Commercial VPN vs Independent VPN
A VPN brand tells you little about who runs it. Three real ownership structures, what each can and cannot do, and why the name on the app is the least informative part.
Category
Privacy & Digital Autonomy
The principles behind online privacy: what your network sees, what a VPN does and does not hide, and how to build a threat model for your own life.
7 articles
01
02
What Should You Look for in a VPN?
Choosing a VPN means choosing which party you trust, and how much. A decision procedure: which properties matter for your threat model, and which only sound reassuring.
03
Who Controls the Infrastructure?
Every VPN server is rented hardware in a building someone else owns. Follows the chain from your device to the disk, and what real seizure cases revealed.
04
Privacy vs Anonymity
Privacy is about what is known about you. Anonymity is about who you are. Almost everyone who wants the first is told they should want the second.
05
VPN vs Proxy vs Tor
A proxy hides one connection, a VPN hides your whole route, and Tor hides who you are. Where each one wins, what each one costs, and how they differ.
06
What Does Your ISP See?
Without a VPN your ISP can see every domain you look up and every server you connect to. It cannot read HTTPS pages. The difference matters more than it sounds.
07
What Is a VPN?
A VPN builds an encrypted tunnel between your device and a server you choose, so the network in between carries ciphertext. What that hides, and what it does not.