To VPN or not to VPN

If you live in a country where the government routinely actually puts people in prison, or worse, for politically-related speech on the Internet, then you probably should use a VPN or something similar if you think the powers that be might put you in prison (or worse) and you do not think you should go. Of course, in such places, the use of VPNs is sometimes illegal.

If you live in a freer country, such as the U.S., and you are not doing something illegal, and out of paranoia you act as if you are living in a country where “They” can see what you are doing and “They” are going to do something horrible to you, you are probably living in a fanstasy world.

If you live in the U.S., and you scoff at the idea that it is in reality, a much freer country than many real-life totalitarian states, you have probably spent too much time on the Internet or at universities hanging out in the crowds that foster paranoia. As a prophylactic, talk to somebody who has actually lived in Russia, China, or the like, and thank your lucky stars that the U.S. is not such a country. Post your absolute worst diatribe on the forum of your choice and see how many police officers come knocking on your door. It will be zero.

If you live in Canada, Britain, Scotland, or some other country that has passed really stupid laws about “hate speech”, I don’t know what to say. Personally, I hope folks in such countries fight the stupid legislation rather than attempting to “stay safe” by circumventing the laws though anonymizing techniques such as using VPNs.

If you live in the U.S., and your response to the above paragraph is, “Well, it isn’t such a country today, but it is likely to be one tomorrow!”, then please just stop reading propaganda from Mozilla¹, EFF, blogs, and VPN providers whose existence and popularity is strongly correlated with fear. Or maybe go join the EFF – they will welcome you with open arms.

If you are consuming or producing illegal content via the Internet, and this content involves practices that you yourself acknowledge are fit only for demons, then you shouldn’t use a VPN because the sooner you get caught and stuck in prison, the sooner you can free your soul from the road to Hell. In fact, if this is the case, please, go to a police station right now, turn yourself in, and give your soul a fighting chance.

If you have an addiction to porn, and if when you really think about why you want privacy, it comes down to not wanting other people to know about your porn addiction, then you should not use a VPN. You should do the opposite. You should make every effort to be more public because it will be good for your soul!

Using a VPN when you don’t need to is kinda like buying bottled water when you live in a fully developed country. Not only does such a purchase have the obviously detrimental side-effect of producing a lot of extra garbage, it also lets the water utility used by the public off the hook. If tap water is not good enough to drink, the community should make every effort to change that fact so that the public (meaning all the humans who live there) can drink clean water, not just those who are wealthy and stuck-up enough to buy bottled water.