Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are popular services for (supposedly) increasing your security and privacy on the internet. They are often marketed as all-encompassing security tools, and something that you absolutely need to keep hackers at bay. However, many of the selling points for VPNs are exaggerated or just outright
  • Gamma@beehaw.orgEnglish
    6·
    10 months ago

    I feel like the opening sentences explained the reasoning behind the article sufficiently, even when there are plenty of valid use cases for them. This was mostly a response to manipulative marketing tactics:

    Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, are popular services for (supposedly) increasing your security and privacy on the internet. They are often marketed as all-encompassing security tools, and something that you absolutely need to keep hackers at bay. However, many of the selling points for VPNs are exaggerated or just outright false.

    They’re not the only ones pointing this out, either. Tom Scott released a video on the topic a few years ago to explain his thoughts VPN sponsorships

    • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
      1·
      10 months ago

      …and since then, Tom Scott took a NordVPN sponsorship. And possibly SurfShark too?

      He found that it was actually useful while in countries with questionable Internet access.

      Personally, I just host my own VPN, so no matter where I am, all my traffic exits from my home ISP. I figure they’re at least accountable to the same laws I am.

      • _MusicJunkie@beehaw.org
        1·
        10 months ago

        But that’s the thing. When that Video was made, almost all of the advertising was focused on the same BS the article is disagreeing with.

        I remember lots of NordVPN ads by uninformed nontechnical creators just reading the provided script. Saying that Balaklava wearing hackers will steal your credit card data just by being in the same cafe as you, and only an expensive VPN subscription can protect you from that. Or that only using a VPN will protect you from malware.

        This sort of advertising is what Tom Scott critizied back then. IIRC he even said that there are real use cases, but that you shouldn’t believe the fearmongering. Same as the article.

        The fearmongering advertising was the problem, not advertising the service itself.

    • mateomaui@reddthat.comEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      Your comment in no way negates my observation. If the clickbait title of the article was “You probably don’t need a VPN to avoid market tracking” or something similar, you’d have a point.

      • Gamma@beehaw.orgEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        I was simply adding information your comment had left out, it wasn’t negating information at all. So congrats on getting the point, not everyone is trying to argue 🎉

        • mateomaui@reddthat.comEnglish
          0·
          10 months ago

          You may want to reconsider your phrasing then if you don’t want it to appear to be argumentative.

          • ConstableJelly@beehaw.org
            2·
            10 months ago

            Neutral party here, I read it naturally as a supplement to your comment, not an opposition. I don’t detect an argumentative tone personally.

            • mateomaui@reddthat.comEnglish
              0·
              10 months ago

              You’re welcome to your opinion but these phrases

              I feel like the opening sentences explained the reasoning behind the article sufficiently,

              They’re not the only ones pointing this out, either.

              are oppositional in tone.

                • mateomaui@reddthat.comEnglish
                  0·
                  10 months ago

                  I didn’t ask you. I didn’t ask the other neutral guy either. Not my issue that you have a problem with me suggesting the original respondent check his phrasing to make his intention clear, or pointing out the specific phrases that make it unclear.

                  • cygnus@lemmy.ca
                    4·
                    10 months ago

                    “Everybody on this highway is driving in the wrong lane! What a bunch of idiots!”

    • helenslunch@feddit.nl
      0·
      10 months ago

      Tom Scott released a video on the topic a few years ago to explain why he never took a VPN sponsorship

      The opening scene of that video is from a VPN sponsorship he did.

      • rallatsc@slrpnk.net
        1·
        10 months ago

        This is inaccurate, read the pinned comment on the video where he points out that the opening scene is entirely made up and isn’t about a real person.

          • rallatsc@slrpnk.net
            1·
            10 months ago

            The opening scene is a parody of his typical videos (which are typically about places/people) transitioning into a VPN ad segment. The fact that it isn’t about a real person means that it is not in fact from one of his real videos. If you watch the opening scene and read the pinned comment on the video my reply might make more sense.

            • helenslunch@feddit.nl
              0·
              10 months ago

              The opening scene is a parody of his typical videos

              So he typically advertises for VPNs? I don’t understand.

              If you watch the opening scene and read the pinned comment on the video my reply might make more sense.

              I did both of those things. Neither his comment or yours make sense because the opening scene is obviously not about any person, it’s about a VPN.

              • rallatsc@slrpnk.net
                1·
                10 months ago

                So he typically advertises for VPNs? I don’t understand.

                He “typically” discusses interesting places/people. In the first 5 or so seconds of the video he discusses a fictitious person and how they “weren’t protected from viruses, but you could be with a VPN”. So he transitions from his typical video style to a VPN ad to then highlight all of the things wrong with VPN ads.