VPNs exist virtually everywhere. Get featured by influencers from your favorite YouTube shows in editorials and ads. VPN ads can be found on websites, in TV commercials, on billboards, and on subway ads. There may also be VPN ads currently displayed somewhere on this web page.
VPNs (virtual private networks) are a booming industry that claims to keep you anonymous and protect your privacy on the internet by hiding your browsing history.
Please don't believe it. VPN providers are usually bad for your privacy.
Many people have focused on VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) and how these companies can help control internet providers who sell your browsing history, governments that monitor you, and the vast amounts of data that track you across the web. We believe it will protect you from the tech giants that are collecting on you.
But if a VPN tries to solve the problem, it can also expose you to privacy risks. That's why we're skeptical of VPN providers and their claims, and you should be too.
Check out our guide to VPNs for skeptics.
We've put together a simple flowchart to help you decide if a VPN is right for you and your situation. If a VPN isn't for you, consider tools to improve your online privacy. And if a VPN suits your needs, the best VPN is one you create, configure, and control yourself. We also have a simple guide that shows you how to set up your own encrypted VPN server.
Why not trust your VPN provider?
TechCrunch's Romain Dilet explains everything you need to know about VPNs. In other words, a VPN is designed to allow employees to virtually connect to their office network at home or while traveling.
These days, VPNs are becoming more widely used in the name of hiding your online internet traffic and tricking the streaming services you use into thinking you're in another country when you're not. The same technique has historically helped activists and dissidents circumvent their countries' censorship systems.
A VPN works by concentrating all your internet traffic through a virtual private “tunnel” to a VPN server. This makes it more difficult for anyone on the internet to know what sites you're visiting or what apps you're using.
However, VPNs do not inherently protect your privacy or provide anonymity. A VPN simply diverts all your internet traffic from your internet provider's system to the VPN provider's system.
A question arises here. Why should you trust a VPN that promises to protect your privacy better than your internet provider? The simple answer is that you can't and shouldn't.
By far, some of the worst offenders are free VPN providers that offer their services for free in exchange for monetizing your data. This means that while you are connected to a VPN, it will capture your internet traffic and sell it to the highest bidder to serve you targeted ads. All this being said, free VPNs offer little to no privacy protection.
Paid VPNs also don't solve the problem of funneling all your internet traffic to potentially untrustworthy companies. It's also natural to question the services provided by some of the big tech companies that make their money by selling advertising.
Some VPN providers claim to protect your privacy by not storing logs or tracking which websites you visit and when. That may be true in some cases, but there's no way to be completely sure. Privacy policies make promises, but we can only guarantee them at the provider's word. Some VPN providers claim they don't keep logs, but data breaches have exposed large amounts of VPN user data and provided law enforcement with the kind of data that providers said they wouldn't even provide. That was proven to be false by complying with a legal request to do so. Store in the first place.
The best VPN is the one you set up yourself
Not all VPNs are unscrupulous or invade your privacy. The main problem with VPN providers is that you can't peek inside and see what's happening with your data.
So if you think you need a VPN, we recommend setting up your own encrypted VPN server using software that has been vetted and audited by security researchers. We'll also show you how to get started.
You can also create and control your own VPN servers through cloud services such as Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. Internet traffic flowing through your private tunnel is encrypted using a private key that only you own. This means that even the cloud provider hosting your VPN server cannot see the data inside your private tunnel. Even if authorities secretly seize your server, your VPN data will remain encrypted with your private key. In other words, authorities will have to visit you in person to request access to your personal data.
Although VPNs are useful for certain purposes, it's important to understand their limitations. Don't rely on a VPN provider to protect your privacy or anonymity.
If you think you need a VPN server, start here.