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0 pointsKMnO44y ago0 comments

Have you noticed all the ads say “Hackers can spy on your connection when you log into your bank at Starbucks.”

That’s complete FUD. HTTPS completely avoids this issue (especially with a bank). Very few websites use HTTP now.

While VPNs do have their valid use (preventing your ISP from spying, changing geolocation, and private networks for eg, work), most of the marketing is spreading misinformation.

0 comments

flixic4y ago

I've seen stats for a couple of the biggest VPNs. Massive majority of their traffic is just switching geolocation restrictions (US Netflix and similar).

They don't tend to advertise that. Some do, but it's not their main message, because "prevent ISPs from spying" is cleaner.

iCloud+ does not solve this, so there will be a sustained need for VPNs, particularly those that invest effort into into avoiding Netflix blacklists.

tpush4y ago

> They don't tend to advertise that.

IME of podcast advertising they all advertise this very openly.

dehrmann4y ago

> “Hackers can spy on your connection when you log into your bank at Starbucks.”

I've also heard this from a reputable news source (NPR) in the past few years, even though it hasn't been true for banks for at least 15 years, ~5 for most websites.

anonymouse0084y ago

I've never understood how a VPN doesn't get too carried away to pull a MITM with some central cert

gjsman-10004y ago

Because if you used a central cert, every device would have to whitelist that cert, and just clocking the lock icon in your browser would reveal it.

jen204y ago

Many consumer VPNs install a client, and it would be trivial to ship a new trusted certificate with it.

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Nextgrid4y ago

On the other hand, a lot of VPNs provide proprietary client software (even though all the major OSes have built-in support for the common VPN protocols such as IPSec, L2TP, etc) so they could very well sneak the root cert in there too.

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