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Does a VPN used on a smartphone with Wi-Fi disabled (mobile data only enabled) provide any sort of protection? (beehaw.org)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've never completely understood this, but I think the answer would probably be "no," although I'm not sure. Usually when I leave the house I turn off wifi and just use mobile data (this is a habit from my pre-VPN days), although I guess I should probably just keep it on since using strange Wi-Fi with a VPN is ok (unless someone at Starbucks is using the evil twin router trick . . . ?). I was generally under the impression that mobile data is harder to interfere with than Wi-Fi, but I could well be wrong and my notions out of date. So, if need be, please set me straight. 🙂

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago (1 children)

My national government has no business knowing which protocols I use to contact which endpoints and tamper with that traffic. Wrapping up that information in a tunnel is a good first protection layer.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (3 children)

If you're using a commercial VPN from a provider who can legally operate in your country, your national government can just as easily get that information from them as from your ISP.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

Correct. But that's no reason to make it easy for them. Burglars can break my windows and climb through and steal my stuff. I'm still going to lock my doors

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

How would a national government (not TLAs) target particular individuals in a large number of users and what information can they gather given e.g. https://mullvad.net/en/help/no-logging-data-policy ? So perhaps not quite as easily as ordering a tap.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

While ISPs are in many jurisdictions obligated to log your connections (data retentions laws), VPN providers are not.