[orthoxerox]

Not everyone is savvy enough to do it, even though the process has been simplified with many hosting providers providing preconfigured VPN servers.

And it doesn't anonymize you that well. When you post a message that draws the attention of law enforcement, the IP will lead them to a VPN provider that hopefully doesn't keep any logs.

But if it leads them to a specific server, the hosting provider will disclose your account and payment data, since it is linked to your private server. Unless they accept fully pseudonymous accounts and let you pay for your VPS in cash, Monero or tumbled Bitcoins, finding you is much easier now.

[thegrim000]

I find it so insane that people think the major VPN providers aren't all completely compromised one way or the other. As if you're really going to be able to just pass your traffic through such a business and they're going to actually keep no logs, and not have secret deals made with intelligence agencies, and aren't unknowingly completely insided/compromised by intelligence agencies. As if you can just push your traffic through a major VPN and intelligence agencies would just go "well shucks, oh man, they sure got us, we'll never know who it was, foiled again".

[dewey]

> I find it so insane that people think the major VPN providers aren't all completely compromised one way or the other.

For 99.9% of people a VPN is just something they use to access something in another country or because some YouTube ad scared them into believing you need a VPN as soon as you step into a coffee shop.

The threat model of most people does not include state actors or intelligence actors and they just don’t care.