[conspire] VPN

[Rick Moen]

Quoting David Vincent (dvincent at sleepdeprived.ca):

> I've been keeping this link around for just such an occasion.
> [1]https://gist.github.com/joepie91/5a9909939e6ce7d09e29

Short version of the author's argument:

If you expect the VPN service to make you non-findable or
non-identifiable, you may be disappointed because reasons (marketing
studies in commercial Web sites can and will do Web browser
fingerprinting, and the VPN provider itself is certainly logging what
you do and could cough it up to someone, and various somebodies are 
probably doing traffic analysis).  Authors sums up this argument by 
saying the VPN service is "just a proxy".

This implies but doesn't prove that nobody would reasonably want to pay
a VPN service for just a proxy -- which is sleight of tongue.

Hypothetically if you wanted to BitTorrent "Steamboat Willie" with
approximately zero expectation of incurring the specific, personalised
wrath of Disney lawyers, using a typical VPN service would probably
suffice.  (That is not a recommendation or guarantee,)

Commenters starting with the very first of them point out additional
useful use-cases.  In general, the argument "[X] is no good because it
cannot be absolutely relied on for perfect secrecy and anonymity" is
a non-sequitur, and pretty obviously so.

I'm also pretty unimpressed by the author crying oppression ("if all
you're going to do is attacking me and trolling, then you can go
elsewhere") to the first commenter's entirely valid objection.  Cry me a
river, manchild.

In general, I see rather a lot more common sense and sane perspective in
the comments than in the author's comments, David.  That's IMO a bit
damning of the latter.