On VPN's

            You know about Tor, now, and you know about Bitmessage. And today I’m going to tell you about VPN’s.

            “Wait, wait, wait,” you say, rubbing your temples. “Are you telling me there’s more? I’m still not secure yet?”

            My answer is, Depends. Tor has its problems as well as its advantages; it might slow your browsing down, and the use of it potentially attracts the attention of the NSA. For most of the things that most of us do online, Tor might not even be necessary. But a good VPN offers distinct benefits even to those of us who are not, say, investigative journalists, or political dissidents under an autocratic government, or…

            “Wait, wait!” you cry. “I am just an Average Person, as you can tell by this haircut, which I got from Great Clips. And, as an AP, or Average Person, I have heard of these VPN’s, but . . .”

            But you couldn’t pick one out of a line up, basically.

            “Basically.”

           Well then, let’s start with the acronym. A VPN is a Virtual Privacy Network, which offers, in essence, a way of throwing your internet traffic across space and into another network. It’s a little like a ventriloquist “throwing” their voice into the lips of a dummy: we believe the dummy’s doing the actual speaking. Only, in this case, the dummy isn’t necessarily on the performer’s knee, or even in the same room. A VPN allows you to connect to networks in entirely different countries.

            Also, the traffic is typically encrypted, so even if there’s a man-in-the-middle attack, if, in other words, a snoop's waiting with his digital net to swipe your data from the ether like a carrier pigeon and tamper with it, read its secrets, alter its contents, and then release it on its tainted journey, even against such attacks your data is essentially secure.

            “That all sounds good,” you nod along, squinting, “though carrier pigeons, dummies . . . I wish you’d choose a metaphor.”

            Us writers, you know . . .

            “So tell me, why should I use a VPN? I’m not a dissident, or a journalist, like you said, living under some repressive government. Why do I want my traffic to look like it’s coming from another country? I’m an American,” you add, with a patriotism that is precisely average, no more.

            There are a few things to consider, Mr. or Mrs. A.P., on that front. First, though a VPN has a lot to offer in terms of security, that’s not all there is. And second, who cuts your hair at Great Clips?

            “Chris,” you say, surprised and flattered, straightening a lock. “He’s a revelation.”

            I thought that looked like a Chris job.

            “Who I don’t like is that Angela girl, the new one. Her cuts are—less than average.”

            Let me go on, though. Let’s say you’ve paid for your Netflix, your Hulu, your whatever, only your job has taken you to another country and you find yourself, that first night in Toronto, say, or London, or even Beijing, marooned in your hotel bed with jet lag and just needing some low-energy distraction for your jittery mind. You’ve propped your iPad on your stomach and connected to the Wi-Fi. But what's this? Your show won’t play! It won’t load. What the [expletive]! Even for a particularly average A.P., with an especially average temperament, this might be the final straw that precipitates a nervous breakdown, or even an angry call downstairs, though the concierge isn’t to blame. And the concierge might seem to take your abuse on the chin, but really he's reconsidering his entire view of Americans.

            Just like that, you’ve ruined America’s standing in the world. If only you could've accessed the correct regional code—if only you'd had a VPN.

            “I would never,” you say with dignity, “abuse a concierge.”

             You wouldn’t, perhaps, but I’ve known quite average people who did. But the point is, had you had a VPN, you could’ve told Netflix, or Hulu or HBO or whomever, that you were still in America. Thus accessing your show, and avoiding the risk of taking out your jet lag on the innocent concierge.

            Now, one thing I want to mention, and it’s important, is that not all VPN’s offer the same protections. You’ll want to check out this article, ranking some good VPN’s, and this one, about the dangers of free VPN’s.

            “Dangers? But if it’s free . . .” And you shrug.

            I know how you feel. Free is very attractive to people like us, whose wallets and purses have no more, and no less, than an exactly average amount of money in them. We weigh Free against Secure all the time, and the results are always highly dependent. But with a VPN, you’ll want to spend a little money. There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch, they say, and if you’re not paying for a service, you are the service, or your data is, to be precise. But I see you’re getting ready to go...

“You’ve given me a lot to think about,” you say, standing, “during my next haircut. Now, maybe you could do a wrapping-up?”

            Sure.

            PROs:
            -traffic encryption
            -bypasses regional restrictions
            -makes it safe(r) to use public WiFi
            -bypass firewalls. (For instance, China's insane Great Firewall.)
            -your ISP can't easily see your activity
            -ditto the NSA
            -plenty of good, cheap product options
            -your logs are not kept
         
            CONs:
            -you do have to pay, if you want a good product
            -bad (read "free") VPNs will keep logs of your activity
            -and they may sell those logs
            -or hand them over to the government
            -the logs are vulnerable to hacks, too. Which happened to NordVPN

            And so to simplify your search, Mr. or Mrs. AP, I've chosen a few VPNs which I feel are trustworthy as well as affordable. May I suggest:

            ExpressVPN
            They have a huge network, meaning you have more options for "throwing" your traffic into different regions. And they're stationed in the British Virgin Islands--this matters, as certain locations are required to keep logs, and hand them over if legally requested. Not the British Virgin Islands, however.
            But I really like them because they offer 3 months FREE--with a one year plan. And you can get their annual plan for $6.67/mo.

            IPVanishVPN
            Though they don't have as large a network as Express, theirs is still large enough to do the trick. And they support the EFF--the Electronic Frontier Foundation--which means they're fighting the good fight.
            Best of all, you can get a yearly plan for only $39. (But they don't offer much of a free trial--only 7 days.)

           I hear some people still like NordVPN, even after they were hacked. Personally I can swallow that; not when there are other options that haven't had their security compromised.
           So, to really wrap up, here: I recommend adding a good VPN to your arsenal of security measures; it’s a tool to at least know about, whether or not you use it. Though considering the diverse ways it helps you—how it protects you on public Wi-Fi, for example, where passwords float around like apples in a barrel; encrypts your traffic; and bypasses regional restrictions, thwarting the circumstances that would have you yelling at a concierge in a foreign hotel—considering these and other benefits, well, there are certainly plenty of reason to recommend a good VPN to even a very average A.P. It’s not just about protecting Snowden-grade secrets; it’s also very practical, very useful to the rest of us in our daily lives. How’s that for a wrap-up?

            “Good,” you shrug. “Average.”