As a bitcoin user, we are always careful to have the full privacy we need. Because of this, bitcoin users like to make use of virtual private network (VPN) for online purposes. VPNs allow users to send their web traffic through an encrypted tunnel to a server managed by the VPN service provider. Traffic then exits to the web where data continues to be encrypted, provided users only connect to secure HTTPS websites, preserving privacy as a result. But, VPN are centralized service, some leaving users vulnerable to data leak.
Free VPNs leave users vulnerable to data leak, the reputed paid ones use strong security protocols, minimal data logging, private Domain Name System, or DNS, servers and internet-friendly jurisdictions. In turn, this leads to benefits such as avoidance of censorship, enhanced security on both public and private connections and data transfers, remote access and online anonymity. But despite safe and secure online environment paid VPN can offer, some still keep usage logs.
VPN Usage LogsAll in all, usage logs kind of defeat the purpose of using a VPN. After all, you’re running a VPN connection to escape surveillance. Usage logs are pretty intrusive because they actually contain information about your online browsing. We are talking about data like:
- IP address
- Anything you uploaded or downloaded
- The web applications and online services you used while connected to the VPN
- Your whole browsing history
- And all sorts of other metadata
Why do some providers keep VPN logs1. First of all, because the law forces them to do that. If the VPN provider has their HQ in a country with severe data retention laws (like Australia, the US, Ireland, or France), or in a country with an oppressive regime, they will likely have to keep VPN logs to comply with the law. Of course, they might be able to use legal loopholes to not do that, but they willl need to have regular third-party audits of their service to prove their claims are legit.
2. If you use a free VPN service, it might keep logs about your usage to enforce bandwidth caps. Some paid VPNs might do this too if they have bandwidth caps during the money-back guarantee or free trial period.
3. Some providers might engage in VPN logging to make sure people only connect the number of devices they allow them to (like up to five or ten). Not all providers bother with that, though, and others even offer unlimited simultaneously connected devices.
4. If you are using a free service, they might keep VPN logs to collect data which they can later sell to advertisers.
5. Sometimes it is not even the VPN provider who keeps logs, but the data center they use. Basically, the provider might use a data center who isn’t transparent about their own logging policies. That actually happened once – a VPN service said it kept no longs, but its data center kept IP transfer logs.
Decentralized private networksSimilar to VPNs, decentralized private networks, or decentralized VPNs, also use encrypted tunnels to route web traffic, but they do this over decentralized rather than centralized networks. DPNs are serverless and distributed, ensuring higher security levels such that user data is not logged, hacked or subpoenaed.
In a decentralized private network, user devices act as both the client (like individual internet users) and server (like Amazon Web Services or Google). And the IP addresses automatically change based on their routing rules, establishing tunnels to other nodes all over the world.
The negation of a central point of control in DPN services means there are no central points to attack; the network cannot be taken down. Users also have control over their data, as no centralized provider has access to the information they are trying to protect.
Which do you think will give total privacy, VPN or DPN?
https://www.cactusvpn.com/beginners-guide-to-vpn/vpn-logs/
https://cointelegraph.com/news/dpn-vs-vpn-the-dawn-of-decentralized-web-privacy
