Replying to Avatar Dr. Hax

Sounds like you already understand the tradeoff between trusting your ISP vs trusting a VPN provider. I'd say Tor is better, but sometimes you can't use Tor for one reason or another.

I'd suggest RiseUp when you want a VPN. You don't even need to give them an email address. Pay what you think the service is worth. Homor policy.

I know people who personally know and vouch for the crew that run it (and the other RiseUp services).
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Chaga 1y ago

How about Proton and IVPN?

As I understand it there's also an anonymity set consideration when using a VPN. Which is why using something like a self hosted VPN thru a cloud provider doesn't do much for privacy at the network operator level.

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Dr. Hax 1y ago

I don't have an direct on second level contacts with any insider knowledge on Proton or IVPN, so all I know about them is what's public info.

Think about what info you are trying to protect from whom. If you want to prevent your ISP from knowing what sites you visit, and the sites to not know your IP address, a self-hosted VPN works great.

Also defending against the cloud provider hosting your VPN, or a global network observer is far more difficult. Best bet there would be to connect to a VPN over Tor. Here are the tradeoffs:

+ ISP can't see where you're going

+ VPN doesn't know your home IP address

+ websites don't see your home IP

+ you can use websites which block Tor as long as they do not also block VPNs

- VPN may slow down your connections

- Tor may slow down your connections

? VPN may know your name & address depending on how you pay

? VPN may require you to give them a working email address, but usually not a phone number

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Chaga 1y ago

Tyvm! That was helpful