting DNS query via the etc/hosts file.

[@harvestercz]

"A commercial VPN company's entire purpose for existing is providing the VPN, and they would lose that business if they were shown to be lying about something like not keeping logs of users' activities. Many of them are frequently audited by a third party to help build users' confidence for that reason." How can you personally tell that a) they do or don't keep logs? Impossible. b) audited by 3rd parties? Who are those aditors? Another big tech? Hm?

[@thomasmaughan4798]

@@harvestercz Exactly so. With Remote Syslog you'd never see the logs on the servers anyway. If the logging is by passive sniffing you'll never detect the presence of the sniffer.

[@NabsterHax]

@@harvestercz You can't be sure your VPN is telling the truth about logs, but you can be pretty sure your ISP is logging you. I'll take "maybe no logs" over "definitely logs" any day. And as others have said, logs abroad are probably going to be harder to access than locally. Just because a VPN absolutely isn't some fool-proof way of becoming completely anonymous, it doesn't mean it's totally worthless, or more dangerous than no VPN.

[@harvestercz]

@@NabsterHax Right. The purpose of the comment was to balance the VPN topic a bit. I can imagine much more secure modification. Noncommercial VPN with enter and exit points made on servers all over the world, like via botnet, thousands of them, disposable exit nodes that change upon every session. Like TOR, but I believe TOR is also some sort of honeypot for both sides :-)

[@Martyn_Wolf]

Essentially Nord VPN, Express VPN, Shark VPN etc are essentially close to being a waste of time and money.

[@zumabbar]

essentially

[@Martyn_Wolf]

@@zumabbar Essentially 😂

[@Cyberspatial]

For privacy and security? Essentially.

[@chriswheeler5808]

Go ahead and stream something off Kodi without a VPN.

[@Markbritsusaworldpeace]

Y’all sense of humor kill’s me u big brained studs love it

[@TrumanBurbonk]

Nice. But VPN is still very useful whether you want to pirate the newest netflix series or you need it for work from home.

[@emachine003]

In summary, when people make a living from tracking you, they know how to track you very well.

[@orkhepaj]

do they?:O

[@kubhlaikhan2015]

Then encourage them to track you. In the end, the number of people it would take to evaluate the importance of your online underwear shopping is the best way to protect your little excursions onto Russia Today.

[@hereticerik]

I'm a professional programmer and IT security expert, and you nailed it! Great video, you covered it all perfectly, and told it how it is. You just earned a subscriber!

[@xenoliferttv9803]

hey hey. I got a question i kinda forgot about. There is this onboard-encryption thingie which i think was called TPM; Trusted Platform Module. Apparently everything that has even a small mainboard, got a TPM chip. I`ve read that it was a backdoor used within the PRISM-Spysoftware from NSA, which Snowden revealed. However I cant find the according sources for that in a quick search. Atleast the fact that they "secret keys" are generated outside the chip and then integrated into it... sounds concerning. I always make sure to turn it off in BIOS when possible, but it definetly left an eery feeling that such a widespread, small "bug" basicly can and does exist in every piece of modern hardware. Am i overreacting? Please tell me i am! What do you think about the TPM as a IT security expert?

[@hereticerik]

@@xenoliferttv9803 TPM is useful for encrypting your OS install, but I don't view it as a security threat. Now, one could argue that every manufacturer hides backdoors in their firmware/motherboards, everything from Intel's management engine to AMD's equivalent. But unless you're doing something super messed up, then it's mostly just a paranoia. But if you are doing shady stuff, perhaps you should only invest in hardware you've verified online that you can trust to pull off such things.

[@xenoliferttv9803]

@@hereticerik Mhm... so thats a nuanced answer. Dont get me wrong, but it sounds like you are stating a "there is nothing we can do anyways" between the lines. With a pinch of "Why hide?" argument on top. Basicly for you thats a given as it sounds. In the end... why do we trust AMD? Ofcourse, for me as a business owner, protecting my business infrastructure from any other business legit or not, is sufficient. For me as a individual tho, i dont got much to hide - i just dont want to share everything with everyone. I get that, nobody got an interest in me and thinking that would be paranoia. Still, im not fine with landing on some Intelligence Agencies list and being screened and categorized. What if i do by accident come across smth significant, say war crimes and i decide to leak them... history shows me that it gets harder and harder to escape the players you pissed off. Welp, luckily im not playing that game, so yeah why even bother worrying? Also there is some strong evidence that suggests people behave differently when they feel being watched. Im starting to believe that this is just the new normal and stuff like VPNs the Hopium to deal with the side-effects of that. Anyway, i like your answer as it is pragmatic. thanks for your time buddy.

[@OurFreeSociety]

@@hereticerik - Listen, we live in a communist WORLD. Just talking the Truth will get you noticed & if you start to really wake people up, they will come after you. This happened in AUS after the war started in March 2020. Many people were attacked by their na.zi cops for talking about protesting on FB. Don't assume anyone is doing anything wrong. The mafia gov'ts are very evil. Their job is to control the slaves & if you don't know this, then you need to wake UP. I follow Natural Law & ONLY Natural Law, not the evils' man-made laws that harm us.

[@OurFreeSociety]

@@xenoliferttv9803 - I don't know what you are talking about, but you aren't being paranoid. The evils have backdoors in all of their hardware. I just don't know how to shut it down.

[@Owlr4ider]

While this video is very informative it's also missing the point. All those VPN advertisements aren't aimed at people with knowledge on anything internet security related. They're aimed at people who have no idea what the OSI model even is. Also, while you certainly can do most of these things yourself, people pay for a VPN service precisely because they don't know how to and don't really wish to delve deep enough into the subject to learn. After all the entire service industry is built around providing services for people so they don't have to do them themselves. An IT professional should obviously never pay for a VPN service, as said IT professional should have the knowledge of how to set up his own VPN when that's needed, and take a variety of other measures when those are needed. With that said, there is one point of your video that needs to be emphasized: any tool, a VPN included, is only as good as the way you use it. There are many examples of companies using very expensive firewalls for example only to completely misconfigure them so they end up doing absolutely nothing for them. Most people that buy a VPN service don't know how to set it up properly so they rely on the default settings, which than relies on the VPN service provider to have enough foresight to make those default settings good enough for what these people think they want out of the service. Obviously this is a crapshoot on so many different levels and this is the main weakness behind using such services in the first place.

[@Cyberspatial]

Thanks for sharing, totally agree.

[@Cyberspatial]

Hey everyone, really appreciate your patience and waiting. Have been working super hard experimenting with different workflows and new styles. Hope you enjoy this one! P.S. Never gonna get sponsored after this... 😅

[@BrandenBrick]

All good Ricky, a good video as always. I figured you were thrown for a loop and had to call an audible with the community poll. Can't wait to see what's next!

[@idrisjibrin62]

You're super bro🔥🔥🙌🙌. Keep up the good work. 👍

[@jx9467]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWndkmSCjs9ljrM

[@delightgodson8503]

Yeah sure 👍. Keep it up mhan🤓. How can I reach you(an email probably)? If you don't mind 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@Andronicus87]

All these bleeding heart activists want to "save the world" and all it's "oppressed" peoples. The thing is though is if we all taught our children to take responsibility for their own actions and everyone on Earth did that then that would save the world. It all starts with you. If you are well behaved and and responsible and so is everyone else you don't have to worry about anyone else or what they do because they would be taking care of themselves. The only people exempt from this are mentally and physically challenged people who actually need help from others just to stay alive.

[@LordDewi]

I know this is a quite old video, in internet time, but thank you. I've felt this way for a long time. I don't trust all the commercial VPNs. Just the fact that they say you can access say Netflix in another country seems like BS. I'd imagine Netflix is smart enough to know that I didn't set up an account in the UK so I can't access UK data. Again, thank you for speaking out.

[@cyberrock9018]

Most underrated tech channel on KZbin

[@Cyberspatial]

Too generous! ❤️

[@kronedog]

Another incredible video! Love how well laid out and informational these videos are, not to mention the excellent editing. Thank you for your work!

[@Cyberspatial]

Entertaining and educational are the two hardest things to combine. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@chrislynch1235]

From my POV, being clear on the threat model is where any serious effort needs to start. Your house is the perfect analogy: how hard is it to break into my house? That depends on primarily on the skill and motivation of who is doing it. Keeping low skill, low motivation people out is easy. After that, the challenges mount. For example, worst case, suppose the bad guy is willing to come in *while you are there*, e.g., by taking advantage of legit people coming and going? Knowing your enemy is job #1.

[@Cyberspatial]

Great thoughts, thanks for sharing!

[@Iron-Bridge]

As usual, love and appreciate the high level of research, presentation and overall flow that went into this video. You deserve far more subscribers and likes and shares. I'm sure you'll get there deservedly.

[@Cyberspatial]

Thank you! There's a lot of things I think we still need to dial in. I think just need to produce more and faster.

[@BillAngelos]

I got the nord vpn in 2019 because I had to sign up for something and my geo location wouldn't let me sign up from where I was. They had a 7 day trial and you had to do a live chat to cancel your trial. They tried to scare me into staying, "are you OK knowing that your internet traffic is out there where anyone can see what you're doing online?" I said, "yes, I'm fine knowing that because the sites I go to use https, I'm not in a hostile country that's tracking me, and I'm not a celebrity or other person that might need any extra hiding. Then I closed the chat really pissed off that they'd try to scare people into using their bullshit. As if their vpn was going to stop me from getting malware on my computer. The vpn wouldn't stop it because in +99% of the case the user is the one that downloads the malware, and the vpn isn't going to block it. The a/v might block it, but that's a different matter entirely.

[@OurFreeSociety]

Nord is a POS company for more reasons than you know. I got the info years ago.

[@brucejohnson1264]

One reason to use a VPN is to avoid or bypass censorship or information control. Even in the United States, there are topics that are suppressed, and to get the reporting on those topics, you need to operate from a different country. Google also rigs search results against political opponents, but changing your IP to one outside the us usually bypasses this and provides more objective results.

[@OurFreeSociety]

Finally, someone who knows something about online censorship. I was getting irked by the zombies on here who worship na.zi YT thinking it's the best thing since sliced bread. Whatever censorship you experienced before the war started in March 2020, it's way worse now. My site will never be picked up by evil goolag & DDG used to rank me & then in around 2022 I stopped getting traffic from them.

[@criseldarioja5993]

Thank you for this awesome content!! Really glad I discovered your channel! You deserve million subs ~ Can you do a comparison with cybersecurity companies ie. Fortinet, Sophos, Sonicwall, Symantec etc.? Looking forward to more cool videos on your channel. Cheers!

[@Cyberspatial]

Thanks for the suggestion, it's a good idea; just need to figure out how to make it interesting!

[@EvilJ069]

Eh, mine does what I need it to do; stopping my ISP knowing what I'm doing

[@dnyalslg]

I need a VPN for torrenting. My ISP will throttle torrent traffic. They’re also the ones enforcing DMCA cease and desist notifications. I know a VPN would do little to protect me from a targeted investigation from the government, but that’s the point: the government will not invest its limited resources tracking what a broke college student is downloading. A literal paper wall is all the privacy I need for my convenience.

[@KngSovereign]

I sincerely dig the amount of research put into this video. I would only say: 0:28 - He wants to hide his IP address from his ISP but his ISP is what is responsible for giving him a public-facing IP address. We are actually trying to hide our ISP address from the places that we connect to on the internet

[@eusebiusthunked5259]

No, a VPN is to hide your public facing IP from those you connect to so they don't know your ISP... And also to hide from your ISP the addresses to which you are connecting. Nobody should be trying to hide from their ISP the IP address which they assigned to you.

[@RavingMad]

Learned quite a bit more than I'd originally expected to when I clicked on the video. Clear and concise information on the topic with just enough humor to make it enjoyable too!

[@Best101Bits]

Unless you are a security researcher and state actors are after you, some measures are insane. 😂 But then he said assess your threat model and paranoia. Imagine this: "Use a host-based firewall to alert on outbound connections that you manually need to verify for every app"

[@avey4422]

I took networking in community college and was so CONFUSED! I wish you were my teacher because you make things 100x easier to understand! Thanks :) It was nice to see some unix/linux code. I mean - more like traumatizing, but I'm glad to have survived those classes. Thanks for the info and your hard work!

[@dawnfire82]

Well, that's because the presentation was simplistic and misleading. The best part was the demonstration of the partitioning by a VPN server into who can see which address. Much of the rest relied on people's ignorance to swallow.

[@yamelamadorfernandez7416]

This is a masterful explanation of what, how, when and why to use a VPN solution, along with the methodology of a wise choice. I appreciate the invaluable effort put into this explanation, definitely a must see.

[@alexluongo3163]

This video is so good, holy hell you have gained a subscriber. I know u get crazy weird comments all the time so here’s another one

[@rexrey1979]

Good video. That's what I always say : what matters the most in Cybersecurity is not technology, it's trust.

[@orkhepaj]

i dont trust anybody

[@eusebiusthunked5259]

@@orkhepaj That's not true. Trust is not a monolith, rather you trust people to different degrees in different capacities. If you ever entered a motor vehicle, that is a demonstration of trust, which is not to say that you would give a bus driver or airline pilot your wallet and house keys. Yet you trusted them with your life, and trusted every passenger not to incapacitate the driver. If you ever turned your back on someone, you trusted them not to assault you. These extreme examples are illustrating the basic point about trust being multifaceted.

[@bendorain3416]

@@orkhepaj 🙂

[@bendorain3416]

Methinks they'll eat you up and spit you out 🙂

[@orkhepaj]

@@eusebiusthunked5259 nah i dont trust them , i just trust walking even less

[@taharehman6439]

dammmmmm i am amazed by the amount of research how much time it took

[@Cyberspatial]

Too long... 😅 faster next time. Thanks for watching!

[@rekunta]

This isn’t an argument of absolutes, but of degrees. If I can shift the focus of responsibility in taking into account my internet activity to another entity that is going to create more hassle for authorities to investigate, to the point it is not worth their bother, I’ve achieved my goal. The internet is never 100% safe…..if someone truly is determined to nail you, they will….it is a matter of disincentivizing. And I sure as shit will take that extra step to place my internet activity outside of the legal jurisdiction of which my ISP resides. That is an extra hassle, and thus, another disincentive. The logic that just because VPNs can’t completely safeguard you they’re not worthwhile is a poor argument. It’s about putting up roadblocks so those whose interests get piqued at certain activities will lose that interest in not being troubled to further bother by impediments I can enact along the way. It’s all about making yourself the less desirable fish in shark infested waters.

[@OurFreeSociety]

Like you said, it depends on whether the person after you really wants you. I don't bother because I know eventually they will come for me.

[@KevinKouto]

truly admire the amount of work put into making these videos

[@caleymckibbin2304]

3rd party security in general is fantasy. You are never secure against whoever provides it, so everyone that wants to get at you will either get to the service provider or pretend to be one.

[@isacibarra1847]

I don't know much about these things, but would the technology that tor browser used be safe?

[@Firestar-rm8df]

@@isacibarra1847 maybe safer. I'd be hesitant to call anything safe. EDIT: and to be clear, if you aren't careful, you could just be painting a target on yourself for people to want to try and fingerprint tor users. OPsec is about a lot of things

[@caleymckibbin2304]

@@isacibarra1847 I don't know anything about that. My only security is noscript and not downloading files like virus.exe.

[@dawnfire82]

Which is why no one trusts bank safety deposit boxes.

[@frequentlycynical642]

The average computer user has no information that anyone wants that isn't already reasonably protected by normal protocols.

[@johnk6757]

I always figured 90% of users were just masking their piracy/torrenting activity. I've also them to programmatically circumvent API endpoint rate limits. I know nord isn't the best from a paranoid security perspective, but it was very simple to use, and I think perfectly adequate for these use-cases.

[@adamrichardson2227]

Same here. If I want to download something from one of those "free download" sites that block you for hours after one download, I just switch VPN locations and I can download again. For torrenting, usually it is just a 3rd party that gets a list of IP addresses and sends it to the ISP hosting them for them to send the letters about complaints. It should not get past the VPN provider. If it does, they know that if the word gets out that they relayed that information a huge number of their customers would jump ship. So from a business perspective, it is best that they play dumb on the small stuff. Now if you were committing felonies or something terrible then the government probably would have these kinds of resources to figure it all out. But Warner Brothers probably isn't going to invest more than just an IP dump of seeders in a complain email about downloading a torrent of the Matrix. That's my logic from the info I have gathered over the years anyway.

[@gamingthunder6305]

@@adamrichardson2227 if you received a letter before and then starting to use a VPN they still know who you are as most torrent clients have some identifiers build into them. best way to sail under the black flag is to use usenet. nothing more secure then a direct connection and full download speed. the price for a good usenet provider is about the same as a VPN provider.

[@adamrichardson2227]

@@gamingthunder6305 no, the last time I got a letter was like 10 years ago when I lived with my parents.

[@mopycbaby811]

The amount of helpful info I got in less than 15 minutes was truly remarkable, then again I’m not as tech savvy as most already involved in tech. Liked and subbed. Thanks

[@scd6969]

Dude I love your channel. You are a fantastic story teller. Keep up the good work. Great content! Love the outro, but it begs the question-- Is BadVPN a good VPN? I'm sure you think so since you promoted it but tell us why. After all, all of the attributes of a good VPN has nothing to do with it's features, and everything to do with it's reputation. So tell it would be great if you told us more about BadVPN's reputation. I mean, we all want to us a good VPN and not have to set one up ourselves, right?

[@LDGFREEtheNET]

a great video! thank you, as i am someone who is pushing a movement to free the net, i am glad there are people like you spreading real truth about online privacy. one suggestion, would you mind adding this informational video under the creative commons license so people like me can spread the word faster? no worries if not, but thanks again.

[@SteveMcCardell]

He has set it so you can embed it on other sites. If he didn't want you sharing it, he would change that setting. You just can't take pieces and put it into your own video, other than fair usage.

[@valsant4]

Awesome content. This is great. I actually have always approached my internet use the same way. Thank you for sharing this!

[@OtisNJay]

Such knowledge you have... thank you for sharing.

[@gerhardweiss2734]

This stuff is gold. Very deep information presented in a nice package. Rare find indeed. Thank you for your time and effort.

[@dant8162]

You can dig deep, but can you undig yourself out of the rabbit hole

[@davenone7312]

All I know is people downloading torrents are never caught when using a VPN! I have friends that would get copyright violations from their providers but started using a VPN and Never saw another in years of using a VPN. So bottom line is VPN's WORK!! And if youre one of those movie & tv show downloaders its worth every penny always!!

[@PvblivsAelivs]

Well, government spying operations are probably more interested in keeping their operations secret than in protecting the intellectual property of private companies

[@TheEmptyHoliness]

i LOVED this video, and you have convinced me to stop dead in my tracks with VPN. The only problem I have is that I would like to setup a self solution, but I am lazy like most people, and I would like a one click solution or something I can easily install across devices. Something that isn't some big research project to set up and get going. Is there anything like that? I don't even know how to set up a server or like...how would that server be safe to use if it was on your own home address?

[@assassinxsteveo]

This is a VERY well made video, clear and visually stimulating… I just wish I could understand more of it… now I feel more confused about this shit..

[@747-pilot]

I don’t think a VPN is useless at all, provided you know the primary PURPOSE of a VPN. Yes the “privacy and security” aspect of a VPN might not be that useful, but IMO the whole purpose of a VPN is to access servers in another country, for a wide variety of reasons! The practical benefits are too numerous to list here. They range from accessing cheaper fares offered in another country to accessing blocked information that may not be available in your particular country. For instance, I’m an American, now living in Canada, and a VPN has been priceless for me! I’m typically not interested in watching stupid Canadian content, and so am able to sign to a US “online TV provider” to watch US content (it would not have been possible to do this, due to the FCC rules these providers have to abide by). Many times a KZbin video will say “content not available in your country”. Turn on the VPN and boom, I’m in business!

[@OurFreeSociety]

Why in the world did you move to communist canada? Job? LOL

[@747-pilot]

@@OurFreeSociety Personal family reasons and a specific business/job opportunity. I am now back in the good ole USA, THANK GOD. Moved to Dallas, TX in early 2023. I am originally from Kahmifornia (oops California), which is nearly as bad as Canada!

[@portalwalker_]

No, it's like saying "health and well-being is all about having a second face mask in your pocket when you are already wearing one"

[@tomasousafilipe]

Most underrated channel out there. Great job!

[@Cyberspatial]

Appreciate that!

[@megapangolin1093]

Very interesting video. But the proposed digital sanitisation and maintenance regimes are just too complex for 90% of people, that is probably why they use a VPN. Is there a good one after all that most can use if they really want to . Thanks for the information.

[@cyberneticbutterfly8506]

It's too complex for me as developer...

[@sparkclouding5302]

Proton VPN is ok

[@Informedphysician]

Damn, the level of production and the editing is superb

[@stewartwinterwizardgoat9375]

Goat level ❤️🐐

[@Cyberspatial]

Thank you!

[@tomaszłyszczyk]

Now, this is a channel worth watching. Awesome stuff. Thanks!

[@Cyberspatial]

Thank you, glad you enjoy it!

[@thomasmaughan4798]

"Have you ever wondered if VPN's do anything for your privacy and security?" No. It's great when properly executed and that means from a virtual PC that has no knowledge of anything about you and you tunnel the DNS and everything else (ie, you use a firewall that allows only to go to the VPN tunnel and not "leak" anything) AND you are in control of the VPN itself.

[@powerdude_dk]

Yeah, the last part is important. I've thought about making my own VPN... But where??? And from what DNS and ISP? you gotta end out somewhere, right?

[@jeanpaul949]

can you reccomend me some good stuff to use in order to implement your idea?

[@thomasmaughan4798]

@@powerdude_dk The author of this video mentions "ssh tunneling". Basically you have to control the endpoints and while you can easily hide the actual source, you cannot hide the apparent source as it has to be under your control... unless you find a computer that wasn't adequately protected and you "hack" it. That's illegal in most jurisdictions and the whole point of a VPN is that it doesn't trace back to YOU but the VPN certainly knows where you are or it would not work. The best privacy is a computer that is turned off; or at least has no network connection, EVER.

[@crisalcantara7671]

@@thomasmaughan4798 guess I'll have to revert back to the good old days where you go in to the bushes with some oil and fantasize about naked women 😂😂😂

[@NabsterHax]

@@thomasmaughan4798 Yeah, I don't understand how owning your own VPN would help. I always thought one of the benefits of a VPN was that the IP provided to me by the VPN provider is shared amongst a bunch of different people, so as long as your VPN service really isn't logging your activity anyone trying to track you via IP will get stuck when they don't know where the data went after it got to the VPN provider. If you own the VPN yourself, you just get tracked back to the VPN provider... which is you... and only you... so, it's obviously your connection.

[@tirosc]

I use my VPN mainly on my torrent server and my Quest 2 to escape from geoblocks. As a first world resident this is as far as I need it, but I've heard stories from my Indian friends that some of their friends and families gets jailed by just posting comments about anti government and the only way to avoid it is VPN.

[@OurFreeSociety]

And if you think this is only happening in India, think again. As I stated in a few comments just now, people think they are tracking you re: the money & that is NOT TRUE. We live in a communist world & now that we are in WWIII since March 2020, it's even mnore dangerous than ever to speak the Truth. Your friends can attest to that. sigh

[@wbtittle]

I have been telling this to my friends and family all the time. That said, I have 2 packages on my computer because I haven't quite figured out how to make both of the VPN configurations work with the same VPN software. Settings are getting harder and harder to access...

[@mattpgarcia]

So thorough sir, absolutely incredible Thank you for this

[@Cyberspatial]

You are very welcome!

[@DouwedeJong]

Ver good video. Glad you addressed the ownership issue of these firms.

[@funtfeind4766]

Came for VPNs, Left with knowledge concerning snake oil!

[@nebufabu]

Although this is a popular theory about where the whole idea of snake oil as cure-all originated, I personally never seen anyone actually trace it back to the original historical research... It's always something someone read somewhere on the internet. But then, I didn't put too much effort into verifying it either. And the idea that it did start with something that could actually work makes sense.

[@nebufabu]

@Plentus It's a bit too neat of a story, at least to me. As I said, I didn't really see any concrete evidence that the original snake oil guy (forgot his name) ever knew of that Chinese remedy. I don't say there isn't any, but quack cures can certainly start from someone just deciding a random substance or procedure must be good for you. There's also a possible connection with the snake-handling verse in the Bible, and with long-standing association of snakes and medicine (staff of Asclepius and other symbols.) So it's not like just randomly choosing snake oil is that weird.

[@MarieAmeliaFreyaAster]

I generally like the video, though I have one point I'd like to make At around 3:00 you talk about about the encryption of web traffic and securing DNS in Chrome & Firefox is just a click away While yes it is true that https protects the content you view and what specific part of the website you're viewing, it doesn't protect against what main website you're visiting Also literally speaking about the DNS thing, DNSSEC secures (in some ways), that the DNS is resolving correctly, though it doesn't encrypt anything in that sense What you say is at face value correct, but I think it might be a bit misleading for some

[@MarieAmeliaFreyaAster]

feedback would be appreciated

[@mrico523]

"Threat model" - that's where this video turned from diss to decent. Actually great, tbh. I don't use vpns much, because I'm mostly aware of their limitations (randos probably won't stalk me, the govt can do it anyway if they want, companies I may or may not care about), but I do see use cases for them. It's just like any self-defence situation: a targeted attack is difficult to beat, but you can do a lot to avoid getting into bad situations. For internet activity: whether you choose to blend into the crowd more or blend in less but make yourself a tougher target is up to you. "Not worth the hassle" can be a pretty good protection. In the age of AI multiple vantage points (including vpns) may become even more dangerous, but so far data has been easier to gather than to analyze and turn into actual information and insight.

[@MorningNapalm]

I use a VPN primarily to protect myself a bit against big business interest, since I don't really care about Netflix type usage, and doubt I can really keep out governments. I am very curious what that one VPN is. ProtonVPN? NordVPN?

[@GreatZeus85]

Definitely not one of those. From my research, I found PIA and Mullvad to be the most trustworthy (at least to me).

[@hamiltonpolice7860]

@@GreatZeus85 didn't PIA have a big privacy scandal a few years ago tho?

[@GreatZeus85]

@@hamiltonpolice7860 I don't recall hearing of one. Could you elaborate further? The only "negative" event that I remember was, when they got acquired by a new company a few years back, which used to make some controversial software in their history. LTT did an interview with the owners a while back, and they seemed like honest dudes

[@ZZ-sb8os]

It's definitely not Nord, my experience with Nord has been atrocious.

[@Strahan740i]

I use PIA, and I'm not terribly concerned about privacy as I only use it so Comcast won't send me bitch-grams yelling about torrenting, lol. Problem is, I open the client and let it autoselect the location with the lowest latency. Start my torrent. I get a few hundred KB/s if I'm lucky. Stop torrent, disconnect, restart torrent and in a few mins it's hitting several MB/s. Frustrates me to no end.