What is point in using a VPN? Does my data getting "stolen" really matter that much?

VPN
1

I’ve always been confused by the point of VPNs and the like, I’ve never understood the point in them, what is the point?

2

The ads you see are mostly a scam.

There are two main uses for a VPN.

  1. When I work from home I can use a VPN so that my PC is on the internal work network. This is what a VPN does, it creates an encrypted line between computers. This way work can block the internet from using their internal network but still treat my PC as if I was in the office.

  2. This is what you see advertised. Same deal, the VPN through an encrypted connection, connects your PC to some other PC on the internet. So your ISP has no idea what you are up to. This is great for pirating videos or music. Other servers on the internet don’t see your home PC, they only see the server the VPN connected to. Up untill that point your data is secure. But now you have to trust the VPN server, and when your traffic leaves the VPN server it’s just regular traffic.

So with #2 you really aren’t more secure, unless you don’t want your ISP telling HBO you just download GOT from BitTorrent. You have to trust the VPN to not do bad things with your data. And if you log in somewhere they will know who you are. And given most traffic is already encrypted with HTTPS, there isn’t much of a point to #2

Edit Ps. A good use case for #2 is a laptop or cell phone on public WiFi. It’s the same deal as with your ISP, the coffee shop (or the guy next to you) can’t snoop on what you are doing. But if you are using a https website then they can’t really see much anyway.

3

My point of them is being inside a different network than my own so I can see devices in that network but I really don’t use them for anonymity which is a lie anyways you can always be tracked.

4

For most people using a VPN is only beneficial for live streaming region locked content.

But they hide your location online. They route your internet traffic to other countries/places which slows it down but can bypass certain region restrictions and also hide your IP and where you are really from.

5

If I am outside and connect to an free wifi source, the source can be set up to steal all my login codes. So if I log in on the government site, they get that data so they can steal my identity. But with a vpn those hackers don’t get access to that data unless I do something stupid.

It also allows you to fake your location. When my family went to China on vacation, I gave them my login for the vpn as I can use it to protect 5 devices at the same time. Allowing them to avoid the internet block in China.

If I want to check something out on a site that has a region block, I can avoid the block by faking where I am.

Some use it to access movies and series in netflix blocked for their region. But I can tell you that netflix catches Nord vpn, so no point in buying it for that.

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With the stolen data. Eh, it depends. What I check on shopping sites is registered already and sold to whoever wants. So I don’t care about that.

But sites that have access to identity or bank information, I protect those. So I also don’t log in to those sites when I am not at home. My phone doesn’t have any passwords or log in data saved and I control my permissions.

6

The point of a VPN is privacy. If your using a computer Google ip lookup. Or what’s my ip. And you’ll see how easy it is to find where you are in a general area. Stolen data depends on where you go and what you click on when your surfing sure there is adware or malware that looks genuine only for you to impit your information on and it get harvested and maybe sold. ProtonVPN is a free vpn that you can use with no ads or data caps for free it has good up and down speed. But your limited to only a few servers. You have to sing up for an email account with proton and you can download the App and use it. I’m not sure if it’s available for the pc that your going to have to find out.

7

Yes it matters, but not that much.

This is a good video:

8

Edit. Gonna delete this post now that I reread it. I somehow missed the fact that in your scenario you were already behind the VPN.

My bad. Yea

9

But what’s the point in doing that? Would I ever see any real consequences from not using the VPN?

10

Would I ever see any real consequences from not using the VPN

Depends on what you do online. If you engage in piracy it could help hide your activity from your ISPs. In the US some ISPs will throttle your internet speed if you get caught pirating content, or will shut you off entirely until you pay a fine to them.