Many places now advertise VPN services one can subscribe to; others tout freebie VPN, or even DIY approaches, which may include purchasing your own server, registering a domain name, trying to keep those from being publicly traceable back to you, the user, and so on.
It seems useful to just make a few comments about the limitations and appropriate uses of VPN.
First off, VPN is simply the addition of a layer of encryption, over part of the distance one's internet traffic must travel. The encryption typically starts either in software on one's device, or in some cases, on a hardware router or similar piece of networking gear which one uses to connect their devices to the internet. The encrypted layer than continues, out onto the internet, to the point where the VPN server one connects to, is running. From that point, out to the rest of the internet, all your traffic reverts to normal -- the VPN encryption ends at the VPN server.
The even more important point though, is that despite the encryption wrapper that exists from your VPN start point to endpoint, all your internet traffic inside the VPN layer remains exactly as it would be, regardless of whether VPN is in use or not.
This means, all your browser cookies, and other identifying bits of data shared between your browser and remote web servers, and between your email, and remote email servers for example, is intact, and still readable by the servers.
So for example, amazon, or youtube, or facebook, or any other site which has you login in any way (or even automatically provides fingerprinting without visual cues), continues working, with no changes whatsoever, inside, as well as outside a VPN connection. If amazon recognizes you without VPN, they will as easily recognize your same login, even when you are connecting from a device using a VPN connection. The only difference being that if they care to check the IP address you are connecting from, this will of course appear as the VPN server's IP address, rather than your normal ISP address.
If that is the case, then why bother using VPN at all? There are still some important benefits:
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From the point it starts (e.g. on your device), until VPN ends (the VPN server side), all your traffic travelling across that section of the internet of course has encryption, and that is much better than not having encryption at all -- especially, if you ever connect using public wifi -- even moreso, if you do so, and then do anything at all over that connection that you would not like to share with every stranger at the coffee shop, not that most would care, but any hacker, or even would-be hacker, can download a variety of tools which could make your activity an open book, and then exploit that information to perhaps steal your identity, or worse.
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VPN also does provide a layer of anonymity to your public 'face' or internet-side IP address, vs not using VPN. So without using VPN, it is quite easy for someone to trace back your IP address to your ISP's address assigned to you, along usually with rather specific geographical location clues that can indicate which city or town you are connecting from, or in certain cases (like using your own domain), tracking right to your doorstep.
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A lesser known benefit VPN might provide is to get past website blocks imposed by your ISP. Whether it be a telecommunications provider, or tax funded institution like a school or library, or just some wifi provider, it is becoming something now of a practice for some of them to take it upon themselves to block certain websites they think you shouldn't access. By adding VPN to the mix, you cut out any such blocks up to the point where your VPN server endpoint ends.
One big caveat with VPN though has to do with who is providing your VPN service, because whoever owns the VPN server point, has access to ALL your traffic, all nicely packaged into your own pipe. It is almost exactly as if they are being given access to your network connection at your entry point. Once you understand this, you can see that using a publicly offered "free" VPN service might not be at all what you're interested in -- or even, using a paid VPN service, but from a company that doesn't like your basedness, politics, religion, or vax/jab status.
As you can see, while there are certainly benefits to using VPN, it is not a complete source of anonymity internet-wide, but only protects as far as your VPN server's point on the internet, and no further. Additionally, the adage "if it's free, you are the product" holds as well for VPN providers -- if you care, take steps to select one that can be trusted with your internet traffic.
If VPN worked then they wouldn't allow you to use it.
Well, it does do what it purports to -- it provides a layer of encryption up to the vpn server side, but that is all. If someone makes a claim it does more than that, they are overselling it.
Do you believe the deep state don't have a backdoor to it in the same way they have a backdoor to just about everything else?
Well, my point is first that they don't need to, because VPN never was about encrypting end to end communications all the way across the entire internet. An exception of course is when the VPN server is as far as one needs the traffic to travel, e.g., an employee using VPN to access corporate network resources.
That said... does the DS have backdoors or other access to perhaps a majority of standard internet communications? Well, especially since the Patriot Act, of course, and so would certain folks in privileged positions, working against the DS (who also are working to remove these DS capabilities). There also are many foreign governments, and hacking groups, and other parties with partial or limited access to pretty large swaths of internet traffic, although capacity to simultaneously and/or realtime monitor would be limited to their bandwidth and access to processing power.
That gets into another topic, which is hiding sensitive content within internet data.
I suspect using a VPN only invites the deep state to spy on you to see what you're trying to hide.
The only technology that I'm aware of that looks like the deep state doesn't have backdoors for is super-high encryption formats, which are now illegal for us to use.
You have a point there -- although using unusually high encryption rates would also be a red flag. :)
It is interesting to look at what DS types themselves do, knowing this. Sometimes they use chatrooms in games, or steganography (hiding messages or data inside images), or using custom texting/messaging apps which add their own encryption layers. They also still use symbology and coded phrases and other codes, within social media posts, for example.
The basic principle you can live by is, anything done on the internet can at some point become known.
I can guarantee your mobile devices, computers and laptops are listening to everything you say, transcribing it and sending it to the New World Order. Anything with a camera is also watching and recording you.
They want as much data as possible so they can most effectively enslave or kill you.
"If amazon recognizes you without VPN, they will as easily recognize your same login, even when you are connecting from a device using a VPN connection."
-"Jesus wept"
I don't know how anyone could possibly think they are being anonymous when logged into their account.
Overcoming censorship and blocked websites is the best feature in my opinion. It simply lets you do shit that you can't do otherwise. That itself is good enough.
Aren't most paid services?