NEW VIDEO! This one seemed necessary: https://odysee.com/@RTP:9/tor-vs-vpn:2
(only on Odysee/Peertube/Bitchute- Youtube has blocked me (for being on Whonix) the moment)
I've seen way too much misinformation across platforms when it comes to Tor. And not near enough accurate information when it comes to VPN's. For example did you know a VPN server does not add encryption in their connection to the destination website? See the video for more details on instances where VPN connections exist not encrypted (plaintext).
Many times VPN providers see Tor as a 'competitor.' This is not the case: Tor can compliment a VPN if the VPN is purchased privately. In fact if a VPN provider tries to steer you clear of Tor completely, I'd go as far as to say RUN. Run far, far away from that VPN provider!
Tor works.
Sometimes the motivation could be the VPN provider seeing Tor users cutting into their bottom line. Taking away "potential customers". But if they are genuine they are doing this all wrong.
The history of Tor Project is no secret. Starting as a technology to help the Navy/other gov employees maintain privacy in dangerous locations, it was later released into open source, taken over by volunteers.
Today Tor is likely the most scrutinized of all encryption/anonymity tools in existence. And you can see exactly what it is programmed to do. Tor has more eyes on it than any other network privacy setup. Does this make it perfect? (No)
If it's not VPN providers discouraging tor use it is data collectors. Both have a motivation for this. When someone discourages security/privacy applications, we should always ask ourselves:
Who benefits from this?
I haven't seen many (if any) direct comparisons between VPN - Tor over Clearnet & Tor Hidden Services. The 3 mentioned are vastly different from one another and need to be understood to give yourself the best chance of finding the right use cases.
In this video I make direct comparisons using an illustration I created on my Nextcloud whiteboard.
We explore the strengths and weaknesses of each and how VPN providers don't always include all the details. I talk about things to look out for on each and how hidden services encrypt traffic end to end between each side tor client.
See the entire 6min video here: https://odysee.com/@RTP:9/tor-vs-vpn:2
I try to break concepts down in my videos in a way new users can understand. My plan is to gradually move into more advanced topics as time goes on. If you want to join the journey, please give me a follow. Give it a like if you find it useful.
Share with people who use a VPN, or those afraid to use Tor. :)
PS: Considering moving all my blogs over to this platform. Most postings will stay public (unless I consider the information unreleased or sensitive). I've noticed wordpress.com postings are not ranking as highly in search engines as BMAC (this site). Some older ones are not showing up at all. I also am going to host my own .onion hidden service blog/website coming up.
This will give me more time to put into more original content. Instead of trying to maintain so many different platforms I can put that time into new content/scripts. It has kept me pretty busy.
Stay tuned. :)