• Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    A private vpn is an oxymoron. Since you tunnel all your data to some server.

    Google and privacy is an oxymoron.

    “Google private vpn” would be a mega oxymoron.

    • BlinkerFluid@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      Not really. What if it’s your VPN? Mine allows me access to my home network, which is its primary focus, but it also obfuscates what my phone is doing online, and blocks trackers.

      (Adguard home and wireguard)

      It also lets me use my phone on 4chan… so there’s that.

      • Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        If you’re of the few people on earth to care enough and knows enough to set it’s own vpn, sure. but otherwise, NordVPN gonna still sponsor youtubers and lure people into a false sense of privacy.

        • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Strps to set up my own VPN:

          1. Navigate to my router’s configuration page
          2. Select Configure VPN server
          3. Click Generate Certificate button
          4. Download certificate
          5. Enable VPN networking on my device
          6. Import downloaded certificate

          It’s that simple. If you don’t have your own firewall, you can just deploy Tailscale on all devices you want to be able to communicate with each other, which uses Wireguard under the hood.

          • rolaulten@startrek.website
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            1 year ago

            As someone who manages a tailscale network at my work…I just want to point out that tailscale is a tiny bit more complicated than just downloading and installing. Not much but…

            That said the ability to automate wireguard connections is wonderful and everyone should check it out.

          • Natanael@slrpnk.net
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            1 year ago

            I don’t have any evidence to the contrary, but in general it’s suspicious when a company markets features like that so hard when there’s no reliable way an outsider can verify that the claim is accurate (still)

            • Daisyifyoudo@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              I remember this, and a quick google corroborates, that they’ve had 3 independent 3rd party audits and have been verified each time as not keeping activity logs. I think they’re one of the good ones.

    • Slotos@feddit.nl
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      1 year ago

      “Private” in “virtual private network” means “routed by different rules”. It’s the same “private” that’s in “private Internet Protocol addresses”.

      It was never about personal privacy.

    • Zerush@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      It’s an oximoron in every company which make money with surveillance advertisings. Google undoubtedly has apps and services with a very high quality and often without real competition or alternative, but this has a very high cost and if the main income, apart from some paid services, is based on selling user data to advertising companies, it is logical and almost inevitable that it becomes a data moloch that uses any dirty trick to obtain these. It is an axiom: power corrupts

      Mozilla now regrets having signed with Google as a sponsor and is now trying to get out of this contract, especially since Google plans to introduce this WEI DRM, but Alphabet is not doing this the easy way and Mozilla depends a lot on this money to maintain its infrastructure. We will see what comes of this, but it is really urgent that Mozilla changes its business model, it would be very desirable and necessary.

      Moral: If you want to maintain your independence and freedom, do not accept outside investors

  • Okalaydokalay@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Oh boy, all my internet traffic can be forwarded through Google’s servers? Where do I sign up for this?!

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Oh sure. Use the company known for mining the fuck out of personal data to protect my personal data from being mined.

  • Melco@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This makes zero sense. Google is the one you need to protect yourself from.

  • Poppa_Mo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This is funny. Please pipe ALL of your online activities through us. We won’t spy, gather, sell, or snitch.

    Get fucked.

  • Zerush@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    At least Google VPN is honest about who tracks you with this VPN, LOL

      • melooone@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        I was also curious, so I found this page. It looks nothing like the screenshot (maybe because Im on mobile), and the only sentence coming close, under the “Extra online protection” heading, is: “Reduce online tracking by hiding your IP address”. As if that means anything if you have Google apps installed on your phone.

        But after reading more, I found a link to their how-it-works page, which then linked to their github page. Is beeing open-source really enough to show it’s secure and private? I still wouldn’t trust them.

          • Zerush@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            The VPN itself is secure, but it depends of an Google One account (not free). And respect of this, I found this in the FAQ page

            Also, while VPN by Google One secures your device connection, it does not affect how Google collects data when you use our other products and services. For example, depending on your sync settings, Chrome will continue to store your Chrome browsing history to your Google Account. To manage the kinds of data saved to your account, you can review your Google Account’s privacy controls.

            This mean, that my Screenshot isn’t a Joke, even if you use this VPN which certainly protect you from third party tracking, Google remain logging your data, because the VPN use it’s own Google servers with your Google One account, not free public servers, like other VPN. It’s a similar scam like the Opera “VPN”. Nice try, Google

            If you want a good VPN, use Nord VPN, or if you want a good trustworthy free VPN, use Proton VPN free (no logs, no limits in amount of data nor speed, encrypted at military level, but limited to 23 servers in three countries and use in only one device (PC or Mobile) in the free version), Proton is also OpenSource.

            At least, if you only need a VPN to protect your mobile in a public WiFi, Calyx VPN also maybe enough, it’s FOSS, encrypted, no logs, no account needed, no limits, but only one server from the Calyx institute, a non-profit education and research organization. Download from F-Droid.

  • jherazob@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I’m thinking of the target user for this: For us here it’s a really unfunny joke. For the people wanting to do “non-kosher” stuff like watching streaming for other countries or even outright pirating i don’t think Google’s gonna have their back. People trying to hide their identity while doing compromising stuff (like anything sexual or identity related, not illegal but not something they want in public) hopefully know not to trust Google on this. And corporate users already have their own corporate VPNs, don’t think they’re aiming for those (yet).

    Who the fuck is left as potential user? My only conclusion is the terminally gullible. I see no other option. And since of course there’s a sucker born every minute it’ll have millions of users…

    • Pietson@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      They’re fishing for people who think it’s important to have one because YouTube sponsorships told them so.

    • Facebones@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      It can be easy to forget when you run in these techy circles - There are alot of people whose entire knowledge/existence of the internet is entirely isolated within Facebook. They get a new phone, install Facebook, and never leave. Any web use is via the inbuilt browser.

      That’s the most extreme, but beyond that is the same but anything non Facebook is exclusively Google. They don’t even know that you could have a non-Gmail email account. LOADS of people have never owned a PC now, they grew up on a smartphone and android (or istuff) is literally their only comprehension of the web.

    • CoriolisSTORM88@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I used it when my wife was at the hospital and they had a public wifi network with no password. I already have Google One, so it was a no Brainer in my case.

    • cheese_greater@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      They are left with a sample size exactly as large or as small as the body of users who still google anything.

    • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      Any VPN is fine for piracy IMO. Any gap whatsoever between copyright troll torrent peers including you in their mass automated letters to ISPs solves the problem, it isn’t a high bar.

    • Jimmycakes@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I pirate the shit out of torrents on Google VPN for years no problems. Spectrum kept hassling me getting caught twice in one month. Switched to Google and never got bothered again. They don’t throttle torrents either.

    • XTornado@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I just find out and I have been paying for years… so they don’t advertise it very well that’s for sure…

  • NutWrench@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The point of a VPN is to protect your privacy. Google is the last company I would trust to do that.