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So I've started using a VPN to anonymize my internet activities. No particular reason...
Wow, did everyone get upset. My banks, Microsoft, google all have gone bat $hit crazy thinking my account has been hijacked now that they can't track my IP.
Very, very interesting.
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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charlieg wrote: So I've started using a VPN
Which VPN app are you using, I want to go that route but there seems to be lots of them so I can't seem to figure out which one is more secure.
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There are reviews out there. I currently use NordVPN but have also used IPVanish and would recommend either one.
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ProtonVPN offers a free plan, somewhat slow. I need to test more as sometimes I get interference from my customer's VPN.
Be aware that many security checks depend on knowing your general (?) location. I suspect they do velocity checks.
In any event, attempting to access your account with a VPN ip may trigger all sorts of "who are you?" checks.
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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charlieg wrote: In any event, attempting to access your account with a VPN ip may trigger all sorts of "who are you?" checks.
That is, after all, the point of a having a VPN, is it not ?
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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It is and should be.. but these checks are failing even after 2FA and passwords and what not.
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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charlieg wrote: free plan, somewhat slow
Running a VPN service has associated costs. If you pay nothing for the service, then they're still making money somehow. As a customer, ask yourself what it is that you have that's of value to them.
Read any such provider's EULA very carefully, you'll probably find the answer hidden deep in there in tiny fonts.
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It's a simple security feature. every time you connect from a new device, i.e. a new IP address, they will ask you to verify this device using 2nd factor authentication.
Call it crazy if you will, some other people simply call it modern security practices! 
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Super Lloyd wrote: every time you connect from a new device, i.e. a new IP address, they will ask you to verify this device using 2nd factor authentication.
Some of them even start asking for it if you just clear your browser cache
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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SL,
That's sort of my point. I understand some of the why, but what I'm learning is that "modern security practices" - as currently implemented - are falling short. I have 2f authentication enabled on most of my accounts, some I can access, some I cannot.
cg
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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charlieg wrote: So I've started using a VPN to anonymize my internet activities.
and this goes out the window, mostly, as soon as you log into any site or service such as your google account or banking. just saying...
private VPN use is intended so that authorities cannot track someone's activities to their personal computer via the IP.
private VPN use, IMHO, has no real value or benefit to the regular citizen unless someone wants to commit crimes and/or say things online in anonymous forums such as 4chan, etc. and not have it traced back to one's personal computer.
modified 25-Mar-21 4:45am.
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Slacker007 wrote: private VPN use, IMHO, has no real value or benefit to the regular citizen unless someone wants to commit crimes
Definition of crime is wildly different across countries and across time itself. With more and more fuzzy laws about what can be expressed and what can't, and countries descending in authoritarian governments, private VPN use adds a layer of safety for the citizen.
GCS d--(d+) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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There is no reason at all for needing a private VPN connection, unless you are doing things online that would incriminate you legally. -- In my honest opinion.
you cannot convince me otherwise.
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So what? In many countries just being gay is a crime punishable by death, in other countries not being affiliated with a particular political party leads to accidents, even in the mighty and free US it's becoming a problem with people fired from their jobs for their political views.
Subjects don't need privacy, citizens do.
GCS d--(d+) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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den2k88 wrote: Subjects don't need privacy, citizens do.
I couldn't have said it better!
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Wow, you have taken this thread to a whole new level of absurdity. We are talking VPN here.
If people are getting fired from their jobs for posting political comments, I assure you that VPN is NOT going to protect them - Facebook/Twitter still knows who you are, VPN or not.
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You're the one who took it to absurd levels by claiming that one has no need for a VPN unless engaged in criminal activity.
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and I still stick to that.
Show me a valid reason for private VPN use, that has nothing to do with hiding one's criminal activities online.
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What other posters have said about expressing opinions anonymously. Or reducing the extent to which you can be tracked by all these benevolent types like Google and your ISP. Or reducing the risk of man-in-the-middle hacks. By your logic, the use of encryption should also be curtailed.
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Greg Utas wrote: y your logic, the use of encryption should also be curtailed.
That is just a silly comment and has nothing to do with people hiding behind a VPN.
We encrypt data so that hackers cannot read the data when it is intercepted.
We hide behind private VPNs so that governments and law enforcement cannot track our IP addresses when we break that country's laws.
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Curtailed does not mean eliminated. I didn't think you'd go that far.
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"We hide behind private VPNs so that governments and law enforcement cannot track our IP addresses when we break that country's laws."
although your comments about fb twitter, etc are valid what you just said makes me wonder what planet you live on and for how long. The government nor law enforcement have the right to track me anywhere unless they have probable cause.
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
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Your personal IP address is logged each time you login to your VPN provider.
The government can get your IP address anytime they want. Almost all VPN service providers have an agreement with law enforcement to give over most of your personal data upon a search warrant.
I live on planet earth, same as you.
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That's the point, they need a warrant specific to a suspect. Currently they just slurp up everyone's activity _without_ a warrant
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I can think of many legal, but possibly immoral activities that some people would prefer the use of a VPN-service for.
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