this post was submitted on 16 May 2024
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Does a VPN used on a smartphone with Wi-Fi disabled (mobile data only enabled) provide any sort of protection? (beehaw.org)
submitted 5 months ago by hedge@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
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I've never completely understood this, but I think the answer would probably be "no," although I'm not sure. Usually when I leave the house I turn off wifi and just use mobile data (this is a habit from my pre-VPN days), although I guess I should probably just keep it on since using strange Wi-Fi with a VPN is ok (unless someone at Starbucks is using the evil twin router trick . . . ?). I was generally under the impression that mobile data is harder to interfere with than Wi-Fi, but I could well be wrong and my notions out of date. So, if need be, please set me straight. 🙂

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[–] jet@hackertalks.com 15 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Do you want a random third party looking at all of your mail before you pick it up? Even if they can't open the envelope, having somebody else write down every message that comes in who it's from and who it's too and how frequent it is, that creep me out.

If you're uncomfortable with a third party looking at your mail, it's very reasonable to not one third party's looking at your internet traffic. It's the same thing.

[–] dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de 22 points 5 months ago (2 children)

A commercial VPN provider is just another random third party.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 18 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

You get to choose them. You can research them. They don't have a geographic monopoly on your internet connection. That gives you more control, and then more incentives to do the right thing

If you pay for your VPN using crypto, then they can't tie it to your name, when they're reselling the traffic it's harder to tie it to an identity

https://www.privacyguides.org/en/basics/vpn-overview/

A VPN has many advantages, including:

  1. Hiding your traffic from only your Internet Service Provider.
  2. Hiding your downloads (such as torrents) from your ISP and anti-piracy organizations.
  3. Hiding your IP from third-party websites and services, helping you blend in and preventing IP based tracking.
  4. Allowing you to bypass geo-restrictions on certain content.

VPNs can provide some of the same benefits Tor provides, such as hiding your IP from the websites you visit and geographically shifting your network traffic, and good VPN providers will not cooperate with e.g. legal authorities from oppressive regimes, especially if you choose a VPN provider outside your own jurisdiction.

[–] towerful@programming.dev 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

If you pay for your VPN using crypto, then they can't tie it to your name, when they're reselling the traffic it's harder to tie it to an identity

Surely that only works if you have personally mined the crypto yourself.
And if you only use that wallet for paying for the same VPN service.
Crypto isn't anonymous, the ledger of all transactions (IE the Blockchain) can be read by anyone.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Monero solves this problem. Monero is the digital cash we were promised in cyberpunk. Not a open ledger, fungible money.

https://www.getmonero.org/resources/moneropedia/fungibility.html

And Mullvad takes monero directly!

[–] to55@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 5 months ago

That, unlike your ISP, isn’t obligated by law to log the connections you make (‘data retention’). Depending on the jurisdictions.