Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for online privacy

When and why should you use a VPN

When you don’t use a VPN your Internet Service Provider (ISP the company or institution providing your connection) can see the links you are accessing, though they can’t see anything you input into those sites if its a https link. A lot of information and data is revealed when you don’t use a VPN.

For example, if you are searching for information about particular locations, institutions or companies, or reading an online how-to guide, this could all be accessed by the police. If you’re using a secure file-sharing platform like Cryptpad to take or share notes, the shareable links to documents also include the key to decrypt the document in the link. If you are putting that into your browser without using a VPN to encrypt it the police can read the whole document by getting the link from your ISP.

What is a VPN?

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a way to encrypt your online data and increase your anonymity on the internet, by routing your internet traffic through remote servers around the world to mask your IP address (your device’s digital signature).

This involves an app on your mobile phone or a program on a desktop that sits in the background.

There are numerous providers and the most important considerations when choosing one is ease of use, fast and reliable connections, the number of global servers the VPN service uses, strong encryption and a strict policy on never logging your usage. To secure VPN access with all of these, you likely to need to pay a subscription.

Find a VPN

Here are some suggestions that all have a ‘no-log’ policy (they do not keep records of your online activity while you’re connected to their server):