[pthreads]

a. I don't trust any VPN provider's claims. Plus I wanted more control including ability to turn on/off logs if needed. As an experiment I started with an AWS lightsail instance. It worked so well that I now I don't feel I need anything with more resources (up to about 10 clients). That doesn't mean I trust AWS entirely but for now I will live with it. I like using a CLI and AWS's browser based CLI is pretty good (but be wary of copy-paste snafus).

b. The other reason I went with a cloud provider like AWS is that their static IP seems to be whitelisted fairly well especially with their own service - Amazon Prime. So I have had not problem watching videos while traveling. Also in the past macOS and iOS updates were problematic via VPN. But that seems to have gone away. Maybe because they bypass VPN? I don't know for sure.

c. Many of my friends have been asking for help. I figured if I went with one of the big 3 cloud providers it would be easy for me to basically create an instance image preloaded with all the scripts and WG etc. that they can then run from their own accounts.

d. The big 3 cloud providers uptimes are far better than many of the VPN providers.

[ripdog]

Why are you using a VPN? I think the main reason (now that Netflix et al block all VPN IPs) is generally that you gain privacy from your traffic being mixed in with hundreds/thousands of other people's originating from a single IP. With running your own VPN server, your IP is trivially tracable back to you as an individual. So now what do you get - encrypting vs. your ISP and/or country hopping (with no streaming except amazon)?

[invaliduser]

Not OP, but as the name suggests, a VPN is a virtual private network: you can use it to create a private subnet from where you can securely access your other computers/resources, even from a remote location.

For instance, at work we are mostly remote, and use a VPN (OpenVPN here) to access the local network at the office with our on-premise build servers, and it also allows developers to work together sometimes (one running a debugging server on their dev laptop, another debugging the client from their own laptop as if they were sharing a local network, when actually they are hundreds of miles apart)

[ripdog]

Thanks, but I don't need the wikipedia summary of a VPN.

It didn't sound ad all like the OP was using his VPN to dial into work. He was dialing into a purpose-build VM which wasn't stated to do anything else - just tunneling his traffic for some unknown reason.

[ViViDboarder]

Op mentioned they use it while traveling. I use a VPN for, what are likely, similar reasons: I don’t trust the hotel networks or I want to access US region locked services while abroad.

[hackeraccount]

Thanks for posting this - I was feeling stupid because I couldn't understand the same thing.

[colesantiago]

This is good if you're experienced with this sort of stuff, but I like to save time with the "set it and forget it" approach.

Relatives of mine got setup with a VPN in under 5 minutes just by:

1. download (vpn client)

2. pay (for a month or two)

3. switch it on and forget it.

In terms of on-boarding new users to use secure and recommended tools, I find this a massive achievement.

[_-___________-_]

Trusting a VPN provider is an entirely different thing than trusting AWS et al though.

VPN providers are far more likely than AWS to do the kind of shady things that might matter to your relatives, like selling their personal data.

[colesantiago]

> VPN providers are far more likely than AWS to do the kind of shady things that might matter to your relatives, like selling their personal data.

How do you know that AWS isn't spying on your systems? Are they transparent? Do AWS release detailed transparency reports on their servers? You are identified when you pay for AWS no?

I'd rather trust a specialist privacy VPN provider like Mullvad, than me rolling my own VPN on a provider that isn't even transparent and that is hard to use for consumers other than myself.

my 2c.

[fomine3]

Even though you trust VPN provider, anyway you should also trust VPS (or colo but it has limited ability to spy) provider that used by VPN.

[Brian_K_White]

Saying "Trusting a vpn provider ..." is like saying "Trusting a person ..."

It's meaningless. VPN providers come in the same full spectrum of integrity as people or companies.

[Razengan]

But how do you verify?

[somehnguy]

How do you verify that AWS isn’t introspecting everything on your instance and stealing your data?

At some point you can’t, you can only make a best judgement based on what they’re telling you and what you’ve found elsewhere.

[kuzimoto]

Are court cases enough? https://torrentfreak.com/private-internet-access-no-logging-...