I know there's a whole lot of speculation about using a VPN over Tor or a VPN at all etc, but hear me out here:
From what I've gathered, it seems most people say a VPN is pointless or just not even safe to begin with. Yes yes I know to use TAILS and I do when I want to make an order. No argument there that TAILS is your best bet when ordering. BUT - I still like to use a VPN when I'm not on TAILS. It seems as of late that ISPs are more and more likely to give out any info of their customers to LE or FBI or whoever if they are asked to. I'm not saying this wasn't true a year or so ago, but it seems that our internet privacy as a whole is just getting worse and worse as time goes on.
This is the simple reason why I use a VPN. Not to really hide anything per se, but just for my own damn privacy. All these ads on sidebars of websites are way too related to things I search online & quite frankly, it's creepy and intrusive. And it seems that more and more websites these days have ads popping up related to my regular Internet browsing searches. Even if you are not doing anything wrong or illegal, I still find that disturbing.
Now, with all of that said, let me get to my next point here about DNMs, VPNs, & Tor. For me, booting into TAILS just to browse this subreddit or just browse the markets is a bit cumbersome. I have throwaway market accounts that I have never deposited BTC into that I use to log in to just simply browse to check prices, vendors, listings, etc. When I'm ready to actually make an order, I do it exclusively through TAILS with my market accounts only accessed on TAILS. When I'm using my main computer, I throw on the VPN, start up Tor from a USB stick, & just browse. I don't only use the VPN for Tor, but I also use it for regular clearnet browsing as well. Mix it up a bit.
So now I ask you guys this - if you use Tor without a VPN, with or without TAILS, your ISP can still see if you are connected to Tor, yes? (assuming you're always connecting to your home network). If you are behind a VPN, only the VPN can see that you are using Tor. I know it depends on your VPN provider, but isn't it better to trust your VPN over your ISP these days? Many of them CLAIM to not keep logs; we will never really know I suppose. But I just feel that I'd put more trust in a paid VPN provider keeping my data safer than my ISP who will much more easily hand over any info to LE without hesitation. What do you guys think?
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