Free VPN Providers

Article SOURCE as marked Free VPN Providers Virtual Private Network ('VPN')   VPN = "Virtual Private Network" = protection of:  online identity, privacy etc. Free VPN Services Free VPN services available (some listed below, as at 2013) What's Needed for VPN Online [subscriber VPN provider example used] 1  VPN Server linking up to VPN Provider end of the business, at different locations 2  VPN Protocols VPN provider uses:  secure, encrypted communications 'Tunnel' Looks like this is what the VPN provider does: "VPN creates a secure tunnel using most powerful VPN protocols – hides your original IP behind one of its own – encrypts all your communication and passes through the secure tunnel allowing you to surf the web freely and anonymously"  [https://hide.me/en/] The https://hide.me/en/ provider, for example, offers:   -- free web proxy   -- Get new digital identity  connect (via VNP servers / via 'encrypted tunnel')   -- assigned new online anonymous ID   -- actual IP address -- record reportedly not kept     -- for access to blocked websites (ie censored)   -- access to geo-restricted content   -- to surf the web anonymously   -- to encrypt whole internet connection   -- unblock Skype and other VoIP tools    -- chat - inside & outside of country location   -- ISP for real IP address sees:  unreadable encrypted traffic  [https://hide.me/en/] 3  Encryption Makes communications unreadable to all, other than the receiver. ISP for real IP address sees:  unreadable encrypted traffic. LINUX  -  Uh-Oh: *Ubuntu's integrated VPN client only supports PPTP which has known security issues, according to hide.me. Hide.me recommends:   OpenVPN IPsec IKEv2 (StrongSwan) for security & speed. Source https://hide.me/en/ FREE VPN PROVIDERS Info as at 2013: OpenVPN -- SSL/TLS based VPN -- provides high security & privacy *need to install open VPN client software to use OpenVPN service *does not work on mobile services HOWEVER:  works on Windows, Mac & Linus http://www.openvpn.net/ VPNBook = VPNBook = Romania-based = 100% free VPN service = advanced cryptographic techniques = free & secure PPTP & OpenVPN service access * Note:  PPTP has known security issues [as at 2013] = claims: do not collect any info or log any internet activity http://www.vpnbook.com/ SecurityKiss -- tunnel service -- ensures data security & privacy  -- redirects all your traffic through an impenetrable tunnel -- everything in the tunnel is encrypted http://www.securitykiss.com/ Get US VPN -- Free VPN service client -- service in Fast, Secure, Convenient -- from both USA & UK data centres http://www.websitevpn.com/ Tor Browser - Privacy Browser Tor Browser -- privacy / anonymising tool -- by 'bouncing your communications' -- around 'distributed network of relays' around world -- prevents successful surveillance of internet connection re sites visited -- prevents sites you visit knowing physical location -- permits access to blocked sites LINK | Tor Project Tor Browser sounds a lot like the above tools, I think. Not sure what the difference is. Check out the difference.  Difference noted section below. LINK | Post:  Tor vs. VPN ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT Got curious about masking online ID after downloading the WikiLeaks freebie book from Verso, and realising that my fake e-mail address and fake registration isn't much good when my online ID etc isn't masked.  Didn't think to use Tor, though.  Doh!  But because the Tor communication would have maybe been linked to the e-mail used, maybe that option wasn't as secure as it could be?  Not sure about that.  But I'm guessing a freshie e-mail might have been better than the temp sort of partitioned one.  LOL ...  I'm not really good at hiding. Being a tech dumb-dumb I didn't really know what I was supposed to do and, so far, I've been too lazy to make the effort to find out more about online privacy. Got onto  the above information in a round-about way, by following a trail from a comment about some download site, to references about 'Tor', 'Open Proxy' and VPN. Tor I'm good for, but I still haven't checked out 'Open Proxy' and I didn't really know what VPN was until today ... LOL.  If I came across it in my travels, I didn't take in the info or take an interest.  Not sure what this proxy stuff is about ... might have a look at some point.  In a rush now. The Romanian VPN:  would probably check to see what their relationship is like with the US before playing with that ... & probably keeping fingers crossed in case it's run by cyber crooks or something ... LOL.  Quick check indicates that VPNBook has been referred to in court discoveries and indictments against hactivist group members, by the look of this July 2013 article.  I've not read comments. OpenVPN sounds the best to me. Found out today that if you CTRL-C copy files and then delete the source of the files, you're left with nothing but a 'source not found' type message.  Lucky it was only a boring photo of my porridge breakfast (again) ... LOL. I Tor a little most days, but I'm still hooked on normal browsing. Reverted to Google search engine when I changed my OS (again) and stayed there because I was too lazy to find alternatives.  Due to Google's provision of assistance to US-led multiple state actor aggression in the Middle East, I've ditched Google for https://duckduckgo.com/ (doesn't track), but I find myself hopping back onto Google frequently, as it's hard adjusting to being somewhere else and scrolling through search engine data, sort of feeling like you might be missing out on something vital (or missing what you think is quick and easy detection of key info).  But in terms of the organisation overall, not too sure how reliable Google would actually be in that sense.  With the US state being embedded in Google and Google being in bed with the US state, they're probably hiding info from us instead of helping us find it.  ;) I'm over looking at this stuff:  OPSEC etc. might have to wait for another time.