[BOMBAYCAT]

I am a MMJ that is electronically challenged. Can you guys give me a quick lecture on VPN's? The news here had a story about maybe the FCC will allow phone companies to sell my personal info, web surfing, and searches. The news said people were using VPN's to be invisible on the internet. Would such a thing be useful if things go really bad for us MED types? I am not at all worried about ICMAG as the servers are located somewhere overseas I have heard.

[JRace]

A VPN is a "Virtual Private Network"

Short answer:
Without VPN looks like:

BOMBAY CAT -> ICMAG -> BOMBAY CAT

With a VPN it looks like:

BOMBAY CAT -> VPN -> BOMBAY CAT

Long Answer:
When you browse the internet (even to ICMAG) your computer sends and receives packets of data. This is what gets rendered on your browser (Chrome, IE, Firefox). In order for those packet to know where to go your computer's IP address is part of the packet.

This means that your internet provider could track every site you visit, regardless of where the servers are located.

What your ISP knows is that your IP address has visited the site.

So what does a VPN do?

By creating a virtual private network the packet is inside a container (in a manor of speaking) that goes from point A (you) to point B (VPN provider). All your internet provider sees is that you have initiated a connection to the VPN. Thats it.
They have no way of seeing whats inside the container, so they know you are connected and for how long, but have no idea what you are doing.

Then the VPN should anonymously connect you from there server to wherever you are going.

[Jhhnn]

The first thing to do is contact your ISP & tell them you want to opt out of having your data sold. That should be possible. The wife said she'd take it up with Centurylink.

Excellent description of a VPN by JRace, btw.

The private browsing feature in Firefox is useful only in that there's no record on your computer. Using that can also be helpful, depending...

[OldPhart]

Originally Posted by Jhhnn

The first thing to do is contact your ISP & tell them you want to opt out of having your data sold. That should be possible. The wife said she'd take it up with Centurylink.

Good luck with that, I would actually like to know how that goes; but I have a sneaking suspicion you will either simply get lied to, or never find anyone with any idea what your talking about. The network admins and the departments that would be handling their users metadata are not going to have any interaction with anyone you will ever be able to reach. I have had more than my fair share of trying to deal with ISPs across the country. I was responsable for maintaining voice and data connectivity between remote offices and different clients. You wouldn't believe how much BS the ISPs are up to. They filter and prioritize data in ways to protect their interest. (the phone companies really don't like to see VOIP traffic) Guess what, there isn't a damn thing you can do about it, other than try to figure out what they are doing, and try to find a way around it. Everyone is so worried about selling a little meta data, but the bigger issue is filtering or fucking with other services... like phone companies vs VOIP, and cable companies vs streaming services.

BTW, I know there are a lot of different VPN providers out there, but I have personally had good luck with the PIA VPN service. I have a router connected to the VPN all the time, and have it providing internet access on a separate network/SSID. I can choose which network I connect to, and also have a proxy server on the 'regular' network, so I can direct all traffic from KODI over the VPN, while still being on the regular network for stuff like netflix and amazon video. I was rather proud of that setup

[CosmicGiggle]

Originally Posted by OldPhart

....BTW, I know there are a lot of different VPN providers out there, but

...... trust me, stay FAR, FAR away from the Russian providers.

[BOMBAYCAT]

Hey thanks JRACE. That's stuff that is good to know. Maybe I am being a little paranoid about it, but I don't like the idea of ISP selling my info.

[Jhhnn]

Originally Posted by OldPhart

Good luck with that, I would actually like to know how that goes; but I have a sneaking suspicion you will either simply get lied to, or never find anyone with any idea what your talking about. The network admins and the departments that would be handling their users metadata are not going to have any interaction with anyone you will ever be able to reach. I have had more than my fair share of trying to deal with ISPs across the country. I was responsable for maintaining voice and data connectivity between remote offices and different clients. You wouldn't believe how much BS the ISPs are up to. They filter and prioritize data in ways to protect their interest. (the phone companies really don't like to see VOIP traffic) Guess what, there isn't a damn thing you can do about it, other than try to figure out what they are doing, and try to find a way around it. Everyone is so worried about selling a little meta data, but the bigger issue is filtering or fucking with other services... like phone companies vs VOIP, and cable companies vs streaming services.

BTW, I know there are a lot of different VPN providers out there, but I have personally had good luck with the PIA VPN service. I have a router connected to the VPN all the time, and have it providing internet access on a separate network/SSID. I can choose which network I connect to, and also have a proxy server on the 'regular' network, so I can direct all traffic from KODI over the VPN, while still being on the regular network for stuff like netflix and amazon video. I was rather proud of that setup

It's not about meta data, like how many times all their subscribers visited Goatpr0n.net, but about which specific customers visited. It'll be great for the copyright infringement extortion racket, bet on that. Advertising analysts will have the entire history of millions of internet users right at their fingertips & can profile their ads a lot more accurately. Hell- they'll know stuff about us on an individual level that we don't even remember.

[OranguTrump]

Best of

https://gear.lifehacker.com/the-best-...ess-1794083573

[Abbaddon]

Hey there, what's your opinion on Novavpn? My friend's been using it for half a year. He says the connection is always stable but to his taste, it could have been faster. I am planning to have VPN for my secure internet trips as well. Should I have this VPN or choose another option?

[MrBungle]

Opera has a free VPN built into the browser if you activate it... I like PIA too