Is using a VPN to connect to a wallet good for privacy?

[dkbit98]

No, VPN is not some magical thing that can make your transaction private, especially not if you are using some cheap and free vpn service.
Data for most VPN services are collected into one account and that source information is available for most governments, and can be hacked.
Using something good like Mullvad VPN can minimize the risks, but I would not blindly trust any VPN.

[bitterguy28]

VPN gives you a nice level of security however it's not as private and strong as certain persons think.

yup vpn still has its own limitations it helps conceal you but it does not make you totally invisible there are still many ways for your data to be tracked and acquired even with a vpn

accepting cookies from websites you visits and willingly inputting your information on these websites are ways to get your data that vpn will not help conceal anymore

[Lucius]

Using a VPN or Tor in combination or separately can improve one's privacy, but far from anyone needing to live in the belief that they can achieve 100% privacy that way. Maybe someone won't like it, but those who are in any way involved with cryptocurrencies are somehow considered a "threat" to the system, because using cryptocurrencies as currency is a direct encroachment on financial systems that, on the other hand, serve as one of the main means of control people and the whole world.

You still think these are all conspiracy theories?

In an internal NSA report dating back to March 2013, the agency indicated that it had used at least one source of information to target bitcoin users, leveraging its sophisticated tools to collect and analyze global internet traffic data, while also exploiting an unnamed software program which is said to protect the identity of users, reported The Intercept. One memo from the NSA, cited by the media outlet, suggested that the agency collected private information on bitcoin users including passwords, internet activity, and device identifiers.

[libert19]

Better than being naked, I suppose but don't go with random VPN providers, as they may do more harm than good. Find and stick with reputed ones, shall you use one.

[Freemind]

Better than being naked, I suppose but don't go with random VPN providers, as they may do more harm than good. Find and stick with reputed ones, shall you use one.

I think that's also part of the problem from my point of view. And it's a question I've been asking myself for years... Who watches the watchman?. Nobody watches the watchman, so he has complete freedom to do what he wants with all the information he obtains daily, and that's a big problem, even if people ignore it or don't care. Users not only cannot know what they do with our data, but we also do not have access to the source code of the clients that we install on our devices. Open source code eliminates these problems.

This article is recent and very interesting on the topic we talked about in this thread: Exposed: How Israeli spies control your VPN.

[Lucius]

@Freemind, If only part of what is in the article is true, everyone who uses such software should really ask themselves if there is any point in using it at all. It seems to me that most of today's VPNs have owners who are connected to intelligence agencies around the world, because for them it's a win-win situation considering that they (the owners) make serious money, and at the same time they probably sell user data to interested parties.

For much better privacy, it is still better to use Tor, which is free and much harder to spy on, but of course it can be quite slow and unusable on some websites.

+1

[dkbit98]

Better than being naked, I suppose but don't go with random VPN providers, as they may do more harm than good. Find and stick with reputed ones, shall you use one.

If someone is in Brazil, China, Russia, UK or other countries that have crazy censorship laws VPN can be better than using nothing.
But most VPN services are crap and they are probably already working with government, or they are just one of honeypot agencies.
Only VPN service I would somehow recommend is Mullvad, and they accept bitcoin, monero and other coins:
https://mullvad.net/

[Freemind]

@Freemind, If only part of what is in the article is true, everyone who uses such software should really ask themselves if there is any point in using it at all. It seems to me that most of today's VPNs have owners who are connected to intelligence agencies around the world, because for them it's a win-win situation considering that they (the owners) make serious money, and at the same time they probably sell user data to interested parties.

For much better privacy, it is still better to use Tor, which is free and much harder to spy on, but of course it can be quite slow and unusable on some websites.

+1

That news appeared a few days ago in various media. Unfortunately, it does not surprise me that some government (or several governments) carry out these types of practices to control the flow of information and data from users while at the same time they talk to us about "freedom" and what they call "nations that base their principles on the freedom of their citizens".

I have never liked VPNs and I have always looked for a way to do everything with open source software, from the operating system to a simple FTP client for example. There are also open source VPN solutions that work very well, like OpenVPN, but I don't understand why people don't want to use them, it's not difficult to set up the program. That's why I talk about Tor whenever I can, the more people who know it the better.

[ABCbits]

@Freemind, If only part of what is in the article is true, everyone who uses such software should really ask themselves if there is any point in using it at all.

I'm not sure about relation with Israel, but i'm sure Kape technologies have violate user's privacy for many years. There are so many websites talks about their behavior.

There are also open source VPN solutions that work very well, like OpenVPN, but I don't understand why people don't want to use them, it's not difficult to set up the program.

Do you mean renting VPS and install/configure OpenVPN manually? If so, it's not surprising since average people don't want to interact with terminal.

[Lucius]

~snip~
I have never liked VPNs and I have always looked for a way to do everything with open source software, from the operating system to a simple FTP client for example. There are also open source VPN solutions that work very well, like OpenVPN, but I don't understand why people don't want to use them, it's not difficult to set up the program. That's why I talk about Tor whenever I can, the more people who know it the better.

Various researches show that around 30-40% of internet users use a VPN, and we are talking about 1.5 to 2 billion people - while on the other hand, the number of Tor users is on average around 2 million people, and that is a really huge difference. It just proves that very few people value their privacy, or what's worse, they understand it in a completely wrong way.

How hard can it be to download the Tor browser and use it? It does not require any technical skills, but it is obvious that many people are not even aware of its existence. On the other hand, VPNs are promoted everywhere as a way to be anonymous, and it's obvious that billions believe this to be true and pay tens of billions of dollars for it every year.

[TomPluz]

Is using a VPN as a proxy in a wallet (that has the configuration for this) a good idea to get more privacy?

Yes it is. But try to avoid free VPN. They basically steal your data, most of them.

One must really invest some money for paid VPN if there is a need to add additional and effective layer of protection and security to what one is doing online especially in connection with wallets. Now, in countries where the government is quite so jealous with people in cryptocurrency, a reliable VPN service can be much needed. In today's world, there are people and agencies that may love to track us to see if we are owning some crypto and for how much and they can be targetting those whom they think they can get something worthwhile of the time and effort...and we are already seeing something like this on the news. So hiding one's data and traces can be a good idea and we can start with utilizing a VPN. still, it does not mean that if you are using a VPN that everything will be secured as there will still many risks and some of them can be unknown to some of us. I would then say that VPN can be a good start. At this moment, am wondering what are the best VPN service providers we can look at...one that maybe is working also with the cryptocurrency industry for years.

[Freemind]

~snip~
Do you mean renting VPS and install/configure OpenVPN manually? If so, it's not surprising since average people don't want to interact with terminal.

What you mention is one way to do it for example, but there are some more ways to configure it without having much knowledge. Interacting with the terminal is much easier (for certain things) and safer than using any other way of using an operating system. Laziness is one of the causes of most of the problems that many users have regarding the security of their devices.

Various researches show that around 30-40% of internet users use a VPN, and we are talking about 1.5 to 2 billion people - while on the other hand, the number of Tor users is on average around 2 million people, and that is a really huge difference. It just proves that very few people value their privacy, or what's worse, they understand it in a completely wrong way.

How hard can it be to download the Tor browser and use it? It does not require any technical skills, but it is obvious that many people are not even aware of its existence. On the other hand, VPNs are promoted everywhere as a way to be anonymous, and it's obvious that billions believe this to be true and pay tens of billions of dollars for it every year.

This difference in users is abysmal, and demonstrates once again what I just said, laziness. Laziness to use something unknown, something that people may believe that you have to be a hacker to be able to use it... For most it is easier to download an app, install it and that's it. Without knowing what that app has in the code. Unfortunately it all comes down to laziness, to having everything done for us, to not having to read a simple manual or learn to use a terminal that in the long run will make us learn many things. Sad but true, like the song.

[ABCbits]

~snip~
Do you mean renting VPS and install/configure OpenVPN manually? If so, it's not surprising since average people don't want to interact with terminal.

What you mention is one way to do it for example, but there are some more ways to configure it without having much knowledge.
--snip--

Could you share example guide or tutorial without needing much knowledge? All guide i saw always involve terminal or linux.

Various researches show that around 30-40% of internet users use a VPN, and we are talking about 1.5 to 2 billion people - while on the other hand, the number of Tor users is on average around 2 million people, and that is a really huge difference. It just proves that very few people value their privacy, or what's worse, they understand it in a completely wrong way.

How hard can it be to download the Tor browser and use it? It does not require any technical skills, but it is obvious that many people are not even aware of its existence. On the other hand, VPNs are promoted everywhere as a way to be anonymous, and it's obvious that billions believe this to be true and pay tens of billions of dollars for it every year.

This difference in users is abysmal, and demonstrates once again what I just said, laziness. Laziness to use something unknown, something that people may believe that you have to be a hacker to be able to use it... For most it is easier to download an app, install it and that's it. Without knowing what that app has in the code. Unfortunately it all comes down to laziness, to having everything done for us, to not having to read a simple manual or learn to use a terminal that in the long run will make us learn many things. Sad but true, like the song.

Laziness isn't the only reason though. Unlike VPN, there's little promotion/advertising about Tor and Tor Browser. Some media news also biased negatively towards Tor, which give people bad impression.

[Lucius]

This difference in users is abysmal, and demonstrates once again what I just said, laziness. Laziness to use something unknown, something that people may believe that you have to be a hacker to be able to use it... For most it is easier to download an app, install it and that's it. Without knowing what that app has in the code. Unfortunately it all comes down to laziness, to having everything done for us, to not having to read a simple manual or learn to use a terminal that in the long run will make us learn many things. Sad but true, like the song.

Laziness isn't the only reason though. Unlike VPN, there's little promotion/advertising about Tor and Tor Browser. Some media news also biased negatively towards Tor, which give people bad impression.

It seems to me that it is somewhat a question of laziness in the sense that the majority of users do not want to investigate alternatives at all, and on the other hand, if they read several times that something is bad, then they start to believe it.

Bitcoin is a clear example of how the media influence public opinion to the extent that they dissuade people from investing in it, while at the same time they very easily convince them that investing in government bonds is a great thing and they will be happy that in 1 or 2 years they got 3% interest, but they have to pretend they don't know how much inflation was in that period.

Honestly, I was also surprised that so few people use Tor, which on the other hand might be bad because it's easier to identify those who use it, right?

[joniboini]

Honestly, I was also surprised that so few people use Tor, which on the other hand might be bad because it's easier to identify those who use it, right?

I believe speed or stability is the main issue for that, hence why the average joe prefers to use VPNs. On the other hand, I'm surprised that my country is included in the top 10 countries that use TOR regularly. Still, the number is abysmal compared to the number of daily internet users.

What you mention is one way to do it for example, but there are some more ways to configure it without having much knowledge. Interacting with the terminal is much easier (for certain things) and safer than using any other way of using an operating system.

I'm also interested in finding out how to set up my own VPN server without using any command/terminal etc. I do realize that OpenVPN offers 2 free VPN servers with their Access Server product, and tons of websites offer downloadable OpenVPN configs that people can use freely. I can't trust the latter though.