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Ronny_Jotten t1_iy813so wrote

An ad for a VPN, disguised as a news article. Good work.

Please explain how a VPN avoids trackers, cookies, and browser fingerprinting, as the adicle seems to suggest? Particularly if you have a dynamic IP, like most people?

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chris-tier t1_iy872yu wrote

They don't. VPN providers managed to get a widespread reputation for great security. It's all bullshit. Yes, they shield your traffic from your internet provider but, instead, you send all your traffic through one entity that you have no control over, possibly registered in a different country where you have zero legal reach. Whereas your local internet provider is bound by so many laws that also protect you. (This in turn means that VPN is a godsend in autocratic countries!).

I am starting to close YouTube videos with a VPN sponsor section and letting the tubers know what bullshit they are advertising.

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DeveloperHistorian t1_iybp231 wrote

I'm Italian and most big Italian YouTubers are on the payroll of Nord VPN. It's absurd how widespread they became, persuading people into thinking that it's almost like a fundamental thing to have on your computer for security reasons

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wallacebrf t1_iy8eipw wrote

as u/chris-tier indicated absolutely right, they can ONLY prevent tracking at the IP-address level, all other forms of tracking still work perfectly.

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GetOutOfTheWhey t1_iy8gu2k wrote

To further illustrate just how (not really) useful VPNs are for stopping ads or trackers.

I am using a VPN right now to connect to Reddit from China and to give you an example, whenever I google "movie theaters near me". They always give me the list of the ones closest to me. Like a fairly accurate result yea? I am talking about anywhere between 5-20 minutes of driving.

This is me connecting from a country that has blocked google and google has vowed not to operate in, yet they still get my address right. Take it from me when I say VPNs do the bare minimum. There are many ways to track you online.

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DutchieTalking t1_iybuve4 wrote

Google will use search history to track location. Delete google's history in your browser (and don't be logged in) and it is likely to give a result that matches the vpn ip location.

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Mr_ToDo t1_iy8on6h wrote

How much do you think a dynamic IP matters? And how often do you think yours changes? Sure some peoples change many times a day but most home internet connections around here only grab a new one from every few weeks to when you actually reboot the modem to pretty much never(as long as I've lived in my current place I've never gotten a new one despite being "dynamic").

But really it's the other trackers you have to worry about anyway. You can switch IP's every 5 minutes and it won't mean a think if you've got other trackers updating them on who you are. It'd be like swapping your car to evade the cops but keeping your plates.

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Ronny_Jotten t1_iy9e1on wrote

> You can switch IP's every 5 minutes and it won't mean a think if you've got other trackers updating them on who you are.

Exactly. The only thing a VPN offers in terms of trackers is that you won't be tracked by your IP. If you don't want that, instead of paying for a VPN, most people can just change their IP once in a while and get the same effect.

There are other reasons why a VPN can be useful, like with avoiding geographic restrictions, stopping your ISP from recording your browsing history (e.g. in the US) or in some countries torrenting, etc. But avoiding trackers is not one of them, unless maybe you do use tracker blockers but have a static IP.

This ad-disguised-as-news implying that a VPN is a good way to protect from trackers on websites, complete with affiliate links to NordVPN, is complete bullshit. I thought TechRadar was better than that, apparently I was mistaken.

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