[bananaface]

Unless you explicitly need speed, or they're your only option, why do people use VPNs for privacy over Tor? Do they provide any benefits other than being faster? I thought Tor was a much more secure option if privacy in particular is your objective.

[luckylion]

TOR exit nodes are more likely to be flagged than VPN servers.

Though even for accessing TOR, using a VPN is a good idea. If you're planning of doing stupid things like mailing in a bomb threat to delay your exams because you haven't studied enough and you're using TOR, the usage itself will point at you if you're the only person using it. Had they used a VPN to access TOR, they wouldn't have been caught that easily.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/runasandvik/2013/12/18/harvard-...

[penagwin]

> Kim was taken into custody on Monday—identified as one of the few Harvard wireless users who was also on Tor at the time. When interviewed by an FBI agent and an officer with the Harvard University Police Department that night, Kim admitted to sending the bomb threat emails and said that he acted alone.

Based on this it sounds like if he hadn't confessed he wouldn't have been caught. After all, it would still be on the prosecutors to prove he used tor to send the threat, instead of just using it out of paranoia or something.

[bananaface]

Thanks! This makes sense.

[StevenWaterman]

People use VPNs at the router level, pushing all network traffic through it. They're also commonly used for torrenting. Both of those require speed.

Additionally, there are still benefits to using a VPN in addition to tor: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/TorPlusVPN...