The truth about Virtual Private Networks - Should you use a VPN?

hello everybody today we are going to

talk about pink privilege but before we

get to that here's our today's sponsor

of this video virtual shield is a VPN a

virtual private network that can mask

your IP address while you're browsing

the web meaning that your internet

service provider or anyone else for that

matter can't keep tabs of what you're

doing online this clip we see a common

theme and that's pretty interfaces that

really have nothing to do with hacking

too much information just coming up and

down and it's too quick for you to

actually obtain any useful information

so you can be sure that nobody no

hackers or government agencies nobody is

listening or peeking in on what you're

doing and with identity plus the digital

file shredder gives you assurance that

when you delete something it actually

stays gone forever I've been recently

getting Commons and my videos from

people saying that all you need to

protect your privacy online and block

all surveillance attempts it suggests

use a VPN or virtual private network VPN

are supposed to secure your traffic by

sending it through an encrypted tunnel

and give you a different IP address so

that your true IP address is not

revealed to the websites and services

you are connecting to this sounds like

it is all you need to be private or even

anonymous on the web and block all

trackers from Google Facebook and others

but it's not and it's due to the

fundamental technology of virtual

private networks that make it impossible

for them to achieve these goals your VPN

provider can still see everything your

internet service provider can see all

your traffic logs devices browser

history all that prevents your VPN

provider from abusing this information

against you is their promise virtual

private networks offer privacy by policy

not privacy by design that is nothing

technologically prevents your VPN from

monitoring your traffic and do with that

whatever they want sell it throttle it

or censor it but even if you get a

reputable VPN provider that doesn't sell

or misuse your data you can still be

easily tracked and identified on the web

your IP address is only one of the many

thousands of data points modern trekkers

collect about you for example most

websites are running Google Analytics or

other Google tracking services many VPN

providers themselves are running Google

trackers on their websites this means

that even if you log off of your Google

account you are still being tracked in

over a short time the data you generate

becomes comprehensive enough to identify

you

anything from snippets of your browsing

history cache cookies browser

configuration or device configuration

along with your operating system battery

life and screen resolution can be

uniquely identifying advanced trackers

use device IDs or advertising IDs given

to you if you sign up for any of the

Google Apple Microsoft or Facebook

services these tracking IDs aren't

anonymous as they are usually tied to

your phone number banking details or a

real address they can track all of your

online activities across the web and

devices and can even be used to track

your offline purchases in physical

stores many websites get to even see

these unique IDs when you visit them

hiding your IP address doesn't do

anything to block these trackers on

mobile devices it becomes completely

useless as you're often connected to GPS

or cellular networks that also reveal

your location but I think people didn't

get these expectations out of the blue i

partly blame VPN providers themselves

for this misinformation specifically the

way they market their own services

almost every VPN provider religiously

uses the same talking points virtual

shield works on PCs Macs Chrome Firefox

I proprietary software should not exist

and should not be used if you want to

have freedom the only way you can have

it while using computers is by rejecting

proprietary software

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surf anonymously hide your IP address

and location our VPN service is

anonymous is oftentimes the first thing

you see on a VPN website be completely

anonymous on the internet or VPN tunnel

ensures safe anonymous surfing fruit VPN

masks your personal IP and makes it

harder for third parties to know who you

are on the internet for you to serve the

web anonymously be totally invisible the

websites are visiting or the application

you're using will never know you're

there they'll only see VPN HDS IP

address and location that's not the only

thing they see they see what browser you

use what plugins phones add-ins themes

and settings you've installed and

changed and what device and software you

use anonymous surfing is not what you

are getting if you sign up for a VPN I

find it troubling how quickly they go

from become anonymous to sign up here

and many people will pay for their

services expecting they are no longer

being tracked only to have their entire

online presence tracked anyway because

they didn't block and delete web

trackers and still use Chrome instead of

Firefox in private mode no VPN service

is anonymous most of them require your

email address upon signup and most

payment methods will reveal your

identity directly unless they accept

cryptocurrency which is only

pseudonymous or cash which can be truly

anonymous but cash is very rarely

accepted and even then your VPN provider

always knows your real IP address so yes

they change your IP address but they are

also your single point of failure so if

the server or the whole VPN is

compromised all traffic leads directly

to your IP address and your devices I'm

not saying that VPN providers are

responsible for explaining all of this

but they shouldn't proactively try to

make a room for unrealistic expectations

but unfortunately

that's what most of them are doing in

some examples like proton VPN they go as

far as to say our anonymous VPN service

enables internet without surveillance

that's not what they are doing

VPNs are the easiest thing for the

government to monitor oftentimes they

just go to a VPN provider directly and

force them to reveal all user data or

even started logging them if they didn't

do it until then if they don't comply

they hack them most VPN providers won't

have means and resources to battle place

in court so they are incentivized to

just fulfill the request and even just

searching for and showing interest in

privacy and security tools is going to

raise their attention so if you don't

take any further steps you're likely

just exposing yourself with a VPN

service even more but wait a minute

aren't virtual private networks supposed

to encrypt all of my traffic and make it

impossible for anyone to see but that's

what they are all saying after all

encrypts all their Internet traffic

protect yourself from cyber threats

private Internet access service encrypts

your connection when connected your data

will be secured and encrypted keeping

all your personal details private avoid

being hacked or tracked using powerful

encryption protect yourself from hacking

and surveillance with 256 bit AES

encryption even Nord VPN which I chose

to affiliate with for this channel

overstates their encryption stay secure

online no matter what or real internet

privacy is just a click away technically

none of these are lying they are

encrypting your traffic but only from

your device to their servers the traffic

is only encrypted for your own network

that is usually enabled by your ISP and

or maybe you are connecting to a free

Wi-Fi in a coffee shop but as soon as

the trafficker leaves the server of your

VPN provider it is decrypted it has to

be otherwise the request couldn't be

fulfilled that is the technology of the

internet this encryption is useful at

making it difficult to snoop on your

traffic as it travels from your dev

is that a VPN server but VPNs are not

connecting you to any hidden overlay

Network

like toward us they are connecting you

to the clear net regular Internet this

may sound like a common sense but common

sense to whom there are non tech savvy

people who want to stay secure and they

don't have the knowledge or expertise to

verify the claims or understand the

functions of Virtual Private Networks

you are more secure on a VPN but saying

nobody can see your traffic under any

circumstances is like saying if you are

wearing a bulletproof vest

you can't die so let's get the record

straight VPNs are not NSA proof global

adversaries that tap into undersea

fiber-optic cables can easily monitor

your traffic and correlate the timings

between connections from your device and

from your VPN server almost any third

party company or government agency and

just go to a VPN provider directly and

request data on users and most VPN

providers aren't likely to fight that

VPNs don't make you anonymous they just

don't even if they offer multiple hops

that is multiple servers you connected

to before you visit a website all of

these are still enabled by the same

provider so it's the same single point

of failure tor network is anonymous

because none of the three hops are from

the same provider and none of them knows

the full length of the traffic VPNs

hydro traffic from your internet service

provider which can be useful as part of

a comprehensive privacy strategy but

it's only one out of many steps you need

to take if you really want to have

online privacy paying for a VPN service

is a waste of money if you don't take

those steps first it really is your

browser history is still collected if

you don't use private browsing and tools

like you block origin cookie Auto delete

and no script to block trackers ads and

cookies that follow you everywhere

your internet service provider deploys

their own trackers and cookies for

example Verizon uses everything from the

fall and Yahoo Empire to track people

everywhere these trackers are collecting

information about you your habits

interests likes and preferences that are

unique to you

if you signed into Google Facebook Apple

or other online accounts they are

tracking you until you signed off and

delete all of their trackers and cookies

there are great benefits to using a VPN

though but I haven't seen that many

people talking about it honestly and

truthfully like this example from the

Linus tech tips you might use a VPN for

any number of reasons from accessing

region blocked content to logging into

your school's library from off campus to

obfuscating your IP address when Europe

legally downloading backups of your

movies and games but did you know that a

VPN can be used to potentially save

thousands of dollars on your next

airplane ticket it's really the online

anonymity and privacy that became the

core marketing point of many many VPN

providers there are great benefits to

using a VPN though VPNs are useful at

bypassing censorship and geo blocking

they might be helpful at preventing

throttling of your internet traffic by

your ISP they can be a part of your

privacy protection if you are using a

VPN you can trust and you reside in a

country with lacks privacy protection

laws VPNs

also help you secure yourself on public

Wi-Fi like as I mentioned earlier in a

coffee shop or a library but as a rule

of thumb don't use a VPN service with

expectations of strong privacy and

anonymity because that's not what the

VPN technology was developed for I've

made plenty of videos on how you can

sufficiently protect yourself on the web

so I recommend you start here all the

tools I mentioned are explained in my

tutorials so be sure to check them out I

hope you learned something new today and

if you did leave a like and share this

video and comment your thoughts or

questions

thank you for watching