• ozoned@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Because the average person doesn’t have a clue and they never think about this kind of thing. I’ve been called a conspiracy theorist by my own father as well as othesr for mentioning Snowden revalatins and using a VPN and all the privacy steps I take on the web.

    • delirious_owl@discuss.online
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      7 months ago

      After all Snowdon went through, it pisses me off when people say you’re a conspiracy theorist just by citing the reporting that came from the whistle he blew

      • the post of tom joad@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        Propaganda worked on those people. I remember the news back then, it all focused on Snowden himself, rather than the revelations. Lots and lots of FUD in the opinion shows, all the talking heads were spending the bulk of their time opining on him, instead

        Like the fact he left the us to escape prosecution, his landing in Russia. Remember they even tracked down his girlfriend or something ridiculous? I know I’m forgetting some of it. Anyway all that crap was designed to shift people’s focus away from looking into his proof, and towards doubting the intentions of the person providing it. And boy, did it.

        It worked, on a lot of people.

        I still hear folks call him a traitor to this day, and they always parrot the FUD talking points i remember from back then to a T.

    • Manmoth@lemmy.ml
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      7 months ago

      Forgive me if you already know this but VPNs are just someone else’s computer. It’s good for preventing your ISP from snooping but you give that visibility to whoever operates the VPN so you’re definitely trusting them not to be malicious.

      • youmaynotknow@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        Wao, this push against VPNs is getting ridiculous. We’re all well aware that most VPNs are not private. But using a VPN has it’s advantages. Geoblocked media, ISP snooping, and many other things you can circumvent. Not all VPNs are private, and even those we believe to be private, most users have to subscribe over trust alone, as we have no way of knowing if they really are or if what they describe as how they operate is true or not. But using a VPN sure beats just leaving your browsing visible to your ISP and local government.

      • delirious_owl@discuss.online
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        7 months ago

        Its someone else’s computer, but where your traffic is mixed with a ton of other people’s traffic coming out of that computer. Essentially you’re mixing your traffic with others. And youre often coming out of another countey with better privacy laws thsn your country. That has value in a number of ways.