Hotspot Shield (for Mac) - anonymous surfing?

[IronMac]

silvarios, how are you going to "verify" any third party on the 'Net? Companies such as Witopia.net are not some sort of anonymous web proxy server as some others on here suggested when I was looking for a secure VPN service. I did as much research as I could through user reviews and articles and went with Witopia. So far so good.

Frankly, if Witopia wanted to peer at my data stream and wipe out my financial accounts they could have done so by now after almost a year but even your ISP could have done the same thing. In fact, any company that you transact with could take your financial data and wipe you clean or sell you out. Has that happened to you? My guess is not.

[IronMac]

Mini 9 wrote:
trying to figure that part out.

:banghead:

[Black]

IronMac wrote:
[quote=Mini 9]
trying to figure that part out.

:banghead:
:-)

Nothing happens when you launch it . . .

[IronMac]

Well, what happens when you launch it is that you should go to a site to find out your IP address such as http://www.whatismyip.com.

My IP address states that I am currently in the SF area whereas in truth I am in a place where there is the potential for one to be hauled in for questioning for downloading the Browning 2010 catalogue.

[Black]

IronMac wrote:
Well, what happens when you launch it is that you should go to a site to find out your IP address such as http://www.whatismyip.com.

My IP address states that I am currently in the SF area whereas in truth I am in a place where there is the potential for one to be hauled in for questioning for downloading the Browning 2010 catalogue.

Are you referring to the service you're using or specifically to the one mini posted?

[IronMac]

For Witopia, it shows me as using one of their servers, i.e., the IP address in SF.

For Hotspot Shield, it will show one of their IP addresses which at the moment I can't seem to find on their site.

[silvarios]

IronMac wrote:
silvarios, how are you going to "verify" any third party on the 'Net?

I'm not even sure what to tell you there. If people can't use reasonable judgement and do proper research...yeah, not sure how I could be of help. Again, if you want absolute certainty, you will have to control your own "Hotspot Shield".

And there is the question of wanting to gain anonymity or security. They are not the same thing. I value the latter far more.


Nathan

[IronMac]

Why not walk us through how you would verify a secure VPN service then?

[Winston]

silvarios wrote:
And there is the question of wanting to gain anonymity or security. They are not the same thing. I value the latter far more.


Nathan

We take a lot for granted. In places like China anonymity and security can be very closely related.


- W

[silvarios]

Winston wrote: We take a lot for granted. In places like China anonymity and security can be very closely related.


- W

Point taken. However, if your goal is to secure your data, the fact remains, anonymity does not equal security. I want my data secured. If I focus solely on anonymity, some random government will not target me because of my beliefs, but I am still vulnerable to other attacks.

If I use a service that creates a secure proxy for all my traffic, then my data is secured as well. Which is good, but I better trust that service because they can see everything going through their servers.


Nathan