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comment by querx
querx  ·  3428 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: VPN - To use or not to use, that's the question

Nope. Not directly. Something like "complete privacy" or "invisibility" does not exist.

First of all, TOR (used in Tails) doesn't make you anonymous. It's not designed to do something like that. It's generally meant to be a tool for have a chance in repressed regimes.

Secondly, you must have an apparently very strong motivation to stay close to a public WiFi all the time.

Third, VPNs are logging. Even if they are saying that they are not. Just because of paying approximately 7$/month, do you really think a VPN service provider will assume legal responsibility for all your also illegal actions done by their system? I think not. Because it's not even near lucrative to get trouble with the law, get prosecuted, because somebody was doing bad things online. No one would do that in my opinion.

Fourth, by paying for Socks5 or a VPN provider, there exist transaction logs. Even if your are using Bitcoin, it can (if there is enough interest) tracked back to you.

Fifth, getting a throwaway laptop is 1) expensive and 2) has the really high risk to get a hardware backdoored machine - the only option is then to buy a 6-8 years old computer to be sure.

At the end, it can be extremely expensive (time and money) to get close to something like "complete" anonymity. And the point is that it just not work - the government you are trying hide from has far more resources to exploit systems and establish a mass surveillance.