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Usually connect to Walmart's WiFi but they changed their policy I guess, won't be doing that now...
(lemmy.ml)
this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
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Privacy
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Fair, but even using your normal router without a VPN isn't good imo. Even if it's not as bad as public. And VPNs are usually an extreme measure. If I was using public WiFi, and doing stuff on my bank account, then yes, VPN all the way, but I usually don't feel that I need it.
Why is the vpn necessary when you have https to the bank? Just to hide you're ip from the bank?
I always wonder why those VPN absolutists aren't happy with your regular HTTPS. Sure, maybe HTTP is safer with the VPN, but it just hides your real IP from the target website.
it also hides the websites you visit from your ISP, who often likes to profile you based on your browsing habits.
Yeah but it's on a public wifi
in that case, it hides the websites you visit from:
both of them probably being very eager to profile your browsing habits (as seen on the image in the post).
It shifts from the isp to the VPN provider, who isn't doing that profiling yet.
yes.
Public WiFi would make me skeptical when I always put in my passwords.
Well im just saying thats what https is for but there's nothing wrong with extra security
So if https is all that's needed, why do VPNs recommend using them at public locations? Just false advertising? I click on my bank app and it always wants a password and I guess I don't know enough about network engineering. I'm interested in Android Development but don't know much about WiFi I guess.
Marketing mostly. The vpn makes an encrypted tunnel that you're traffic goes thru. If using https and vpn there are 2 layers of encryption. It's not false advertising bc an extra layer doesn't hurt. Now if your sending password over http it would help but you shouldnt be using a site that sends passwords over plaintext. I would say vpn is mostly to either hide your ip from websites or to hide internet activity from your isp
So more for privacy than security, so it would make sense to use a VPN depending on your threat model I suppose, or how much you care.
Yeah it's more for privacy. Still you can just have it always on and it really wont cause many issues except for sites that block vpns.