The V Word
My suspicious, non-trusting mind always pictures Internet Service Providers (ISPs) singing this familiar song by The Police, but with different lyrics:
“Every weblink you take, whenever you’re awake,
Every “Hey Google” you say, every mouseclick you make,
I’ll be watching you.
Oh, can’t you see? Your web browsing activity belongs to me.
My cold heart warms with every web search you place."
The lyrics are my original nerdy creation, and I take full responsibility for the eyeroll and “Ugh” you just uttered. My point is this: your home internet activity is being monitored, logged, and recorded for future use by your ISP. Same is the case for your friends and family’s home wireless network. Same for a public wireless network, e.g. Coffee shop or airport wireless, you connect to. The companies that claim to offer “bullet-fast internet speeds” is also collecting your activity to sell to marketing companies, data aggregators, or other businesses we are unaware of. I don’t like what they’re doing. So I did something about it.
The Explanation
This is how I explain to my wonderful 80-something mother what Virtual Private Network (VPN) software does: If I visited an online shopping behemoth, I would type in www.blahblahzon.com in my web browser and nearly immediately the shopping site pops up on our screen. The ISP will record 54.239.28.85, the actual IP number for the website, in my account’s activity log, along with the date, time, web browser type, and other information about my computer…and potentially store this instance potentially forever in their system.
When I use VPN software, my computer connects to a server in a city of my choosing. The closer to my home residence, the faster the web activity. The VPN’s server IP address is logged by my ISP, not the website I’m actually connecting to. I type in blahblahzon.com, but instead of 54.239.etc.etc., my ISP would log and store 89.45.90.145, an IP number of an actual server in Los Angeles. Not the city of my home residence. My ISP has no record of my browsing blahblahzon.com for the latest Taylor Swift album, they only see me accessing one IP number that doesn’t provide much helpful data to sell to marketing companies.
The Choice
There are a lot of Virtual Private Network (VPN) companies out there. Some provide free service, some charge a monthly fee. I don’t recommend going the free route. You get what you pay for, and you want to pay for this privacy-augmenting service. I have paid subscriptions with two VPN providers in my online life because I am a nerd. The easiest route I can recommend to increase anonymity with your online web activity is to visit Mullvad.net. You click the yellow Generate Account button in the upper-right of the homepage, and a 16-digit number is created for you. This is your new account, don’t forget it.
Notice that there is no need to use an email account and password to sign up? Six bucks a month, multiple forms of payment accepted. About 20 cents a day to enjoy more private web browsing? Sounds like a bargain to me. You can install Mullvad VPN software on Windows, macOS, Linux, iPhones, Android phones and Chromebooks. Just enter the 16-digit account number after launching the software and connect find a city near where you live to connect to.
The Alternative
I also have a paid subscription for ProtonVPN, but I’ve observed that when using their VPN sofware, my usual web browsing is resulting in more Captchas than when I use Mullvad’s…at least at this point in Fall 2021. Depending on what websites you visit, your experience may vary.