Privacy policies and VPNs

[tomturbomatic]

I don't know if I am in the correct forum for this or not, but in the NYT for 5-24-18 there is an article "Don't Ignore Updates To Privacy Policies." These notices appear in the middle of things you are searching or accessing so many people ignore them to their privacy peril. There is a mean little message tucked at the end of these notices that often reads, "your continued use of this service will be considered acceptance of our updated terms." In essence, they want a record of our giving them permission to collect data about us. You might also see a sudden banner about cookies and they're not talking about Snickerdoodle or Toll House types. My question to those with great computer knowledge is would getting a Virtual Private Network help protect my online privacy? Would the Electronic Frontier Foundation be a resource in finding a good one or is there one or more good ones that someone here can recommend? I found a site called VPNmentor offering ratings of the 7 best, but know nothing about its validity.

 

Many thanks in advance.

Tom

 

[lordkenmore]

I'm not an expert on VPN. That said, based on what I read above, I don't think a VPN will help you. A VPN provides more security with connection to the Internet. A company might have one to create a worldwide private company network that is physically connected by the Internet. A private user might use a VPN service (like you are considering) to have a way of connecting that will avoid the risk of eavesdropping at your end. I considered a VPN at one point due to concerns about whether my ISP might start tracking and selling data about me. (As it turns out, they don't track, or so they say.)

 

But a VPN won't affect websites that track and collect user data. Particularly in the case of a site where you have some sort of login. So if you use Facebook, to cite one example, it will still operate the same way, collecting whatever data they collect, regardless whether you use a VPN.

 

 

 

[launderess]

Yes, and no.

See: https://www.wired.com/2017/03/want-use-vpn-protect-privacy-start/

and:

It really comes down to fact VPNs are only good as service provider for most part.

 

[launderess]

Quite honestly there are really many things for Americans to worry about regarding online privacy:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...aive-class-action-rights-or-stop-using-yahoo/

https://mobilesyrup.com/2018/05/01/...ation-email-controversy-privacy-commissioner/

https://www.cnet.com/news/yahoo-aol-oath-privacy-policy-verizon-emails-messages/

 

[launderess]

Long story short

There is really no such thing, if there ever was, as privacy on the Internet. Recently enacted EU laws give those residing on that side of pond more rights than we here in USA, but make no mistake; Internet is powered by revenue derived for selling of adverts and by extension information.

Ever since the days of Geocities and so forth those on internet have looked for ways to make money. That question has largely been settled; either require payment in fees, or sell advertising. The latter has been added to by collecting, analyzing, storing then offering up for sale the vast amount of data nearly all websites collect to some extent or another.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Thank you for the bleak news. I do use duckduckgo for trackless searching as opposed to Google.