1

A few weeks ago I was troubleshooting a streaming issue when my VPN came up in a conversation. Someone on another platform flat out said no one needs a VPN anymore when streaming using Syncler+. I was taken aback by his comment but I honestly didn’t understand his long winded technical and legal explanation. I wasn’t sure if this guy was pulling my leg or serious. We use Syncler+ for just about everything we watch including mostly movies and TV Series.

Can someone explain if in fact a VPN is needed any longer?

2

If it gives you peace of mind, use a VPN. That’s what it always comes down to.

I don’t know about Syncler+, but I do use Real Debrid with Kodi. If you login with your RD account on their website and check your settings you can set it to “secure”, which means it’s encrypted. Your ISP will be able to see that you had traffic with the RD servers but won’t be able to tell what it was you accessed. I’m assuming Syncler+ is the same way. So, that gives you some privacy at least. But it won’t stop your ISP from throttling your speeds should they choose to do so. Streaming content is not illegal in the States. Hosting content or downloading it to your hard drive is. As long as you aren’t storing it locally on your device you are in the clear (for now).

5 Likes
3

I will never go on line to do anything without an active VPN on my devices. Tablets, phones or streaming devices. Both sides of this discussion are passionate about their views and often the discussion gets a bit insulting with accusations of paranoia amongst others. Bottom line use one if it makes you feel safer and offers the options you need, or don’t. I prefer an abundance of caution and won’t ever be swayed by the neigh sayers, and they certainly won’t be swayed by me. There is no clear cut answer, it’s really all up to you. @Jayhawks659 got it 100% right in his opening statement.

4 Likes
4

It depends on what your doing for regular Internet use, no if your downloading something that your aren’t sure if it’s in the public domain, probably.

I realize there are people here suspicious of any authority but still as a professional UNIX geek…

In the US, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released guidance related to personal VPNs, their recommendations are usually adopted by the larger computer security community.

They recommend that generally individuals not use a personnel VPN.

Why you ask? Their reason is that it “shifts” the security risk from your ISP to the VPN provider that often use questionable privacy and security practices. This makes sense as your ISP is much more transparent than most personal VPN companies.

CISA does have guidelines around server based VPNs as well, these are commercial VPNs for things like remote work but unlike a personel VPN, commercial VPNs provide “end to end” encryption.

In general I think a personal VPN is a waste of money, what none of them state clearly is that they only encrypt traffic between you and the VPN server, they do not encrypt data to your destinations. From the VPN server to your destination your data is back on the public network.

So if you select a VPN server in Chicago and you live in Michigan and visit a site in California your data is private (encrypted) from your device to the Chicago VPN server but is not encrypted from the Chicago VPN server to the destination in California.

When you send data through the network it commonly goes from your network the one hop to your ISP, next hop is to the ISPs gateway router, it then moves through routers to the destinations network where it is delivered to a server.

When you add a VPN you add a new network (not just a router) that your data passes through, the new network is that of the VPN provider.

So security isn’t really a function of a personal VPN, it’s a talking point when trying to sell you a product.

Other reasons? The personal VPNs obfuscation of your public IP address. A personal VPN may or may not hide your location but you would be foolish to bet money on that.

Generally a paid personal VPN is security theater, don’t waste your money because you are paranoid and bought into the fear tactics used to sell them.

1 Like
5

So you are saying that if I am sitting in the local Starbucks, that using a personal VPN is useless?

1 Like
6

I don’t personally use a vpn for Debrid servers and never have in 10 years.
If I was streaming using p2p I probably would.
I did stream using p2p five years before I started using debrid servers and I didn’t use a VPN back then even though they were available.
I only really use a vpn to access blocked content or p2p torrents which is very rare.
If you are a person of interest eg criminal activities. Then you shouldn’t trust a VPN company not to sell you out if they were forced to by law enforcement.
Also no one really knows what VPN companies do with users data.
You just have to take their word for it like you do with your government and we all know governments never lie to their citizens.

7

I’ve noticed my vpn is a problem with the latest Duck duck go search engine because the engine blocks attempts for location searchers but my TV and Firestick the VPN is the only protection and i would never stop using it. If Troypoint comes up with an alternative Id take notice but otherwise don’t take the risk

8

@JerryJ, I don’t think you can quote my having said that. I am not here to convince you of anything.

The risks of public Wi-Fi exist, they’re usually over stated but still known even though I am pretty certain you can not provide documented proof of any device being compromised using Starbucks Wi-Fi but that’s because while we think that is the risk it’s not a likely risk, selecting a fake Wi-Fi network connection at an airport is a bigger risk then using Wi-Fi at a Starbucks. But that is lot longer discussion. Not appropriate here.

Using Starbucks app which was compromised multiple times is a risk, VPN doesn’t help with that but that’s a longer discussion of risk assessment.

My post is factual, it doesn’t stray far from that except where I state my opinion and I am clear about when I do.

Here’s the problem, we are bombarded with unlikely risks, some exist and some are not likely at all but still exist, if you decide to spend money on a a VPN I hope you used a link provided by Troypoint so he gets a few shekels from it, I hope you feel more secure using it, it might still be security theater but if it makes you feel better, so be it.