Re: [gentoo-user] About to have fiber internet and need VPN info

[Michael]

On Sunday, 7 August 2022 07:06:55 BST William Kenworthy wrote:
> On 6/8/22 20:42, Michael wrote:
> > On Saturday, 6 August 2022 12:08:30 BST Dale wrote:
> > ...
> >
> > The more you try to escape the 14 eyes Big Brother, the closer you may
> > fall
> > into the hands of various authoritarian regimes.  LOL!  Even VPNs like
> > NordVPN which operates within the jurisdiction of Panama (let's not
> > forget it is Langley's doorstep), it also has offices in the UK,
> > Netherlands and Lithuania. I wonder why . . .
> >
> > Total privacy on the Internet is improbable.  If your only concern is to
> > retain your privacy from your ISP with regards to your Internet
> > connections, then most/any VPN service will offer this benefit by
> > obfuscating your IP address.  Your browsing patterns, browser User Agent,
> > addons and umpteen other OS and application fingerprints won't be
> > obfuscated beyond the VPN server. Therefore your identity can only be
> > protected so much and no more.
> Also, leakage is almost inevitable ... DNS, content distribution
> networks, browser fingerprinting, timezones, paying online with a US
> credit card, US delivery address and just simple mis-configuration
> exposing you to risk etc.  My impression as a long time openvpn user is
> that TOR and the TOR browser might be the closest to secure for your
> purposes? Also, keep in mind that things like online shopping will cost
> you more overseas because if you are successful in hiding you are in the
> US you will get the international surcharges, or in some cases ordering
> IT stuff from the US you have to fill out export clearances (once even
> for sparkfun hobby stuff!) :) ... then if you pay with a US card and/or
> have a US delivery address they have got you anyway - in fact being in
> Oz I gave it up as being no gain, too much pain to use a VPN try and get
> cheaper US shopping. I found myself having to maintain two totally
> independent systems with one in a locked down VPN with US settings with
> all traffic actively blocked from the local network, and use US shipping
> and packaging firms that offered facilities to buy on my behalf.  That
> is much harder than you think - trusting the end points is only one
> small part of the problem you are trying to solve and from the Gov
> monitoring point of view almost certainly a waste of time anyway as they
> have massive resources. The best you can hope for with openvpn is SSL
> point to point level security.  Just use HTTPS, a good browser and be
> part of the crowd - if you are trawling suspect/socially compromising
> websites you do not want anyone to see you going to, no matter what you
> do there will always be a risk and as a VPN user you are a more likely
> target for a closer look anyway.  I am sure the bigger online VPN
> providers would be monitored closely - at least TOR is likely to help
> more than a plain VPN.
>
> BillK

TBH I don't think even TOR is to be trusted 100%.  There must be 100s if not 
1000s of honeypot TOR servers set up with the purpose of harvesting comms and 
associating entry and exit patterns as part of regular internet surveillance 
work.

The best a well configured VPN tunnel can offer is a secure connection between 
client and VPN server, which is handy if you are out and about using untrusted 
and insecure WiFi hotspots.  In such a case, having configured your home/office 
router as a VPN server for free will allow you to use your client device as a 
roadwarrior, which should be just as effective as using some remote VPN 
service.

The only other reason for using a VPN service is to present a different 
geolocation for the purpose of overcoming country-specific website 
restrictions.  In this case a VPN service works effectively as a proxy server 
in changing your IP address.