I was ignorant of the possible need or desire or trend to have a virtual private network until I heard discussions at an RV park.
So this caught my attention. Per Kiplinger, free VPNs are proliferating in app stores. The idea is you get one to shield website activity from cybercriminals or data collecting firms. Unfortunately some are doing what you want to avoid.
A Facebook owned app for example was reported as a growing problem. Onanvo collected data on the persons mobile apps. Kiplinger suggests a paid service from a reputable company if you want a personal VPN. Even then, make sure the company has clear privacy and security policies.
I use IVPN. This company is based in Gibralter which has very strict laws on privacy of customers. I can use a single hop or multiple hops. All you have to do is a bit of research for the countries that have strict privacy laws and hop from one to the other. IVPN does not log anything. Not even cookies. Been with them for a few years now. $100 per year. One big downfall (not for me though) is that netflix is great at not allowing streaming over any VPN. But as netflix isn't your bank account. You can just disable it for the streaming session.
Here is a link to a review. IVPN Review (https://thebestvpn.com/reviews/ivpn/) at the bottom is a link to a review of 10 or so VPN's.
Do what makes you happy, but few if any countries dogs have any teeth. Strick or not.
I've tried several over the years. One potential downside is impact on speed in some cases. For example, we use a line of sight from a dish to a tower service. It provides about 12 mbps which is adequate for our needs in most situations. However, the VPN creates issues on some sites and downloads. I'm not a tech guy so I don't have an explanation. Just know it doesn't work well for us. s
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As data harvesting grows in depth and effectiveness, and the effects of the demise of net neutrality become apparent in effect, a good VPN should help.
Rather than using an established service with all the pros and cons, it is possible to construct your own VPN at minimal cost and zero monitoring using Amazon web services, AWS. This is a cloud service. Amazon's data servers are robust to say the least. Googling same will show you how.
We use Express VPN.
ExpressVPN Review - 5 Stars Rated: Vast OS Compatibility, What Else? (http://top5-vpn.com/reviews/expressvpn-software/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhOGKwtC43QIVybjACh350gCWEAAYASAAEgLWbfD_BwE)