Please close my account.

[didds]

Imagine your internet connection to your house is like a water pipe.

Typically the water comes from a reservoir in the UK. (assuming you live in the UK )

A VPN is like a method of instead getting your water supply from the USA/France/Australia/etc.

Thats a very VERY high level overview

[Mike4]

'Twas folks trying to work out the "why" and how to get round it (which we did, but as we were few there was little other posting except about the issue itself), and ultimately deciding it was, umm, capricious!

It is, however, worth being at least aware of VPNs and their capability to "put" you somewhere else, in case you come across any of those (usually US media) sites that say, sorry, you're in Europe and so we ain't gonna show you anything ('cos they can't be bothered with GDPR).

I have the Opera browser installed for just that purpose, as it has a built in (free) VPN that allows you to "put" yourself in the Americas or Asia (as well as Europe), and so read such otherwise blocked (to us) sites. Maybe it's not an issue you've come across or think you're likely to (I only do so a few times a year), but if you ever do then now at least you'll have an inkling that there's a way round it...

But, what is a VPN? Do I need to know?

Dod

Gwarn, google it!

But no, you probably don't need to know. It's an acronym for "virtual private network" but I've no idea why it called that.

[monabri]

But, what is a VPN? Do I need to know?

Dod

Gwarn, google it!

But no, you probably don't need to know. It's an acronym for "virtual private network" but I've no idea why it called that.

" A virtual private network, or VPN, is an encrypted connection over the Internet from a device to a network. The encrypted connection helps ensure that sensitive data is safely transmitted. It prevents unauthorized people from eavesdropping on the traffic and allows the user to conduct work remotely."

Armed with that information, the next question would be "Do I need it?".

[Dod101]

Gwarn, google it!

But no, you probably don't need to know. It's an acronym for "virtual private network" but I've no idea why it called that.

" A virtual private network, or VPN, is an encrypted connection over the Internet from a device to a network. The encrypted connection helps ensure that sensitive data is safely transmitted. It prevents unauthorized people from eavesdropping on the traffic and allows the user to conduct work remotely."

Armed with that information, the next question would be "Do I need it?".

Thank you. No I do not think I need to know that or need a VPN. Nor do I need to know how that means that I can be ‘put’ somewhere else.

Dod

[Urbandreamer]

But, what is a VPN? Do I need to know?

Dod

Others have explained what VPN is. Do you need to know? Well obviously you don't NEED to know. Is it of advantage to you to know that it's available and that you could use it? Very possibly.

I don't personally use VPN myself, though I did for work. It allowed me to copy things to and from the computers in the UK office while working in Germany. Or indeed in the UK, but not in the office.

I might use a personal VPN account if I spent much time overseas. It would likely help with things like using Iplayer to watch or listen to BBC stuff. It might also be useful dealing with my UK bank account.

In this case it would have been useful accessing TLF, as it seems that access was restricted to those believed to be in the US. VPN could make that seem to be true. Or of course seem to be in the UK when actually in Hong Kong.

SBF, apparently, use to use VPN to watch watch the Super Bowl when he lived outside the US. He recently got into trouble for ignoring bail requirements and continuing to use it, when he actually had no need and could simply use a TV.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/02 ... l-vpn.html

[Alaric]

But, what is a VPN? Do I need to know?

Virtual Private Network. It's a means of masking your IP address. People use them for privacy reasons and to avoid geographic restrictions on what they are allowed to see,

[GoSeigen]

Someone I follow on another site, a “major geek”, posted this a few hours ago: “ Is something going on with various domain registrars & DNS providers? A lot of outages within the last few days at various different ones.”

And on the issue of being frustrated (and grousing) about TLF being unavailable - it is in fact an expression of how much we appreciate it - upset when I can’t get my fix!

May the force be with you Stooz.

Wasn't a broken trans-atlantic fibre-optic cable being repaired recently? Maybe that has something to so with access issues?

GS

[stacker512]

But, what is a VPN? Do I need to know?

Virtual Private Network. It's a means of masking your IP address. People use them for privacy reasons and to avoid geographic restrictions on what they are allowed to see,

Someone will always know your IP address

Too many people go "I need a VPN" usually because they saw a youtuber advert, but as I searched on Reddit a few weeks ago, it's mostly not needed for the reasons people normally think about. At least that's the highlight.

On a VPN your privacy is likely worse than without (single exit point that is watched, logs kept etc), with certain caveats of course (I'd rather connect to open wifi in a coffeeshop with a VPN, for example, but that's to stop a malicious coffee shop owner trying to sniff my packets or try to do those SSL stripping attacks (which I'm not sure are really possible)). On a VPN, all eyes are on you.

The most common proper use case is to join a network. A Virtual network. A private network, like one that your employer has. Hence the name... VPN.

Of course, it shouldn't stop us using VPNs to have an alternative ingress to a site, as you said, to avoid geo restrictions.

[stacker512]

Someone I follow on another site, a “major geek”, posted this a few hours ago: “ Is something going on with various domain registrars & DNS providers? A lot of outages within the last few days at various different ones.”

Wasn't a broken trans-atlantic fibre-optic cable being repaired recently? Maybe that has something to so with access issues?

GS

Wonder if there's more about this then. At work, we had some outages recently, but I am in a different department, so unsure if it's caused by our staff making changes with unintended consequences; or if indeed something bad was happening.

You mention the cables being cut, I remember there being issues over the recent years with that.
Given the geo-political issues we face, and the current war in Ukraine, it's a possibility (though not sure it would explain the symptoms we faced on this site):

March 2023:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/03/2 ... net-cables
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/03/0 ... net-cables


December 2019:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/19/12/0 ... d-atlantic

2008:
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/08/02/0 ... s-examined
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/08/12/1 ... -cut-again



And I am aware (but don't really understand enough about) BGP routing attacks, which some happened in the past:

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/12/1 ... prevent-it
https://news.slashdot.org/story/18/10/2 ... eport-says
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/04/0 ... and-others
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/22/03/2 ... bgp-mishap


I'm not sure if any of these might impact SSL/TLS.

[mc2fool]

It's an acronym for "virtual private network" but I've no idea why it called that.

Well, it's 'cos it provides a network that isn't a physical network (i.e. is virtual) and is private (secure, encrypted).

OK, look, the name is best understood by knowing its original, and still today major, use, being by the corporate world to allow employees at home or in any random hotel, internet cafe, etc, etc, to connect to and be part of the company's in-house network just as if they were in the building at work. It is, in effect, (almost) the same as if the company had run a very long wire (or fibre) from work to their home/hotel/cafe exclusively for the employee to plug into and be directly part of the company's in-house network.

So, it's a private network, a "wire" so to speak, to within the company and, as it runs on top of the internet, there is no physical wire that's been run out and so it's a virtual network. Virtual private network.

Now, for non-corporate uses the VPN "wire" goes from your device to a VPN server somewhere on the internet and your access to the internet goes out from there -- and remember, the data on the VPN "wire" is encrypted. This gives three main benefits:

a) Privacy: your IP and location are hidden from the websites etc you access. What they see is the VPN server's IP and location, not yours.

b) The ability to side-step any geo-restrictions by websites etc you access, as those sites see the VPN server's location, not yours.

c) Security: as everything on the VPN "wire" is encrypted all that anyone spying on the connection can make out is that you connected to the VPN server, and not which websites etc you connected to through it nor any of the data you sent and received. (This is particularly useful when using potentially dodgy internet cafe WiFis and the like.)

Personally I don't use a VPN normally, just when I want to side-step geo-restrictions and in the blue moon cases of my laptop away from home and using potentially dodgy WiFis.

For some people in some countries the (a) to (c) benefits also allow them to avoid their governments spying on what they are doing and/or restricting what sites they can access (like western news sources). And guess what, using VPNs is illegal in Belarus, Iraq & North Korea and highly restricted in China, Russia, Turkey and several Arab countries....

[Dod101]

Thanks to all. I can see a possible benefit but I think it is hardly worth the effort for me. Good to know though what the letters can/ do actually mean.

Dod