Using a VPN but I'm logged into my Google Account...QUESTION

[Jumping Jacinta]

I use Google Chrome for every day activities fully logged in to Google.

When I want to use my VPN (ExpressVPN) I use Firefox and DuckDuckGo without ever being logged in to either. In addition Firefox is permanently in Private Browser Mode. 

I also use uBlock Origin and Malwarebytes Browser Guard.

 

It's far from perfect given ExpressVPN, uBlock Origin and Malwarebytes know my activities but at least Google and my Isp doesn't know (I think).

[PGHammer]

12 hours ago, Jumping Jacinta said:

I use Google Chrome for every day activities fully logged in to Google.

When I want to use my VPN (ExpressVPN) I use Firefox and DuckDuckGo without ever being logged in to either. In addition Firefox is permanently in Private Browser Mode. 

I also use uBlock Origin and Malwarebytes Browser Guard.

 

It's far from perfect given ExpressVPN, uBlock Origin and Malwarebytes know my activities but at least Google and my Isp doesn't know (I think).

Good thing I don't have to go THAT far - the very reason I use ProtonVPN is so I don't have to.

 

Edge has replaced Chrome for me; it's also a lot more secure than Chrome (it lets me share linkage across multiple Windows 10 computers with no muss OR fuss).  (This is also obviating a lot of what I used to use Firefox for.)  For what Edge didn't replace Firefox for, Brave browser (the x64 version) is blowing the rest up; like Edge, Brave is Chrome-based; however, unlike Edge, it imports from Firefox, but uses Chrome extensions (ala Edge).  The only real reason LEFT for Firefox is that it shares with Android - which Edge doesn't do yet. (Yes; I have Edge for Android installed.)  If Edge ever gets THAT, Firefox will find itself fired.

Other than ProtonVPN, I use Norton Security Online (free from my cable and Internet provider - Comcast/Xfinity); still, no VPN - including ProtonVPN - is against their TOS.  (It would be rather silly, when Norton360 - which is the successor to Norton Security Online - INCLUDES a VPN as part of the package.)

[Joe User]

On 5/18/2020 at 10:11 PM, PGHammer said:

And there ARE free VPNs that are also QUALITY VPNs; for once, it's NOT a contradiction in terms, even for US users.  One that I came back to (because I forgot about their free - as in zero cost - options; as I said earlier, sometimes, I have a Senior Moment) is ProtonVPN.  It's not that I'm unfamiliar with it; I used it on a trial basis earlier this year simultaneously on Windows and Android; the Senior Moment is that I forgot about the free option.  Even the Free (as in no cost whatever) option supports simultaneous deployment on multiple platforms (including multiple OSes - in my case, Windows and Android).  I've also found a rather interesting (and unexpected) side benefit to VPNs (including ProtonVPN); they ADD stability to wireless connections (at least as far as Windows goes); I have absolutely zero idea if it's the software or the bandwidth (ProtonVPN uses gigabit - at minimum - connectivity to their PoPs - even those for Free users in the US); and better wireless stability is never (as in ever) a bad thing - and especially not if it costs you (as a user) diddly.

My statement from 2015 stands and your response doesn't really apply to it.

 

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

Perhaps Google Chrome (or other Chromium-based browsers) are using the QUIC protocol to connect to Google properties (GMail, YouTube and so forth).  You may wish to verify with the VPN vendor that their VPN connection encapsulates this type of network traffic, otherwise, the Chrome web browser's connection to these might be bypassing it.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

[PGHammer]

On 5/20/2020 at 10:17 PM, Joe User said:

My statement from 2015 stands and your response doesn't really apply to it.

 

I was addressing only a specific PART of your statement - the sale of data by VPN operators.  While Proton (both the mail AND VPN parts of their operations) has POPs in the US, they are not US-based; they are based in Switzerland.  For me, the VPN side is more about *misdirection* and de-conflicting than anything else; the primary POP I use (for darn near everything that doesn't use a VPN) is Ashburn, VA.  The issue with Ashburn, VA is that everybody and their cousins goes through Ashburn; the result is that things can CLOG UP in Ashburn for that same reason.  (I'nm not referring to the government; they aren't the issue; it's private companies.  Steam/Valve's second largest US POP is in Ashburn - all of Oath (in fact, the second-largest POP for the rest of Verizon) is also in Ashburn. Comcast's second-largest POP?  Ashburn, VA - again.  Ghu help me when the "Internet weather report" indicates a storm in greater Ashburn - which happens far more than I'd like.  (Yes; the "Internet weather report" is a thing; in fact, it's BEEN a thing for decades - it was originally published - at no cost - by UUnet - based in - you guessed it! - Ashburn.)  Still, because I am within one hundred physical miles of Ashburn, there is a limit to how much de-confliction I can do - simply based on how data has to physically travel.

[Joe User]

2 hours ago, PGHammer said:

I was addressing only a specific PART of your statement - the sale of data by VPN operators.  While Proton (both the mail AND VPN parts of their operations) has POPs in the US, they are not US-based; they are based in Switzerland.  For me, the VPN side is more about *misdirection* and de-conflicting than anything else; the primary POP I use (for darn near everything that doesn't use a VPN) is Ashburn, VA.  The issue with Ashburn, VA is that everybody and their cousins goes through Ashburn; the result is that things can CLOG UP in Ashburn for that same reason.  (I'nm not referring to the government; they aren't the issue; it's private companies.  Steam/Valve's second largest US POP is in Ashburn - all of Oath (in fact, the second-largest POP for the rest of Verizon) is also in Ashburn. Comcast's second-largest POP?  Ashburn, VA - again.  Ghu help me when the "Internet weather report" indicates a storm in greater Ashburn - which happens far more than I'd like.  (Yes; the "Internet weather report" is a thing; in fact, it's BEEN a thing for decades - it was originally published - at no cost - by UUnet - based in - you guessed it! - Ashburn.)  Still, because I am within one hundred physical miles of Ashburn, there is a limit to how much de-confliction I can do - simply based on how data has to physically travel.

I didn't address the sale of data by VPN operators at all. I only mentioned the sale of data by ISPs.

 

I did mention that you can't be completely anonymous to your VPN provider, and that's because they have your originating IP address.