VP5

[TWIH]

OK, I did enough reading and decided to give a VPN a try to obfuscate my location and scramble my $1.298 bank deposits away from “Big Brother” and Nito the Russian hacker...

I signed up for the #1 rated ExpressVPN, which according to the review/comparison article I read, while not the cheapest, it’s a quality system. They’ve been in business since 2009 and are located in the US Virgin Islands. I’ve offered to go do a face-to-face check of their physical location but so far, RT airline tickets and hotel accommodations haven’t been sent...

Here’s a blurb from the  “Comparitech.com” website:

ExpressVPN is our number one choice of VPN and it’s clear why. It offers unbeatable performance and reliability while maintaining your privacy with industry-leading security. ExpressVPN truly stands out when it comes to streaming, reliably unblocking all the major services including Netflix, Hulu, BBC iPlayer, and Amazon Prime Video. That means you can always connect and stream HD content without any issues.

ExpressVPN offers the best all-round performance of any VPN we’ve tested, with an unbeatable combination of speed, reliability, privacy and customer service while unblocking all major streaming services.

ExpressVPN isn’t the cheapest provider, but you certainly get what you pay for. With over 148 locations in 94 countries, it offers fast, reliable connections from wherever you’re based. In our tests, ExpressVPN is one of the few providers that reliably bypasses censorship in countries like China and the UAE.

Pros:

• Unblocks Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, iPlayer and other streaming services
  
• 24/7 live customer service
  
• 148 locations in 94 countries
  
• Total privacy – keeps no logs
  

It’s $6.95 a month and you can get 3 months free (15 vs 12) if you sign up for the annual $99.00.

(For you cheapskates, there is a #2 rated service for $2.95 a month but it had some other shortcomings. Being independently wealthy, I consider such measly savings with disdain... I picked up enough recycle bottles and cans this month to more than offset my 1st month’s fee!)  

The ExpressVPN can cover 3 mobile devices.

Since I just got it yesterday I cannot comment on anything as far as customer service or problems, however, with more and more digital snooping/theft/ransomware and banking attacks happening, “big players” like me in my Prius are obvious targets! 

Just a thought for those of you who like me, don’t trust either government (US/Canada) or anyone else for that matter.

[Motrukdriver]

Since I use Firefox as my browser I use the free SetupVPN addon. Then as an extra level of hideyness I use the WebRTC Leak Shield. Even if you use a VPN it is still possible for someone that is determined to find your ip address. That leak shield stops em dead in their tracks. Of course I only activate it when I'm doing something like accessing my financials which is rare so most of the time I just don't worry about it. I clean out my cache, internet history and all the tracking cookies on a regular basis. If someone wants to internet stalk me for information they'd be truly disappointed with what they'd discover.

[Scott7022]

Onion browser as VPNs are banned in some countries. Having the software on the computer can land you in hot water. I use the onion for doing anything sensitive and the rest of the time I am all out there for anyone to read. Nothing to see here just stories of farting cats. Be the Grey Man, not the one that looks like they have something to hide or the one without a history.

[TWIH]

I have no idea why I typed “VPS” as opposed to VPN, but anyways, after nearly 2 weeks on this service I am pleased with hiding out better. 

I no longer get targeted ads based on location, and a lot fewer ads in general. 

I have had a couple websites reject me for some reason (they don’t like untraceable addresses maybe?) but thats a minority of the time. 

So even though its a higher priced service, it seems worthwhile.

The disappearing Prius dweller...

[GotSmart]

I never heard of VP5. 

Farting cats I am familiar with.

[rvpopeye]

VP5 is code for farting cats ?
Noted in the log....

[Matlock]

So I see Verizon has introduced a 3.99 a month VPN. This, to filter out some of the targeted adds they are allowing to get through to their subscribers. I guess they need some new shovels to bury the billions they have coming in every month. Makes me just want to throw up.

[TWIH]

Great business model, charge for a service, then charge more to slightly control the ads, then charge yet more to control a bit more of the ads... sad but that pays for everything internet wise. Just like paywalls on newspapers - I can’t access very many cities news anymore and if I do its “you have used your 5 free articles every lifetime”... 

[Kaylee]

I use the onion for doing anything sensitive and the rest of the time I am all out there for anyone to read. Nothing to see here just stories of farting cats. Be the Grey Man, not the one that looks like they have something to hide or the one without a history.

+1 bolding added by me

Scott nailed it.

Tor/onion is nifty in theory, but in practice it puts a big bull's eye on you.

Tor was not designed for security, and most of its non-criminal users do not understand that.
Its goal was privacy, however it has a huge fundamental flaw in that it relies on a relatively small number of published exit nodes.

Any site you surf to, knows when you're using Tor.
The overwhelming majority of Tor users are criminals, which gives visited sites an incentive to treat Tor visitors differently. I've considered blocking them out right, however the sites I defend are generally sufficiently well locked down, and criminal Tor traffic is so light, that I haven't bothered.
Last week, I did block a big portion of Ukraine, because those bots were hammering me (in one case, 30x normal traffic).

Anybody can set up a Tor exit node.
Think about the implications of that.
There have been well documented cases of benign researchers setting up node(s) and watching traffic.
Imagine if "state actors" or other "bad guys" ran some.
We must assume they have and will continue to do so.

If you web search:

Tor exit nodes

You'll find much discussion of this, by credible experts.

A lot of the misunderstanding is based on the awesome Cory Doctorow's writings, in particular his novel Little Brother:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Bro...row_novel)
Cory is a writer, not an engineer, so his view of Tor is highly optimistic and based on theory not reality.
It's an excellent book, and a good primer on Tor, despite that.
If there were orders of magnitude more of both nodes and users, then it could potentially be "safer", privacy-wise.


Earlier today, I caught a great interview with Cory Doctorow on CSPAN2's In Depth (yes, I am a Nerd).
Despite my concerns above, he is an awesome person, and the interview is well worth watching.
It's repeated tonight (11pm Central) and Saturday Aug 11. I suspect but don't know if it's available online.