A VPN doesn’t protect you the way OP thinks it does. It just hides your IP address from the websites you visit. Of course, now instead of one website seeing that you visited it, one organization can see everything you visit.

Basically it just moves your trust from your ISP to your VPN provider. So yeah, if you don’t need that, and you don’t need to get around geo blocks, you don’t need a VPN.

@[email protected]

"I have nothing to hide ..."

Nice story, bro.

When you post a real photograph of yourself, wife, kids, and all your social security numbers and bank account numbers, along with a complete history of all video rentals and library books, and your private confessions of folly, vice, and sin-- post all that on your Lemmy profile, then I'll believe you have nothing to hide.

Because mainstream porn sites are blocked or require age verification in my state. Other good reasons are to avoid some issues when torrenting things or to "be" in another country to get around Netflix and other streaming service region blocks.

Privacy and avoiding man in the middle is kinda bullshit. Nearly all websites use TLS, so mitm isn't possible. And it's only privacy from your ISP.

um I don’t use a vpn. Please tell me why I should use a VPN.

It is up to you to use a VPN or not. Some people use a VPN to watch regular TV series which are blocked in their own country. Some people, like myself, despise the ad- and tracking- exploitation industry, other people may want to download e-books from anna's archive or simply do not trust their ISP. Other people live in countries where their government is very oppressive and intends to arrest and torture any critical voices.

I have nothing to hide.

Reminds me of : "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say."

Recommended viewing : https://piped.video/results?search_query=Shoshana+Zuboff

1. It obscures your IP so that sites don't know who you are by that, but really, they can just fingerprint your browser if you're not addressing that too.

2. You can present your location to a site as being from any where the VPN has a server. Say you want to watch something that is only available to users in Canada, but you live in Mexico. You can use the VPN to present yourself to the site as being in Canada and watch it. Unfortunately, some sites are blocking content from being accessed by known VPN IP addresses. I think Netflix is one. Frustrating to me, lemmy.world doesn't let anyone post or comment while using a VPN, though I understand that it's for valid security and admin purposes, such as to reduce CASM material.

3. More importantly, it encrypts your data between you and the VPN. That means that no one between you two knows what the info you're transmitting means. This includes your ISP that likely collects/sells your data or could report it to authorities. Additionally, it protects you from people that can join your wifi and steal your data that way, say at a public wifi like a coffee shop.

Personally, I use a VPN as much as possible, especially when I'm connected to any wifi outside of my home. In fact, I will absolutely not access security-sensitive sites (e.g. bank accounts, credit cards, etc.) on public wifi without using my VPN.

You have nothing to hide huh... So you take a shit with the stall door open?

It protects your data from snooping or man-in-the-middle attacks on untrusted networks. Or your internet service provider.