lcalamar
Thanks, I see where you're coming from and yes, I've read several articles claiming that VPNs don't really enhance privacy and several that argue the opposite.
From my perspective, I don't like the idea of my ISP recording every website I visit and doing whatever it is they do with that information. I also think there are some pretty privacy respecting apps that collect nothing but an IP address from users where the VPN truly then does break the link. Two examples that come to mind (from memory, so I could be wrong) are jmp.chat and mysudo. I'd imagine there may be others?
I think from the limited research I've done that a respected provider like Mullvad can enhance your privacy and they do seem to put a concerted effort into adding privacy preserving techniques like their recent DAITA which is supposed to insert random data into your traffic to prevent AI guided snooping analysis.
I would love if using a VPN truly is a waste of time and doesn't accomplish anything because 1) I don't like spending $5/month and 2) the VPN decreases my battery life
Looking forward to hearing other opinions about this, although I've read through other forum posts about this and opinions seem to be pretty evenly divided on the VPN debate!