Which VPN to pick?

[dkbit98]

Additionally, they're US company where US government could ask the company to hand over your data anytime.

Agreed.
It is not only US, as we also have so called 'Five Eyes, Nine Eyes and 14-Eyes Countries' for VPN Jurisdiction.
5 eyes alliance are US, UK, NZ, CA, AUS

[1714926646]

1714926646

[1714926646]

1714926646

[o_e_l_e_o]

There is no need to use vpn and you can access this forum without any worry with your own original IP.

There are a hundred reasons why someone might want to use a VPN when connecting to the forum. Just because you don't have a reason to use one, please don't assume no one else does either.

By the way, I am also looking to find a VPN which is free of cost and good too. Is there any out there ?

No. If you are getting something for free, then you are the product. This holds true for everything from VPNs to search engines to social media. They are collecting and selling your data. Using a free VPN is often worse than no VPN at all, since you route everything you do online through a single entity who will collate all that data in to a massive profile of you and then sell it to anyone who asks.

The only "free" VPN I would ever even consider touching is ProtonVPN, but it's not really free as it is subsidized by their paying users.

I do use a free VPN which is free and safe. It is a chrome extension which is free and easy to use.

A browser extension is not a VPN. At best, it is a proxy. Also, let's take a quick look at their Privacy Policy (emphasis mine):

SetupVPN may ask you to provide personal information, such as your e-mail address, name, home address, or telephone number. We may also collect information about how you interact with SetupVPN sites and services. For example, we may use site analysis tools to retrieve information from your browser, including the site you came from, the search engine and keywords you used to find our site, the pages you view within our site, your browser add-ons, and your browser’s width and height. We may also use technologies, such as cookies, to collect information about the pages you view, the links you click, and other actions you perform on our sites and products. Additionally, we collect certain standard information that your browser sends to every website you visit, such as your IP address, browser type and language, access times, and referring Web site addresses.

So they collect your real name and address, and log everything you do while using their product. That's not a VPN, that's a surveillance program. If you are using this, I would recommend uninstalling it immediately.

[fib1012]

I suggest you to ULTRA VPN, i personally using this and this is very affordable with as lease as $2.25/Month. It is also granting so called money back warranty of 1 Month.

[o_e_l_e_o]

I suggest you to ULTRA VPN

Again, have you read their Privacy Policy? Does anyone read the Privacy Policy before signing up to or recommending a VPN? This is another one to avoid at all costs. Let's take a look. Emphasis mine throughout.

Here's the information they collect about you:

Information you give us. When you sign up for an Network Protect account, we keep the basic account information you give us, like your name, email address, telephone number, password and payment information.

Automatic Information. We may collect information about the device you access the Services from, such as the IP address or other unique device identifiers. If you access your account from a mobile device, that mobile device may also provide us with details of your location.

Ok, so UltraVPN know your name, email address, phone number, IP address, browser fingerprint, location, and payment details. So, enough to completely identify you without fail. What do they do with that information?

administer your account,
send you information about the Services (including updates and modifications),
process payments,
generate and review reports and data about our user base and Service usage patterns,
analyze the accuracy, effectiveness, usability, or popularity of the Services,
improve the content and features of the Services and
allow us to personalize the content and advertising that you see on the Services.

Personalize the content and advertising that you see? Ooft. That's a big no-no. They log everything you do and analyze your traffic to build a profile on you that they can give to third parties to target you with ads. And as if that wasn't bad enough...

We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table above:

Our group companies
Carefully selected third parties who provide a service to us to support our core operations, such as: processing our mail, communicating with customers and prospective customers on our behalf (including via social media), running promotions, providing IT systems and administrative services and the development and improvement of internal systems and processes;
Competent authorities (statutory bodies, regulatory authorities, authorised bodies who have a role laid out by law);
Other organisations where we are legally obligated to disclose your personal information (such as requests made in the prevention and detection of crime) or where disclosure is necessary to protect the property, rights and safety of us and our staff or to comply with any law, regulation, or governmental or judicial warrant, rule, order or subpoena;
Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this Privacy Policy;
Other companies where we are trialling products and services which we consider may improve our offering to customers and/or our business processes; and
Other third parties where you have given your express consent or where we reasonably believe a third party is acting on your behalf.

So not only do they keep a log of everything you are doing online, and can link that to your real identity, they will share all that data with pretty much anyone they damn well please.

Avoid.

[Harlot]

This setupVPN extension is NOT a good VPN.
Please research what 'good VPN' means before you trust some random extension and 'feedback'.
They log and track everything you do online.

Additionally, they're US company where US government could ask the company to hand over your data anytime.

Wouldn't that be some kind of violation when it comes to privacy and security. I mean technically they are bound by some kind of service-client privilege where they are availing a service for privacy and secrecy and you mean the US government have some kind of power to just ask them to hand their data over? I don't think so, by having this kind of loophole I think nobody will be availing VPNs especially the ones located in the US. I don't think they have this kind of power at all not unless these VPN companies have some kind of agreement with the authorities before hand that they can hand over data anytime the government as them to do so. Also for people suggesting free VPNs you are wrong with this one, since even if they let you access restricted websites the data they get from you is being sold for profit, the essence of having a VPN for the sake of privacy is absent.

[fortunecrypto]

Hey, I am just starting out and would like to use a VPN, but don't know which one... Would you recommend NordVPN? I have done some reading https://www.reddit.com/r/nordvpn/ and looks alright, how is it for bitcoin stuff?

I'm using PureVPN and I got it when they held a Christmas promo I got it by a 90% discount do check them out they still offer various promotional offer, PureVPN is one of the top VPN in the industry you will not regret subscribing to their service.

[jseverson]

To add to ETFBitcoin's hack details, Nord was indeed hacked in 2018, but what might be worth considering more is that it took them more than a year to disclose it:

NordVPN told TechCrunch that one of its data centers was accessed in March 2018 (This article is dated October 2019). “One of the data centers in Finland we are renting our servers from was accessed with no authorization,” said NordVPN spokesperson Laura Tyrell.

They say they chose not to publicize it just in case other servers were also exploitable. People were understandably upset, but Nord's explanation is also (somewhat) acceptable to me. It's up to you which side you want to camp in.

Either way, I've been using Nord for more than 3 years now and I'm generally happy with its reliability. I would honestly recommend it, but again, take that breach and their reaction into consideration. Breaches can happen to anyone, but how providers react to could be indicative of how they handle business.

[Henri Cartier]

This setupVPN extension is NOT a good VPN.
Please research what 'good VPN' means before you trust some random extension and 'feedback'.
They log and track everything you do online.

So they collect your real name and address, and log everything you do while using their product. That's not a VPN, that's a surveillance program. If you are using this, I would recommend uninstalling it immediately.

Oh really I did not know this. I was using this extension, now I uninstalled it. Thank you!

One thing I realized is we need to read the privacy policy before installing anything.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Yeah, as ETFbitcoin says, you need to read the privacy policy but you can't base all your decisions on it. If the privacy policy is poor (like the examples above), then you should absolutely avoid that service. Having a good policy doesn't guarantee that they follow it, though, or that they don't have flaws in their set up which mean you could be identified.

It's also useful to look for whether the VPN provider has been subpoenaed (or their jurisdiction's equivalent) and therefore had to prove they have no logs, or whether they have been independently audited by a trustworthy third party. Even then, though, that only proves they kept no logs at the time of the event, and things can change going forward.

With every VPN you use there will be an element of trust involved.

[Lucasgabd]

Hey, I am just starting out and would like to use a VPN, but don't know which one... Would you recommend NordVPN? I have done some reading https://www.reddit.com/r/nordvpn/ and looks alright, how is it for bitcoin stuff?

I know this topic is quite crowded already but had to share the experience I have with ExpressVPN
they're really good, have great support and don't keep logs of your navigation.

totally vouch for them

in this article I explain a bit mre about the importance of VPNs.
on the link in this article you can also get 30 days for free and they also have a 30-day moneyback guarantee.

https://medium.com/@lucasgabd/what-are-the-top-uses-of-virtual-private-networks-ca56245bb812

[dkbit98]

Before I posted website where you can see comparison of various VPN's
On same website you can find a guide how to choose best VPN for you:
https://thatoneprivacysite.net/choosing-the-best-vpn-for-you/

[~KiD~]

I use Brave extension (chromium based) SetupVPN which is very easy to use and reliable.
Just try multiple VPN providers and choose one that fits your needs.

[dkbit98]

Sure we can just 'trust' you a brand new promoter of shitVPN extension that spy and track your every move

[~KiD~]

Sure we can just 'trust' you a brand new promoter of shitVPN extension that spy and track your every move

I don't know what you mean by "spy and track". And if the extension is doing this, is not my fault.
Also I don't know why you gave me negative trust, just because I am newbie? I just answered the moonyguy's question.

[dkbit98]

It is obvious why I gave you negative trust - because I do NOT trust you and because you are promoting shit product and because you created brand new account just for that purpose.

[~KiD~]

It is obvious why I gave you negative trust - because I do NOT trust you and because you are promoting shit product and because you created brand new account just for that purpose.

1) I do not promote any product, I posted what I use answering the thread initiator question.
2) How can you trust or not someone if you don't know him? Just because you saw 1 post of him?
3) As for the brand new account, maybe because I am new to this forum.
4) I don't know if the product is a "shit" product or not. That's why I said moonyguy to try more and pick one he likes.

[dkbit98]

1) I do not promote any product, I posted what I use answering the thread initiator question.
2) How can you trust or not someone if you don't know him? Just because you saw 1 post of him?
3) As for the brand new account, maybe because I am new to this forum.
4) I don't know if the product is a "shit" product or not. That's why I said moonyguy to try more and pick one he likes.

1) Yes you do
2) I can
3) You are not
4) I know

Have a nice day

[julius caesar]

Hey, I am just starting out and would like to use a VPN, but don't know which one... Would you recommend NordVPN? I have done some reading https://www.reddit.com/r/nordvpn/ and looks alright, how is it for bitcoin stuff?

For me NORD vpn is already good. But as of now, I am using Touch VPN in my pc. It offers a lot of countries that is why I would like to recommend that one to you. It is called touch because in just a touch, the vpn will literally gonna be activated. Try to check that out and for sure you will not regret that using it.

[TryNinja]

4) I don't know if the product is a "shit" product or not. That's why I said moonyguy to try more and pick one he likes.

Even if you are not getting paid to promote this "free VPN" extension OR you are not related to them, keep in mind that ANY free VPN/proxy is a spyware. They need to pay their servers, right? If you don't pay for the product, you are the product.

Why would you advertise something like this? This doesn't necessarily mean you deserve a negative trust right away, BUT it is kinda shady (also considering it was your first post).

[~KiD~]

4) I don't know if the product is a "shit" product or not. That's why I said moonyguy to try more and pick one he likes.

Even if you are not getting paid to promote this "free VPN" extension OR you are not related to them, keep in mind that ANY free VPN/proxy is a spyware. They need to pay their servers, right? If you don't pay for the product, you are the product.

Why would you advertise something like this? This doesn't necessarily mean you deserve a negative trust right away, BUT it is kinda shady (also considering it was your first post).

I understand what you mean, but I didn't said is free.
OK, I don't want to talk anymore and get into details, it will be considered I continue promoting that VPN.