I mean, there’s something left unsaid in all of those VPN advertisements, that goes something like this:
> You live in the US, right? And you pirate stuff, right? Or maybe you Google things that would get you put on the TSA no-fly list? Well, with a VPN, it won’t be your US ISP that has access to your traffic—and then has to give it over to the MPAA and the NSA—but rather a VPN company from some foreign country, who has no such obligations. Sure, they can sell your data to anyone they like... but it’s not like the USGOV or the various media cartels are buying data. If they can’t compel it for free, they don’t bother (and they certainly couldn’t fully trust data sourced from a company headquartered in a non-allied country anyway, so why would they bother?) Someone somewhere might know about your VPN traffic, but it probably won’t be someone out to get you. Just someone out to sell you stuff.
Or, if you prefer:
> You live in Hong Kong, right? And you have some vocal opinions about Chinese sovereignty, right? Well, with a VPN, it’s not the Chinese government that sees your traffic, but rather....
> You live in the US, right? And you pirate stuff, right? Or maybe you Google things that would get you put on the TSA no-fly list? Well, with a VPN, it won’t be your US ISP that has access to your traffic—and then has to give it over to the MPAA and the NSA—but rather a VPN company from some foreign country, who has no such obligations. Sure, they can sell your data to anyone they like... but it’s not like the USGOV or the various media cartels are buying data. If they can’t compel it for free, they don’t bother (and they certainly couldn’t fully trust data sourced from a company headquartered in a non-allied country anyway, so why would they bother?) Someone somewhere might know about your VPN traffic, but it probably won’t be someone out to get you. Just someone out to sell you stuff.
Or, if you prefer:
> You live in Hong Kong, right? And you have some vocal opinions about Chinese sovereignty, right? Well, with a VPN, it’s not the Chinese government that sees your traffic, but rather....