VPN's are not full proof.
Nothing is on the Internet.
That's the real price you pay for participation.
Even Australia's National Security was hacked easily by the Chinese a year back a bit in retaliation for Australia's amateur Spying effort on them.

World War breaks out and 80% of the Global Internet will be compromised - especially the basic mainstream Public arena.

Just think if Labor had actually built their Socialist Spying Network, the NBN, then they would have been able to watch everyone's every move through the NBN.

It would have been just like East Germany before the Berlin Wall came down where houses of suspect people were bugged by the Communists.

Unless you go to the DARK WEB or discuss criminal activities or look at child porn sites then you have nothing to worry about.

To protect yourself from virus and spyware you need a good protector like Webroot Secure Anywhere and the 64bit Windows 10 Firewall.

The Windows 10 Firewall stops incoming attacks and the Webroot prevents calls to the internet from unauthorized spyware etc.

Another very secure way is to use UBUNTU LINUX which is virtually immune from the mainly Windows virus and spyware attacks.

UBUNTU LINUX is FREE to download and install. Plus the software is free to download and install.

UBUNTU LINUX includes a VPN which I have not tried and I think it is free.

It is best to put it on a spare PC rather than to try to get Windows 10 and UBUNTU LINUX to co-exist on the one PC although this can be done.

With UBUNTU LINUX you can safely look at any sites etc as it is almost immune from Windows virus and spyware.

In any case if something happens you can simply reload it from a DVD or USB stick and you are back to the original.

I most certainly am NOT replying to the Greeny Sadly Kangyroo!!!!

Now something actually interesting.



VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORKS – THE KEY TO SAFETY AND FREEDOM ON THE INTERNET
By Adrian Cheok - August 6, 2019



When we think of Governments blocking access to information on the internet, we tend to think of nations like China. Don’t be fooled.  Even in a supposed “liberal democracy” such as Australia, our telecommunication operators regularly block content. 

One of the most famous examples was when all the Australian operators blocked content about the Christchurch attack without any reference to law. In other words, they were blocking content of their own will.



Although of course, we abhor violence and killing, this shows that Australia does not have freedom of speech or freedom of information.

Australian Telecos Blocking Conservative Websites
In fact, Telstra is blocking web sites which primarily express a Right-Wing view of politics. This is clearly an outrageous breach of our hard-won freedom of speech.



Whilst some of these sites do feature material which is disturbing, they also contain much that is of great public interest. Users are free to access them or not. Importantly, these sites contain a great deal of content which is politically important.

Free Speech Being Trampled
The principle of free speech is intended to protect us all from Government interference. Now, our free speech is being trampled by virtue signalling corporations.

An example is Bitchute (from the list above) which has hosted a number of videos made by Tommy Robinson. Tommy has been de-platformed by the major Silicon Valley tech firms such as Facebook and YouTube.

These smaller, freer outlets like Bitchute are therefore important to those concerned about increasing Government intrusion and control which will only increase as time goes on.

Another example is Zero Hedge. This is a website which is primarily concerned with economics. It generally supports Right Wing laissez-faire Capitalism. Why would corporations even want to censor such a site?

These types of sites allow the dissemination of ideas which are unpopular with our Government and elites. They are among the few outlets for the Political Right.

With companies such as Telstra now actively censoring these smaller websites, we have to wonder, what next?

Tommy Robinson Censored
This was brought to the attention of The Pickering Post when we posted a video of Tommy Robinson and many users complained that they were presented with a message “Website not available” when they tried to watch it.

This message was provided by Telstra or other Internet Service Providers who had decided that their customers were not allowed to watch this content.

How a VPN Can Protect Your Privacy
Fortunately, there is a way around this corporate censorship, which is cheap, easy and legal. It simply requires the use of what is known as a Virtual Private Network.

How does that work, you may ask? Well, if we think of our internet connection as a pipe going from your computer into the World Wide Web (The Net) then the first place that pipe goes to is your Internet Service Provider (ISP). This could be Telstra, Optus, Dodo, iinet or a host of other providers.

When you click on a website on your Web Browser favourites (such as Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer), it sends a signal down the pipe to your ISP. The ISP sees that you wish to view a page on The Pickering Post for example.

The ISP then retrieves that Web Page from our website and sends it back down the “pipe” to your computer which displays it for you to read (as you are doing right now).

Obviously, throughout this process, your ISP can see which websites you are accessing and whatever information you are uploading or downloading through that “pipe.”

The Pickering Post administrators can also see your IP address, which they could potentially use to find out where you are situated. Whist the Pickering Post would never do that, other websites may not be so benign.

How a VPN Actually Works
Using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) involves downloading a program to your computer. This program encrypts (scrambles) your internet signal. Consequently, it cannot be read by anyone else except the VPN.

Your encrypted signal goes to your ISP and is directed from there to the VPN.  The VPN then unscrambles your signal and sends it on to where it is supposed to go.

Information which your computer requests (such as this Webpage) is then sent back to the VPN server. The VPN then scrambles the signal once more and sends it back through your ISP to your computer.

Your computer then unscrambles the signal and displays the Webpage, just as it would do normally.

Read the informative rest here

https://www.pickeringpost.com/2019/08/06/virtual-private-networks-the-key-to-saf...

juliar wrote on Jul 25^th, 2019 at 1:53pm:


While what you are saying above is true to an extent, you're full of shyte. The extent is that it is all useless as far as this thread goes. I've been using Linux(Debian) exclusively since 1996. I can run windows in a virtual machine with snapshots and roll back any changes a session makes so the same can be said of windows to some degree, you are back to the original. Linux does not save you from browser related threats any more than the same browser in windows does except being a smaller target. Besides you can also reinstall windows if that was your thing. If you wanted to use Linux in the way you say, a live cd would be the way to go.

I have used the Linux VPN(openvpn) to allow people external to the school I worked for to access the internal network.

What a vpn provides is anonymity to the sites you talk to, encrypted data and a more secure way of accessing internal networks from outside than things like RDP, can the Govt get access to what you have been doing? Probably if they were interested in you and the country you are in and the VPN company were part of the "data sharing alliance". Why would they do it though? You'd really have to be a person of interest.

Poor Kangyroo is piqued that I prefer NOT to reply to her Greeny self.  You reap what you sow. Greeny types seem to think they are from some sort of superior order or something.


Setanta is roaring at all speed squashing all.

All I said is that Ubuntu Linux is handy if you want to look at any dubious sites as UBUNTU LINUX is virtually immune from attack as these attacks are almost always set up for Windows 10.

Even that annoying spyware rubbish that lots of sites download into Windows 10 just goes nowhere.

Yes I have got WINE on UBUNTU LINUX 64bit but some Windows 10 software doesn't work in it. UBUNTU tells you this.

So what I have posted IS relevant as the whole idea of a VPN is to protect the user from anything and everything.

So UBUNTU LINUX protects the user from virus and spyware WITHOUT the annoying complexity and slow speed of a VPN which can be a pain in the neck to keep going and you have to pay for it usually.


And how sure are you that the VPN provider is not watching what you are doing ?

And anyone who uses a VPN could attract unwelcome attention just to see what they are doing that requires such secrecy ?

And if you really want to inflict severe pain you can set up UBUNTU LINUX with a VPN.


And just to reassure Stetanta about his desire for relevancy here is an excellent article describing the PRACTICAL aspects of a VPN on (shudder) UBUNTU LINUX.

https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/best-vpn-for-linux/



But be warned your VPN may not be as secure as you think if the VPN supplier logs your progress and gets hacked by AFP or whatever.

Now to shake your complacency about your imagined security with a VPN.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ways-vpn-not-secure-think/



And to really test how good your slow shaky VPN is, have a search thru the DARK WEB!!!!   And AFP or some Govt surveillance mob will be watching you.

Even if you agree with 99% of what Juliar says, he'll focus on the 1% you don't and just start arguing with you until he derails the thread to the point of it being too toxic to continue.  And even though I'm not replying to him and trying to ignore him, you'll see what I mean with his insult-laden response to this post.

I don't have the same number of years on the front lines as you, only a mere 18, but still, at least in terms of the topic of the thread, it really depends on what one is trying to be "safe" from.

If it's bypassing Government Filtering, using OpenDNS, Cloudflare or Google DNS is the quickest way to get around that.

If it's being safe from the data retention laws, it depends on the exit point of the VPN and what sort of law enforcement agreements the country has with AU and if the VPN provider can be trusted.

If it's the security of the computer, it depends on the OS.  The record time we tested a fresh install of XP, patched to the last updates, it still took less than a week to be compromised with a crypto locker, not that there was anything on it.  A VPN won't stop that sort of thing, but it may be a minor speed bump.

There is no answer, but shitting on Windows and just saying use Linux, that's not the answer for everyone.

It's like trying to get an old repo to install and work and hitting the forums and asking questions.  The answers that say "Don't use that, use this instead" while they may help some, it doesn't answer the question, even in the slightest that was actually asked.