They don't care. Your provider only sees an IP address on the network/link level of the protocol.

can you recommend some VPNs? Thanks.

@@rootcanal7188 I haven't done exhaustive research across all of them, but I use Proton VPN, and have used TunnelBear in the past.

@@askleonotenboom Thank you!

yeah... I got a similar letter warning a few years ago from my ISP for downloading Star Trek Voyager😅🤣

Cool solution.

Choose a provider that allows you to split tunnel / make exceptions for the sites that you can't go to over the VPN. Surfshark, ProtonVPN, and a number of other services have this feature although it's called different things per. And there are browser extensions that can do the same.. In essence, everything but the selected traffic would still go over the VPN, minus the exclusions.

I found switching servers using the VPN often does work. The bigger VPNs (I used to use ExpressVPN but switched to Mullvad due to the latter's pristine service record for privacy) will have so many servers that constantly change (I think they use virtual servers that change every day or so) so that you won't be blocked for long. I recall once a bank blocked me for using a VPN then an hour later I was able to go through with another server.

een klein beetje

@@askleonotenboom Very good 👍

Yes but I wish he would talk a bit more about how an untrusty ISP can snoop on your data as a "man-in-the-middle" (I have the basics down, stuff like they can tell which sites you are connecting to and they can "spoof" a site to trick you into thinking it's real and then you can log into it and the man-in-the-middle can see what you are doing, but apparently cannot steal your password, but I'd like more information on the mechanics, though it might be beyond the scope of Leo's target audience)

That's an issue, for sure. If your VPN provider allows it, try a different exit point.

A number of VPN providers allow their user base to exclude certain sites from going over the VPN. For example, it's an option in Surfshark for example... ProtonVPN has a similar feature, but it's under "Split Tunneling". If you set up the VPN on a router such as OpenWRT, there's an option called Policy Based Routing that you can use to select which traffic goes over the VPN or not over the VPN. Surfshark also has a feature that works with various browsers - a browser extension where only traffic on a particular browser profile is encrypted.. Want one that is not, spawn a new profile without the extension loaded and voilla. Be aware that the exclusions per "APP" are different. For example Prime Video, with Surfshark requires exceptions, usually about a dozen URL's that need to be excluded from going over the VPN. But haven't had to set any exclusions for Prime Video over ProtonVPN.. So, there's lots of ways of getting around the issues.. Choosing a different VPN exit point MAY work, or it may not. Selecting an overseas exit point may block the content completely..

Yeah, there's definitely downsides, you can always turn off the VPN temporarily. It's probably not necessary to always use a VPN. I find some sites will just give you endless capture requests But it's absolutely vital, people say. Anyways, if you ever want to do something like torrent. From a privacy perspective to me, it's valuable. I guess if you're genuinely doing stuff, that would be like a legal or potentially damaging for your ISP to find out. But to me the big use case would be if you at least want to have the option to torrent stuff. I guess Tor browser is not an option for that or at least not a good one.

Not all "VPN denial systems" are terribly bright. You might find that if you host your own VPN on a service like Linode for $5/month you can configure your VPN to use something other than the "standard" VPN port(s). Pick some random port number, or look at the list of reservations and find something funny and not at all VPN-related. That way you hide your IP/location/whatever *and* no casual observers of your network traffic will even know you're using a VPN.

Yep. My bank won't let me connect when going through a VPN. Funny in that the reason for using VPNs is security. But then I can't connect to that bank with any browser except Edge.

Radio net is a better app

Mullvad VPN has a good reputation, one of the best in the industry, and they allow you to pay monthly and from what I can tell no discount (or extra fees) if you pay monthly rather than annually. I switched to every six months simply because I was tired of re-entering my credit card information every month. The only downside is Mullvad doesn't have as many servers are Express VPN.

I'm posting right now, over Proton VPN. I've also posted using Surfshark, and ExpressVPN. Many VPN clients allow you to specify sites that are to "go outside" of the VPN, so that most traffic still goes thru the VPN except those that you don't want; Surfshark does; ProtonVPN does. This can also be done easily on a router using OpnSense or OpenWRT ( OpenWRT is easier to configure ) . To me, it sounds like you need a different provider..

Debatable. They cannot trace traffic if the server runs entirely from ram, i.e. nothing ever written to disk. And there are providers that provide such a service.

And what Government agencies are snooping.

@@MrPir84free Providers such as whom?

Of course. I mention that in the video I believe. Did you watch?

@@askleonotenboom I did watch Leo, will watch again, a bit of ADD issues. Thank you.